We’ve already covered steps 1-3:

1️⃣ Align on PLS objectives and get internal buy-in for your PLS motion

2️⃣ Gather and analyze historical data (usage, intent, firmographic) and align on PQL/PQA definitions.

3️⃣ Bring all of your learnings into a PLS strategy by building PLS Playbooks.

Now it’s time for…

4️⃣ Training and enablement

We’ve found that PLS motion launches go much smoother if there’s clear ownership of the project, typically by a RevOps or Sales Leader; and if there’s a smaller roll-out with a tiger team before team-wide adoption.

PLS is a new way of selling that requires analytical skills, product knowledge, and a data-driven mindset. Set up your team for success with meaningful data and documentation into why certain actions are considered signals. Ask for input on PQL/PQA definitions and encourage them to help, not sell.

A PLS motion is, above all else, another layer to provide customers with value.

Preparing your team for launch

We recommend enlisting a tiger team to fine-tune and iterate on your playbooks. These initial stakeholders will be able to learn the ropes, help coach the rest of your team when you’re ready for a full roll-out, and make optimizations to your initial playbooks so you can hit the ground running.

Coaching your team for PLS success

Knowing what playbooks to run is only half the battle, you also need to know how to train your team to run those playbooks effectively.

There’s a reason why sports analogies work so well in sales. Like any high-performance sport, to win (deals), consistently, you need great training. Especially when running new and sometimes experimental Product-Led Sales playbooks, visibility into how the team performs is crucial.

Managers need to be able to answer questions like:

• Which reps are meeting SLAs on playbooks assigned to them?
• How many opportunities are my best reps actioning?
• Which reps are falling behind, and why?

These questions are crucial for building a successful Product-Led Sales motion because they help sales leaders audit their motion and find areas for optimization.

Factors affecting your reps’ ability to execute at scale could be:

• Cannibalization from self-serve acquisition
• Misalignment between your playbooks and team ownership
• Poorly divided territories
• PQL/PQA signals that need to be optimized

But, they could also be related to individual rep performance. To focus their training, managers need to be able to identify what top reps are doing to create a repeatable formula across the team and look for areas where they can better assign playbooks according to reps’ skills.

A big picture view can help you understand not just where to focus your training, but drive efficiency overall by surfacing gaps in the process. A granular view can help you train reps and increase accountability.