‘Sales’ in quotes because we’ve never done the hard-selling many folks picture when they hear that word. In fact, while RevenueCat powers a significant share of all the world’s in-app revenue, right now our entire sales org is three and a half people (counting myself as the half)
When a prospect or customer fills out a form to talk to us or signs up for RevenueCat, we focus on helping them evaluate, and if it makes sense, buy RevenueCat. We’re not particularly bothered how you want to evaluate (poke around the product, do a live demo, build a business case for your company), and we don’t really mind how you want to buy (self-serve, via a contract). We primarily handle ‘inbound’ interest (people fill out a form or sign up)
Why inbound? We’ve historically offered the entire RevenueCat platform as a whole, which isn’t something you can easily pitch in a cold call. “Hey, want to rip out all the subscription tech in your multi-million dollar app and use ours instead?” isn’t exactly a winning opener. Instead, we focus on being consultative product and market experts who ensure that when an app developer or company shows interest, we add value. We make it easy to implement our product, understand our value, buy from us, and work with us
What does the sales motion look like today?
It’s heavily inbound and aligned with our customer-centric ethos. When a prospect (often a developer, product manager, or founder) reaches out, our team jumps in to help them learn what we do, how we do it, and how it’ll help them make more money (the company mission we live by). We answer questions, dive into their technical setup, and even provide some revenue growth tips and tricks where we can. The app space is small, so it helps to help even if it doesn’t result in winning a new customer today
Our goal isn’t to push a deal at all costs; it’s to ensure every potential customer deeply understands how we can solve their problems. This also means being honest if we’re not the right fit, or not the right fit right now. In many cases, the ‘Sales’ team is actually just helping people self-serve: use the free tier, play with the SDK, read our docs, ping us with questions, etc
A successful sales motion for us is not about ringing the sales gong, but helping our customers extract the most value from RevenueCat. Some of the biggest RevenueCat-powered apps in the app stores today got their start on our self-serve plan. We only step in when specifically asked to do so, or when we suspect folks will need some help (e.g. bigger teams often have a harder time evaluating across multiple stakeholders)
How our approach is different (and why we like it)
Thanks to our product-led growth (PLG) engine, our sales approach is a bit different. Here’s a few ways we stand out
Sales-Engineering heavy
We’ve developed a predominantly sales engineering-led motion. Our technical experts (sales engineers) often handle customer conversations end to end (from evaluation to buying), and – as a result – have to be very well rounded. They can speak the developer’s language, demonstrate the SDK, and troubleshoot on the fly, but they also know what a great paywall looks like and can suggest a simple reactivation campaign for churned users. Even in this sales-engineering heavy environment, the Account Executive is an important part of the puzzle: They’re not only great at navigating complex companies and buying preferences, but also know how to quantify and communicate the costs and benefits of RevenueCat
Helping over ‘closing’
Every SaaS out there loves to say they’re consultative, but at RevenueCat we truly live it. Our philosophy is that if we take care of our customers’ needs, the sales will take care of itself. Concretely, this means the team spends a lot of time educating prospects. From in-app monetization best practices, implementation details, analytics and reporting tips, we get into the weeds before the topic of pricing even comes up. We’re not here to convince you that you need RenueCat; we’re here to show you how we could help, and let you decide if it’s right. This approach builds trust and long-term partnerships, which in turn means that we’ve been talking on and off to some prospects about app growth and trends for years before they move over