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Pipeline & funnel
MQL and SQL
A marketing-qualified lead has shown enough interest or fit by marketing's definition; a sales-qualified lead is one sales has accepted as worth pursuing. The two definitions are where marketing and sales argue.
Owned by: Sales analystTest band: Sales analyst
In practice
Agree the SQL definition in writing — budget, authority, need, timing or your equivalent — and measure MQL-to-SQL acceptance. A rate under 50% means the definitions do not match.
The kind of thing the test asks
- Sales accepts 35% of marketing-qualified leads. The likely cause is…
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