MQL and SQL
A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has shown enough interest in your content or brand to be worth further marketing attention, but has not yet been assessed for sales readiness. A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospect who has been reviewed by sales and confirmed to have the right fit, intent, and timing to enter the sales process.
The gap between MQL and SQL is where most B2B pipeline problems live. When the definition of each is unclear, marketing sends leads that sales rejects, and neither team can explain why pipeline stays flat despite high activity.
How to Define Each Clearly
1. MQL criteria. Set by marketing based on engagement signals: content downloads, page visits, email opens, webinar attendance, or demo requests from a company that matches the ICP profile.
2. SQL criteria. Set jointly by marketing and sales based on fit and intent: ICP match confirmed, a real problem identified, a timeline to act, and budget or authority present.
3. The handoff definition. A written agreement between marketing and sales on exactly when a lead moves from MQL to SQL, what information must be present, and what happens if a lead is rejected.
4. Feedback loop. Sales must return rejected MQLs with a reason. Marketing uses that data to improve targeting and qualification upstream. Without this, the gap never closes.
"If sales is rejecting more than 40% of what marketing sends, the problem is not the leads. It is the absence of a shared definition of what a good lead looks like."
- Maansi Sanghi, Fractional CMO, Envizon
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