Cliff Bockard, SVP of Revenue at DigitalOcean (formerly at SendGrid and Twilio), discusses the common pitfalls companies face when integrating sales reps into product-led self-serve motions.
Insight
Bockard: Use Free Trials as Accelerants, Not Rate Limiters
“I think an important concept that oftentimes in, in X as a service, if you will that we shy away from is, is allowing that free trial or basic packages to become a rate limiter. You know, do not let that happen. We've seen many, many, well, it's not only in my…”
Assertion Not yet assessed · timeframe Dec 2023
DigitalOcean Acquires Over 30,000 Self-Serve Customers Per Month
“We bring over 30,000 customers a month. In via self-serve, you know, think about that, you know, and sometimes I think about it like portfolio companies, which they had 30,000 customers total, you know, and this is what we're doing in a month.”
Insight
Bockard: Customer Support Is an Underutilized Lead Generation Source
“Support as a lead source is, is incredibly valuable. Our support function talks to more customers than anyone in our business.”
Insight
Why Jumps in Self-Serve Spend Warrant Immediate Discovery Calls
“The automated way is, okay, this customer is growing, right? Like this customer has bought one product, they've been five dollars or 50 dollars for three months, and now there's a hundred dollars, a 120 dollars. It's a very simple and easy trigger to say, this…”
Insight
Post-Expansion Calls Should Explore Business Drivers, Not Immediate Upsells
“It's like, Hey, I noticed you're growing. What else can I sell you? Versus I noticed you're growing. Tell me why and tell me how that's inflecting your business. And there's a mutual understanding and appreciation for, Caring about their business and why they'…”
Assertion Supported
Bockard: 14 Million New SMBs Are Created Globally Every Year
“And the compounding effect is that we have, you know, fourteen million of new SMBs that are created globally every year. So if you kind of look at that, you know, from a perspective of, hey, there's forty three million developers out there, and that's obviousl…”