*This episode was recorded during our Soundcheck days — now proudly rebranded as GTM Insider.

TL;DR

• PLG isn’t just self-serve—it’s about reducing friction across the entire customer journey.

• Product-led sales (PLS) bridges viral user growth with human-led expansion and enterprise sales.

• The best companies layer intent signals from across product, marketing, and community to focus reps’ efforts.

• Rolling out product-led sales successfully requires strong enablement and tiger teams internally.

• Not every PLG motion looks the same—your product complexity, ICP, and category maturity shape your strategy.

• Buyers expect seamless, personalized experiences rooted in real product usage, not just cold calls.

• Intent data is evolving from black-box account signals to user-level personalization and smarter outreach.

• Modern GTM strategies blend PLG, PLS, and sales-assist approaches depending on market maturity and deal size.

In this episode of The Soundcheck, Sandy Mangat—Head of Marketing at Pocus—shares a powerful breakdown of what product-led growth (PLG) really means today, why product-led sales (PLS) matters, and how go-to-market teams can leverage intent data to meet buyers where they are. If you're building a modern GTM engine, Sandy’s insights are essential listening.

What PLG Actually Means

“We’ve overcomplicated the definition of PLG,” Sandy explains. “It’s about reducing friction for the customer—not just about self-serve.”

She clarifies that PLG can touch upsells, expansions, and adoption, even when acquisition isn’t purely self-serve.

Learn more about how product-led growth empowers buyers in our guide to product-first selling.

The Rise of Product-Led Sales (PLS)

At some point, even viral PLG companies plateau. That’s when product-led sales steps in.

Sandy defines PLS as 'layering humans at the right moments, based on customer signals and usage patterns.'

This model matches how companies today think about simplifying buyer journeys with smart human touchpoints.

How Pocus Helps Teams Bridge the Gap

Pocus exists to unify product usage, marketing, and community data into a single place reps can action.

Instead of running PLG and sales motions separately, Pocus helps hybrid teams orchestrate smarter playbooks.

Many teams also build mutual action plans after seeing strong product usage signals.

Decoding Buyer Signals and Intent Data

Intent data isn’t just about company-level 'buying signals' anymore, Sandy says. 'First-party product usage is a form of intent, too.'

She urges teams to experiment with different signal combinations to find the most reliable triggers for outreach.

Understanding buying psychology and signal-driven selling is essential for modern sellers.

How to Roll Out PLS Successfully

Rolling out a PLS motion? Sandy advises starting with a 'tiger team'—a handpicked group of reps, leaders, and ops champions who can pilot and evangelize.

Internal alignment, strong enablement, and fast feedback loops are critical.

The same principles apply when you're scaling multi-threading strategies in modern B2B deals.

Final Thought: No One-Size-Fits-All PLG Playbook

Sandy closes with a reminder: your product complexity, your ideal customer profile (ICP), and your category maturity all shape what your PLG or PLS strategy should look like.

There’s no silver bullet—only thoughtful, customer-centric GTM execution.

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