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Elena Verna is a leading growth expert with over 15 years of experience in tech. She was SVP of Growth at SurveyMonkey and interim CMO at Miro, where she built high-performing teams that drove significant growth. She recently served as interim Head of Growth at Amplitude and currently advises and is a board member for early-stage startups. In today’s podcast, we discuss:
• What product-led sales is
• How product-led sales differs from product-led growth
• Unpacking common acronyms: PQAs, PQs, PQLs, and MQLs
• When and how to consider investing in PLS
• Metrics for identifying qualified accounts
• The team, data, and tooling required for implementing PLS
• Common pitfalls to avoid when adding PLS
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Find the full transcript at: www.lennyspodcast.com
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Where to find Elena Verna:
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• Twitter: twitter.com
• Newsletter: elenaverna.substack.com
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: twitter.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Elena’s background and what she’s doing now
(07:13) Product-led sales (PLS) vs. product-led growth (PLG)
(12:47) How sales solutions can be applied to enterprise-level problems
(15:06) Defining enterprise-level problems
(17:51) How product-led companies start with PLS
(20:30) When to add sales
(22:36) Two ways to get to PLS
(24:27) Why every sales-led-growth company needs to add PLG
(26:50) Two ways you can own revenue
(28:37) PQAs, PQs, PQLs, and MQLs
(37:17) How to get started adding PLS
(42:01) Metrics to identify PQAs
(47:00) Why sales should be carefully applied
(49:07) Systems, infrastructure, and tooling
(50:59) The people and resources required for PLS
(53:42) Why you should have a clear ROI for every new hire
(55:05) Why product needs to be accountable for monetization with PLS
(59:57) Revenue-based goals product teams should have
(1:06:28) Common pitfalls startups run into when implementing PLS
(1:09:15) Benchmarks and the amount of time needed for implementing enterprise solutions
(1:12:04) Using onboarding to profile users
(1:13:08) Will AI be the next sales movement?
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Referenced:
• Elena’s previous episode on Lenny’s Podcast: www.lennyspodcast.com
• Miro: miro.com
• Figma: www.figma.com
• Elena’s PLS funnel diagram: www.linkedin.com
• Elena’s memes: www.elenaverna.com
• Mixpanel Signal reports: mixpanel.com
• Amplitude Compass chart: help.amplitude.com
• Looker: www.looker.com
• Tableau: www.tableau.com
• Salesforce: www.salesforce.com
• HubSpot: www.hubspot.com
• Marketo: nation.marketo.com
• Waitlist for PLG course on Reforge: www.reforge.com
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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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