Software is taking over the world, and Product-Led Growth is taking over the software for businesses. PQLs, which stand for Product Qualified Leads, are becoming more and more common. This is because product-driven growth is becoming more and more common. Find out more about PQLs and what to do with them if you work for a company like PLG. And if it isn’t, it should be.
How do you understand when a lead is a good fit for your product?
PQLs are interested in your product but haven’t bought it yet. They use your product in a way that suggests they are getting a lot of value out of it. People who work for Product-Led Growth companies should pay attention to this because these companies have a lot of people who use their free trial or free product.
That action is recorded when a Slack or Zoom user does something (like click a button or invite a team member). Each customer’s use of the product helps PLG companies figure out if that person is a person who is curious about buying the product. Top PLG companies have used these examples to show how they think about the best people to buy their products.
Why is it critical to have a Product Qualified Lead?
They are essential for PLG companies because they help them determine which customers to focus on. Those who are prepared to buy your product are called PQLs. If you work for a PLG company, you usually have a lot of people who use your results or sign up for a free trial. Focus on getting the freest users to buy your other products. PQLs help you figure out that question.
Customers like these are the ones that your sales teams should be working on a deal with the most. A good law of thumb is to not push sales on customers who are still thinking about the product and haven’t made up their minds: These customers should be treated differently and cared for. Because if they don’t, they might even be put off by a direct sales pitch.
In the same way, you don’t want to forget about customers who are getting value from the product, either. Wait too long, and they may not be interested. PQLs are customers who are in the right mindset to buy something. The customer at goldilocks. They aren’t too hot or cold, so it’s not too soon or too late to talk to them. Also, it’s essential to know the difference between PQL, MQL, and SQL and how the PQL is taking the place of the Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) in many PLG firms.
How do you know if you have a PQL?
It’s essential to figure out what a PQL looks like inside your head before you can identify them. The standards of Slack and Dropbox above are well-defined PQLs, like the ones above. We composed a detailed guide on calculating who is a good fit for your product. Below is a list of the three main steps.
- It must be a good fit for both the user and the company they work for (ICP). It would help if you looked at demographic and company data for this.
- It should be of high value to your lead. For your product to be of value, the user must fully understand why they might require your product and how it translates into a problem, which is when the matter comes in. It’s a lot like the “Aha!” moment that is often talked about in product management. This comes from how you use your products.
- Your lead needs to show some level of interest in either buying or starting a conversation with your sales reps. Examples could be clicking on a premium feature that they don’t have or going to the pricing page.
Read this post to learn more about the different types of PQLs and whether a PQL is binary.
How to use your PQLs
After you figure out your PQL, you’ll have to make it happen by making it real. This would mean telling your sales, marketing, and growth teams about the PQLs you find. Those who work in revenue should already know what your PQL stands for, and they should be ready to go after these high-value leads. Separately, salespeople and marketers would also help other customers become PQLs differently.
One way to quickly show PQLs to your sales teams is to use a tool like HeadsUp. PLG CRM: Check out our guide on how to build one yourself. It’s not easy to collect, process, and show all this data. You’ll probably have to use many different tools to get it done. A new best-practice tech stack for product-led growth go-to-market teams (called the “PLG GTM stack”) has been put together. It has tools that are designed for this type of team.
Improve and fine-tune your PQLs over time.
It doesn’t end when you have done all this. You still have to do more. It’s essential to build feedback loops between the people who use and define your PQLs and those who choose and represent PQLs.
This is what:
- The go-to-market teams set up the system to learn what people say about it.
- Your go-to-market teams need to be taught to look for signs that your PQLs are working well.
Deploying PQLs into your product-led GTM process may sound like a lot of work. The morning at the end of the underpass will show you that it’s worth all the work you’re doing now. When you see your conversion rates go through the roof, it will all be worth it!