Sales-led growth

Win customers through direct sales conversations where reps guide prospects from discovery to close with personalised solutions and relationship building.

Sales-led growth

Sales-led growth

definition

Introduction

Why it matters

How to apply it

Keep learning

Growth orchestration

Get a grip on what's actually working and what needs course correction. Use data and experiments to make decisions instead of opinions. See how changes in one part of the system affect everything else. Random tactics don't compound, coordinated ones do.

Explore playbooks

Tool selection

Tool selection

Select tools across your growth stack using clear evaluation criteria. Avoid common pitfalls, ensure integrations work, and build a system that scales with your business.

Customer research

Customer research

Uncover specific pain points, validate assumptions, and reveal what actually drives buying decisions. Run research that produces actionable insights, not just interesting quotes.

Quarterly strategy

Quarterly strategy

Run quarterly business reviews that assess current state, set ambitious but realistic goals, build actionable roadmaps, and define key results that keep everyone aligned.

Monthly review

Monthly review

Analyse monthly performance data across all four growth engines. Identify what is working, what is not, and make tactical adjustments using a structured decision framework.

Related books

Startup growth engines

Sean Ellis

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Startup growth engines

A tour of growth case studies. Identify engines, spot patterns and design experiments that fit your context.

Related chapters

No items found.

Wiki

North Star Metric

Choose one metric that best predicts long-term success to align your entire team on what matters and avoid conflicting priorities that dilute focus.

Customer data platform

Unify customer data from every touchpoint to create complete profiles that power personalised experiences across marketing, sales, and product.

Product-market fit

Achieve the state where your product solves a genuine, urgent problem for a defined market that's willing to pay and actively pulling your solution in.

Pipeline coverage

Calculate how much pipeline you need relative to quota to ensure you generate enough opportunities to hit revenue targets despite normal conversion rates.

Positioning statement

Define how you're different from alternatives in a way that matters to customers to guide all messaging and ensure consistent market perception.

Contact management

Organise customer and prospect information to track relationships, communication history, and next steps without losing context or duplicating effort.

Statistical significance

Determine whether experiment results reflect real differences or random chance to avoid making expensive decisions based on noise instead of signal.

Activity tracking

Log emails, calls, and meetings automatically to understand what drives deals forward and coach reps based on actual behaviour rather than guesswork.

Growth lever

Focus resources on high-impact business mechanisms where small improvements generate disproportionate results across the entire customer journey.

Deal stage

Define pipeline progression steps to standardise how reps advance opportunities and give managers visibility into where deals stall or convert unexpectedly.

Inbound Marketing

Attract prospects through valuable content that solves real problems, building trust and generating qualified leads who approach you.

Growth mindset

Cultivate belief that skills and results improve through deliberate effort, treating setbacks as learning opportunities rather than fixed limitations.

Product-led growth

Drive acquisition and expansion through product experience where users discover value before sales conversations and upgrade based on usage.

Data warehouse

Store raw data from all business systems in one place to run analyses and build reports that combine information across marketing, sales, and product.

A/B testing

Compare two versions of a page, email, or feature to determine which performs better using statistical methods that isolate the impact of specific changes.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Calculate the total cost of winning a new customer to evaluate marketing efficiency and ensure sustainable unit economics across all channels.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Set ambitious goals and measurable outcomes that cascade through your organisation, creating alignment and accountability for strategic priorities.

Partner-led growth

Scale through partner relationships where other companies distribute your product to their customers in exchange for commissions or reciprocal value.

Go-to-market strategy

Plan how you'll reach customers and generate revenue by choosing channels, pricing, and sales models that match your product and market reality.

Event tracking

Capture specific user actions in your product or website to understand behaviour patterns and measure whether changes improve outcomes or create friction.