Product Qualified Leads (PQLs): When Usage Signals It’s Time to Sell

Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) are users who demonstrate buying intent through product usage, not just marketing engagement. They convert 5-6x better than MQLs.¹ Yet only 24% of B2B SaaS companies use PQL scoring.² This chapter shows you how to identify PQLs, build a scoring model, and layer sales onto your PLG motion.

What is a product qualified lead?

A product qualified lead (PQL) is a user who has experienced meaningful value through your product and exhibited signals that predict conversion. Unlike MQLs (who downloaded a whitepaper), PQLs have used your product. They’ve hit usage thresholds, adopted key features, or taken actions that correlate with purchase.

PQL vs MQL Comparison

The difference matters. MQLs raised their hand. PQLs proved intent with behavior. When sales calls PQLs, they convert at 25-30%.²

What are examples of PQL criteria?

Every product-led growth company defines PQLs differently based on what predicts conversion for their product.

PQL Definitions by Company

Three Signal Categories

The strongest PQL models combine all three. A user who hits usage thresholds AND views pricing AND matches your ICP is a higher-priority lead than one who only hits usage.

How do you build a PQL scoring model?

Start simple. You can add complexity later.

Three PQL Scoring Approaches

The Threshold Model (Start Here)

Define 2-3 actions that predict conversion:

PQL = User who has:
  - Used core feature 5+ times, AND
  - Invited 1+ teammate, AND
  - Logged in 3+ of last 7 days

This model is simple, explainable, and works for most early product-led growth companies.

The Weighted Scoring Model

Assign points to actions based on conversion correlation:

Example Scoring System

How Notion Does It: Notion synthesizes all interactions into a 1-100 score, combining product usage, website visits, and program participation. Sales prioritizes by score daily.⁴

Finding Your Signals

The actions that appear consistently in converted users, but rarely in churned users, are your PQL signals.

What is product-led sales?

Product-led sales (PLS) is a hybrid go-to-market model where the product generates and qualifies leads, and sales accelerates conversion and expansion. It’s not PLG vs sales. It’s PLG + sales.

The PLS Spectrum

McKinsey research shows that companies implementing PLS most effectively see significant boosts in both revenue growth and valuation ratios.⁵ 65% of SaaS buyers prefer both self-serve and sales experiences.⁵

PLS Team Responsibilities

When Should You Add Sales to Product-Led Growth?

Not every product-led growth company needs sales. But most add it eventually.

Signals It’s Time to Add Sales

The Timing Data: 61% of product-led growth companies add enterprise sales by $50M ARR.⁶ The question isn’t if you’ll add sales. It’s when.

How to Layer Sales Without Breaking PLG

Which Users Actually Need Sales Help

A user crushing your product doesn’t need a sales call. They’ll self-serve. The highest-value PQLs are users who hit a wall and don’t know how to get past it. They’re showing buying signals but haven’t pulled the trigger. They’d expand faster with a conversation. Sales shouldn’t chase your best users. Sales should unblock users who are stuck.

Where Sales Actually Adds Value

Action Items

1. Define your PQL signals: Pull your last 50 conversions. What did they do in the 7-14 days before paying? Look for actions that appear in 70%+ of conversions. Slack found 2,000 messages. What’s yours?
2. Build a threshold model: Start simple. “Users who do X AND Y AND Z are PQLs.” Don’t over-engineer with ML until you have 1,000+ conversions. A basic threshold model that sales trusts beats a complex model they ignore.
3. Measure PQL conversion rate: What percentage of PQLs convert within 30 days? Benchmark: 25-30% with sales engagement. If you’re below 15%, your PQL definition is too loose. Above 40%? Too tight.
4. Time your sales response: How fast does sales respond to new PQLs? Under 1 hour = 53% conversion. Over 24 hours = 17%. Speed matters more than perfect qualification. Set up alerts.
5. Decide: add sales or stay self-serve: Deals stuck at a size ceiling? Enterprise security requests piling up? Competitors with sales winning deals? If yes to any, plan your product-led sales motion. If no, keep optimizing self-serve.