You’re aware of product-qualified leads (PQLs) but do you know what product-qualified accounts (PQAs) are? The hint is in the word ‘account’. A PQA is ready to convert. It is named so because it represents a business account, and is used by B2B SaaS companies that have a product-led growth (PLG) model.
A PQA represents a self-serve sign-up that has a strong likelihood of becoming a paying customer. Sales teams use a scoring system to determine a PQA, with the score being calculated daily to gauge the account’s readiness and reach out to the customer at the right time.
The account is scored based on firmographic data, product activity, and where it is in the sales process. When the score reaches a certain threshold, it is handed off to sales to convert into revenue.
PQAs are important for onboarding and expansion:
When an account reaches the PQA score, sales reps can take over for more personalized onboarding. If the company is large and can adopt use cases for the product, then you can consider offering a custom experience during onboarding.
The PQA model can consider the frequency at which an account is adding new users. If the customer has just five employees, it may not be worth assigning an account executive. If there are far more potential customers, an AE can enter the picture
PQAs are also useful for targeted upsell and cross-sell conversations. You can plan your outreach for when a PQA reaches a particular threshold and provide a personalized experience.
The first step is to choose the accounts for monetization.
In SaaS, product-qualified leads are more effective than marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) or sales-qualified leads (SQLs). There’s strategic value to having a large base of PQLs using your freemium model. But they cannot be counted on for paid conversions.
Focus on accounts stating that they’re representing their company or which can be identified by their work email. They can be self-service or sales-assisted.
From the set of relevant accounts, create subsets based on your ideal customer profile (ICP). You can categorize them based on company size, number of employees, annual revenue, and other data. They represent your PQAs and will require a sales-assisted approach to maximize revenue.
Track product signals
Salespeople should keep a close eye on product signals such as product usage, the velocity of usage/addition of new users to the account, and behavioral metrics such as the number of visits to your Terms of Service page.
With an idea of buying intent and product usage data, score the account on a scale of 0-100. The higher the score, the greater the likelihood of a sales opportunity. A threshold of 80+, for example, can indicate that the account is a prime target for sales engagement.
It’s likely that those who request a demo or submit a form will be among your first PQLs. Your marketing team should work in concert with sales to identify the hand raisers. Among them will be those who’re ready to buy your product.
However, it’s also possible that as you move upstream, you have PQAs that don’t have PQLs. Doubling down on your PQL process and helping users understand how they can be successful with your product will make a big difference in conversion rates and retention.
With Toplyne, identifying product-qualified leads is faster, easier, and far more accurate than traditional tools. Power your product-led growth with Toplyne, just like Canva, Vercel, and Invideo.
