Elevating Your Value Story at a PLG Company

In this episode, Jessica Gilmartin talks about the company's shift in marketing strategy from PLG approaches to partnering with large enterprises and shares her thoughts on a hybrid approach of both PLG and SLG strategies.

Calendly, a powerful yet simple automated scheduling platform, takes the work out of connecting with others so you can accomplish more. Millions of users benefit from an enjoyable scheduling experience, more time to spend on top priorities and flexibility to accommodate individual users and large teams alike. Calendly works with Google, Office 365 and Outlook calendars and apps like Salesforce, Stripe, PayPal, Google Analytics, GoToMeeting and Zapier for a seamless user experience.

Industry
Software Development
Founded
2013
Jessica Gilmartin

Guest Bio

Jessica Gilmartin is the Chief Marketing Officer at Calendly, where she’s responsible for leading all aspects of marketing including brand awareness, creative, demand generation, and product marketing. Jessica brings nearly 20 years of marketing and leadership experience to Calendly. Most recently, she was Head of Revenue Marketing at Asana, where she led demand generation, marketing operations, and product and sales-led growth business integrations for the Americas, EMEA, Japan and APAC businesses.

Before Asana, she served as CMO of three high-growth, venture-backed startups, building their global enterprise marketing engines during rapid growth periods, including Honor, one of the largest privately-owned home care companies in the U.S., and Piazza, an online college recruiting platform where she also led sales to build it into a multi-million dollar revenue-generating company in one year. Previously, she co-founded Fraiche Yogurt, a successful chain of yogurt stores in the Bay Area.

Guest Bio

Jessica Gilmartin is the Chief Marketing Officer at Calendly, where she’s responsible for leading all aspects of marketing including brand awareness, creative, demand generation, and product marketing. Jessica brings nearly 20 years of marketing and leadership experience to Calendly. Most recently, she was Head of Revenue Marketing at Asana, where she led demand generation, marketing operations, and product and sales-led growth business integrations for the Americas, EMEA, Japan and APAC businesses.

Before Asana, she served as CMO of three high-growth, venture-backed startups, building their global enterprise marketing engines during rapid growth periods, including Honor, one of the largest privately-owned home care companies in the U.S., and Piazza, an online college recruiting platform where she also led sales to build it into a multi-million dollar revenue-generating company in one year. Previously, she co-founded Fraiche Yogurt, a successful chain of yogurt stores in the Bay Area.

Episode Summary

In this episode, Jessica Gilmartin, the CMO of Calendly, talks about the company's shift in marketing strategy from PLG approaches to partnering with large enterprises and shares her thoughts on CMOs who successfully implement a hybrid approach of both PLG and SLG strategies. She also provides valuable tips on how to approach large enterprise accounts, communicate value propositions, and strengthen the relationship between sales and marketing teams.

Key Takeaways

  • Advice for prioritizing tensions between PLG and SLG teams with a customer-centric approach.
  • Tips for approaching large enterprise accounts with different personas by telling a value story with examples highlights how using Calendly benefits the entire organization.
  • Calendly's latest product launch designed to enhance the relationship between sales and marketing teams.

Quotes

“The only way that you can help your sales team prioritize is to give them really good data about who are the teams that are using [your product].”

“Two of the most important things you need to be a successful PLG + SLG hybrid is data… Once you understand those customers that are most right for expansion, how do you provide that value story?”

Episode Highlights

* (00:00) - Meet Jessica Gilmartin, CMO of Calendly

* (03:00) - Jessica’s experience with PLG + SLG hybrid approaches

* (05:30) - Transitioning from a PLG-focused company to partnering with enterprises

* (10:30) - What CMOs need to be a successful PLG + SLG hybrid

* (10:30) - Jessica’s uncuttable budget items

* (24:00) - How to approach large accounts with different personas

* (26:00) - Defining success for each channel 

* (31:00) - Calendly’s new product announcement

* (37:30) - Quick Hits


Episodes Transcript

  • Advice for prioritizing tensions between PLG and SLG teams with a customer-centric approach.
  • Tips for approaching large enterprise accounts with different personas by telling a value story with examples highlights how using Calendly benefits the entire organization.
  • Calendly's latest product launch designed to enhance the relationship between sales and marketing teams.
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