Sales Qualified Lead
Also: SQL
A lead that sales has reviewed and accepted as worth actively pursuing, a step beyond a marketing qualified lead.
Why it matters
An SQL marks the handoff where sales agrees a lead is real and takes ownership. It is a critical alignment point: the conversion from MQL to SQL shows whether marketing and sales agree on what a good lead looks like. A low MQL-to-SQL rate is usually a definition problem between the two teams.
What good looks like
The MQL-to-SQL acceptance rate is the signal to watch. A healthy rate means marketing is sending leads sales believes in, a low one means the bar or the definition is misaligned and needs a shared rewrite.
Related terms
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