What is a product-qualified lead, and why MQLs miss it

A marketing-qualified lead is a bet on intent. A product-qualified lead is evidence of it. When a trial account hits a usage limit, invites teammates, or connects an integration, that's a stronger buying signal than any form fill could ever be.

Column A	Column B
Value 1	Value 2

Sales teams that still route leads by job title and company size are working from secondhand information. The product already knows who's serious — the account expanding to a new team, the user who hit the export cap twice in a week. The job of a PLG sales tool is to turn that exhaust into a ranked queue.

The shift isn't just technical. It changes what a rep's first message says. Instead of "saw you signed up for a trial," it's "saw your team just hit the export limit — want more room before it slows you down." Specific, timely, and impossible to send without the underlying signal.