How to Learn Faster to Grow Faster by Ben Williams
In product development, it’s easy to get caught in a never-ending cycle of building and iterating without achieving growth.
If this sounds familiar, you won’t want to miss Ben Williams’ session, “How to Learn Faster to Grow Faster,” at our upcoming Product Drive Summit.
Known as the “product-led geek,” Ben isn’t just another growth expert. He’s a firm believer that the key to sustainable growth lies in relentless learning and experimentation. His approach isn’t about following the latest trends; it’s about gathering data, validating assumptions, and rapidly iterating to achieve real results.
In this article, we’ll dive into the core principles of Ben’s approach, giving you a preview of the actionable insights you’ll gain from his talk.
TL;DR
- Ben Williams, also known as the Product-Led Geek, is a strategic advisor with over 20 years of experience, specializing in product-led growth and scaling high-performing teams.
- Ben’s approach focuses on continuous learning, data-driven decision-making, and leveraging product-led growth (PLG) and product-led sales (PLS) strategies.
- PLG relies on the product itself as the primary driver for customer acquisition, conversion, and MRR expansion. Reducing the need for traditional sales efforts.
- PLS leverages product usage data to identify and engage high-intent prospects. It uses the product as a sales tool to increase upgrades and customer lifetime value.
- Let’s explore some examples of the PLG approach:
- Offering a freemium version of your product to attract users. Lowering technical barriers and creating upsell opportunities as their needs grow.
- Personalizing onboarding according to users’ unique needs to enhance their experience, increasing engagement and long-term retention.
- Creating a viral growth loop via referral programs, user-generated content, and shareable content. Generating a self-sustaining cycle of user acquisition and retention.
- Now, let’s go over some practical PLS tactics that can help you leverage the power of data to fuel growth:
- Analyzing product usage data to identify users who need upgrades and target upsell prompts to drive conversions.
- A/B testing different upgrade prompts to optimize conversion rates.
- If you want to learn more about these strategies and hear directly from Ben Williams, join our Product Drive Summit to learn more from Ben himself!
Who is Ben Williams?
Ben Williams, also known as the Product-Led Geek, is a strategic advisor specializing in product growth and scaling high-performing teams. He has a strong track record with 20 years of experience in the industry—gathering a wealth of knowledge in building, nurturing, and scaling cross-functional growth teams.
Now, Ben dedicates his time to helping startup founders and heads of products embrace sustainable and defensible growth strategies.
Ben Williams’s approach to scaling product growth
Ben Williams’s approach to scaling product growth is deeply rooted in product-led growth (PLG) and product-led sales (PLS). Usually, he works with B2B companies that have already achieved product-market fit and are looking to scale their operations.
Ben’s method is about continuous learning and experimentation. He believes that to grow faster, businesses must learn faster—by constantly gathering data, validating assumptions, and iterating quickly.
Here’s when the PLG and PLS motions get into play. This is because they allow companies to adapt to changes, optimize their product offerings, and stay ahead of the competition.
Let’s explore their meanings:
Product-led growth motions
A product-led growth model relies on the product as the main driver for customer acquisition, conversion, and MRR expansion. Here, the products are designed so users can easily discover the core features without needing assistance from the sales, support, or customer success team.
A product-led mindset operates under the premise that—if the product is good at satisfying the market’s needs—users will convert into paying customers when given the chance to experience the value of the product for free.
This approach not only drives organic growth but also reduces the dependency on traditional sales efforts, making it a scalable and cost-effective growth strategy.
Product-led sales motions
Product-led sales (PLS) is a strategy that leverages product analytics to drive sales. Unlike traditional sales approaches that rely heavily on outbound channels, PLS focuses on identifying and engaging high-intent prospects based on their interactions with the product.
This is by analyzing user behavior and product usage data to pinpoint users who are most likely to accept an upsell—then tailor your sales strategy to meet these users’ specific needs.
Essentially, PLS is about using the product itself as a sales tool to generate more upgrades and increase the lifetime value of customers.
Examples of product-led growth tactics
Let’s explore some practical tactics that embody the PLG approach for driving user acquisition, activation, and retention through the product itself:
Use a freemium model to lower the barrier to entry
A freemium model is an effective way to attract users by allowing them to try your product without any financial commitment. It lowers the barrier to entry while simultaneously opening the doors for upsells as users experience the product’s value.
The idea is simple: offer a functional, yet limited, version of your product for free, encouraging users to explore its features and realize its value—then upgrade when they need it.
For instance, Slack’s freemium plan is sufficient for users with basic needs, allowing them to communicate and collaborate effectively. However, as users’ needs grow—like when they require unlimited integrations or customization—they are naturally driven to upgrade to a paid plan.
Implement personalized onboarding to drive activation
Effective onboarding is crucial for ensuring that new users can quickly understand and experience the value of your product—increasing their likelihood of sticking with your product and promoting it to others.
By personalizing the onboarding process, you can cater to each user’s unique needs and jobs-to-be-done to enhance its effectiveness.
To implement this, you can use a product management tool like Userpilot to create and trigger different onboarding flows based on user data. If, for example, a user with a specific job title or use case signs up, you can trigger an onboarding experience that highlights the most relevant features to their role.
Utilize a viral growth loop
A viral growth loop is a powerful strategy that embeds marketing into the product itself, creating a self-sustaining cycle of customer acquisition.
In other words, it’s a cycle where the outputs for retaining users become the input for acquiring more users.
A classic example of a viral growth loop is Zoom. To host a meeting, a user must invite others, who then need to sign up and create accounts themselves. This not only helps retain existing users but also continuously brings new users into the ecosystem, creating a cycle of growth that feeds on itself.
Other formats of viral loops include referral programs, user-generated content, and shareable content—all of which leverage the product to fuel further growth.
Examples of product-led sales tactics
Now, let’s go over some practical PLS tactics that can help you leverage the power of data to fuel growth:
Leverage product usage data to identify upsell opportunities
Analyzing product usage data is a great hack to identify upsell opportunities.
By monitoring how users interact with your product, you can pinpoint those who are most likely to benefit from an upgrade—and trigger an upsell message that’s likely to convert.
For example, let’s say you find a segment of engaged users who have reached the limits of their free plan (e.g. hitting the maximum number of allowed projects or storage capacity). These users can be targeted for a live demo offer to move them down the conversion funnel.
As a result, you can hope to increase the likelihood of converting them to paid plans—expanding revenue in the process.
A/B test upgrade prompts to increase conversion
No matter the data you use for your PLS strategies and upsell messages, not all of them will be as effective in closing sales.
That said, A/B testing your upgrade prompts is necessary to optimize conversion rates. It will tell you which upselling messages resonate best with users and which ones lead to higher revenue.
For this, you can leverage tools like Userpilot that allow you to create and test various in-app flows, plus gather statistically significant results for your experiments.
For instance, you can test if users respond better to an upgrade prompt that uses time-sensitive discounts versus the control. The platform will show you the data and tell you what version wins once it collects enough data (without waiting for weeks).
Join our Product Drive summit to learn how you can grow faster with Ben Williams
The product-led model, as advocated by Ben Williams, offers a robust framework for driving sustainable business growth.
Through product-led growth or product-led sales tactics, you can create a self-sustaining cycle of user acquisition, conversion, and retention. The key is to continuously learn, adapt, and iterate.
That said, if you want to learn more about these strategies and hear directly from Ben Williams, join our Product Drive Summit to learn more from Ben himself!
