Product-led sales (PLS) empowers B2B buyers to discover, evaluate, and commit to offerings on their own terms. PLS blends product-led growth and sales-led approaches by attracting users through product trials, viral sharing, and word of mouth and then tees up sales teams to close or upsell those most likely to convert.

It’s a model that fits how today’s buyers and users want to buy: Self-serve first, with sales’s assistance when needed. When done right, PLS can lower customer acquisition costs, speed up sales cycles, and more economically drive upsell and cross-sell growth.

But to make it work, teams need tight alignment across product, marketing, and sales; strong data; and a mindset shift toward product-assisted selling. Without that, it’s easy to miss the mark and the revenue.

Assess Your Ability To Be Successful With A Product-Led Sales Strategy

Leadership Commitment Is Foundational To PLS Success

For PLS to be successful, sales, marketing, and product teams must refocus on finding and engaging users. They must be tightly aligned so they can define and iterate on plays to drive engagement and convert product-qualified leads. Additionally, PLS is a cultural shift, focusing on users initially as opposed to buyers. It also requires investment in technology to track and compile user engagement. Ask the following questions:

  • What challenges or successes have you faced in aligning teams around shared goals, cultural change, and experimentation?
  • Can you earn executive support and investment into PLS (resourced team, tools, and integrations)?

Product Must Create A Self-Serve Growth Engine

The most successful PLS products solve a broad problem easily and can be structured for bottom-up adoption and a smooth conversion from self-serve to paid. Ask the following questions:

  • Is there a product in your portfolio that easily solves a broad problem and that can show its value through a self-serve trial?
  • For said product, can you develop a sales-assisted monetization strategy through usage and feature limits, natural tiering, and up- and cross-sell options to drive revenue expansion?

You Can’t Be Successful With PLS Without Accurate Product Usage Data And Analytics

In PLS, understanding how users engage with the product is essential for identifying when a customer is ready for outreach or when they show signs of interest in a higher tier. Monitoring in-app actions and usage patterns, aligning on intent signals, and grouping users based on conversion readiness sets the stage for refining outreach and monetizing customers. Ask the following questions:

  • Are we tracking in-product user activity and engagement metrics to identify high-intent users?
  • Do we have defined product engagement thresholds that indicate readiness for sales outreach and upselling?

Build A Go-To-Market Team Skilled In The Product-Led Motion

PLS sales reps don’t do cold outbound calls. They help users see the value and expand usage. They need to understand product usage data to tailor outreach to drive expansion and teamwide adoption. Together, sales and marketing must collaborate closely to design playbooks that prompt sales outreach with specific messaging when certain in-product actions are completed. Ask the following questions:

  • Is your organization able to build and train a dedicated PLS team?
  • Is there appropriate alignment and communication in place between marketing and sales teams?

For an in-depth look at factors contributing to PLS readiness, read this report or use this decision tool. Forrester clients can request an inquiry or guidance session with myself or other analysts here.