I’m working with a SLG SaaS client that moving towards a self-service/PLG model. They have asked how the self-serve leads will impact their current Deals pipeline - what stage they will be in, etc.
My gut tells me that self-serve does not need a traditional Deals pipeline since that model is primarily marketing-led and their is minimal involvement on the sales side or need to progress a opportunity through the usual stages.
The only hiccup would be if someone started setting up their account but didn’t complete the process (i.e. activate it and submit their CC). At that point, the client triggers an email after 1 day asking if they’d like a demo. In that case, there WOULD be sales involvement.
What is the best practice for handling this? No sales pipeline for self-serve, but move them into the current Deals pipeline if they request a demo? Or, create a separate self-service pipeline with stages such as New Opportunity > Account Setup > Closed?
For successful self-service purchases I would just put these deals straight into the Closed Won Deal Stage.
If someone gets as far as setting up their account but not activting it and making the payment, I would put the deal into a different deal stage, perhaps something like Account Setup in Progress. Whether or not another pipeline is required really depends on how different the sales process is for each, i.e. those who have already created their own account but not completed the transaction, versus those who are manually managed by sales. If after they’ve set up their account but not completed the transaction, the sales team treats them in a pretty similar way to how they do the other prospects I would be inclined to leave them in the same pipeline. If the process is quite different this probably warrants another pipeline.
Hope this helps,
Louise Hare she/her
Freelance HubSpot Expert
If my reply helped to answer your question please mark it as a solution to make iteasier for others to find!
How are you reporting conversion metrics? Using a funnel report? What you could do is when a self-service deal is created, populate a property called Self-Service with Yes. Then update your existing conversion report to exclude Self-service deals and create another conversion report that only shows self-service deals.
If that still feels a bit messy/complicated to you then you could certainly just have 2 seperate pipelines.
Thanks,
Louise Hare she/her
Freelance HubSpot Expert
If my reply helped to answer your question please mark it as a solution to make iteasier for others to find!
