Flag leads who meet defined engagement or fit criteria, creating a qualified handoff between marketing and sales for efficient follow-up.
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An MQL is a lead whose behaviour and fit suggest that speaking to sales would feel natural rather than intrusive. In other words, marketing has collected enough signals page views, downloads, role, company size to believe the person could buy within a sensible timeframe.
Both have crossed the invisible line between casual interest and genuine consideration, so they earn the “Marketing-Qualified” badge in the CRM.
What is not an MQL?
Those contacts may stay in nurture lists, but until they show stronger intent or a closer ICP fit, they remain ordinary leads.
HubSpot lets you build smart lists: “Lifecycle stage → Lead” AND “Page views ≥ 3” AND “Persona = Finance leader”.
Pipedrive makes you push a Lead into a Pipeline stage once it earns MQL status simple but stops leakage.
MQls matter because they create the crucial handoff point between marketing and sales, establishing shared definitions that eliminate the finger-pointing plaguing most revenue organisations. Without MQL criteria, sales complains that marketing sends rubbish leads whilst marketing insists sales doesn't follow up properly both often correct because there's no agreed qualification standard. MQL definitions force the question: what does a good lead actually look like? This forces both teams to examine conversion data honestly rather than operating on hunches. For marketing, MQL targets provide clear success metrics beyond vanity measures like website traffic; marketing can optimise specifically for MQL volume and cost-per-MQL rather than vague engagement. For sales, consistent MQL quality means their pipeline is full of genuinely viable prospects rather than tyre-kickers and early-stage researchers. The staging also improves customer experience: leads receive appropriate nurture based on their readiness, avoiding aggressive sales outreach when they're merely researching or gentle nurture when they're actively comparing vendors. Organisations implementing robust MQL frameworks report 25-40% increases in sales productivity because reps spend time exclusively on qualified opportunities rather than sifting through raw leads. The definition also highlights where processes break: if MQL volume is strong but conversion to opportunity is weak, you've got lead quality problems; if opportunities convert well but MQL volume is low, you need more top-of-funnel activity.
Start with your ICP spreadsheet: target industries, firm size, tech stack, job titles and regions. Add engagement milestones that show genuine intent pricing page view, webinar attendance, asset download, chatbot question. Publish the matrix so everyone can reference it.
Example (digital agency):
Assign numeric weights. Fit traits might contribute 60 %, engagement 40 %. A finance director from a 150-employee SaaS gets 50 fit points; attending a live demo adds 40 intent points, totalling 90 above the 75-point MQL threshold. Use HubSpot’s native scoring or a Zapier pipe feeding Pipedrive custom fields. Keep the formula public so sales trusts the math.
When a lead crosses the threshold, trigger:
A CTO who scored 60/75 may need a nudge: invite to a technical webinar, send a focused case study, or offer a no-obligation audit. Marketing automation (HubSpot workflows, ActiveCampaign, Customer.io) drips value until the lead self-qualifies.
Pull conversion data: Lead → MQL, MQL → SQL, SQL → Closed-Won. If MQL-to-SQL is under 20 %, fit criteria are too loose; tighten industry filters or raise the score threshold. If conversion is over 60 % but MQL volume starves sales, loosen criteria or create fresh engagement hooks. Continuous calibration keeps quality and quantity in balance.
Architecture firm: Fit property developers with ≥ £5 m build budget; Engagement download BIM integration checklist.
Bookkeeping agency: Fit UK SaaS, ARR £1–10 m, Finance Lead; Engagement uploads trial data + views pricing.
Cyber-security MSP: Fit Healthcare or fintech; Engagement attends “Zero-trust roadmap” webinar + requests breach-cost calculator.
Documenting these rules in the CRM and living by them ensures every MQL handed to sales is truly worth a call raising pipeline accuracy, win rates and team trust across the funnel.
Your sales pipeline works exactly like a marketing funnel, you just need to know how to optimise it. Build the assets that help your team close: proposals that win, workflows that keep deals moving, and materials that answer objections before they kill opportunities.
Most sales processes are cobbled together inconsistent stages, unclear handoffs, and no visibility into what's working. A proper process turns chaos into predictability. Define stages that match how buyers actually decide, automate the busywork, and track metrics that reveal bottlenecks before deals stall.
Proposals sent via email disappear into inboxes. You don't know if they've been opened, which sections were read, or whether pricing scared them off. Proposal software tracks engagement, automates generation from CRM data, and shows exactly where prospects get stuck so you can follow up intelligently.
Sales reps need more than a pitch deck. They need email templates that don't sound robotic, case studies that prospects recognise themselves in, calculators that quantify ROI, and videos that explain complex value quickly. Build the collateral that makes selling easier.
Link every form submission directly to your CRM. Ensure no lead gets lost and follow-up happens automatically every time.
Automate lead qualification by scoring prospects on behaviour and fit. Help sales focus on hot leads first, not random inquiries.
Conduct exploratory conversations to understand prospect situations and qualify fit before investing time in demos or proposals that might waste both parties' time.
Prepare responses to common purchase concerns to address doubts confidently and move deals forward rather than being surprised by predictable pushback.
Offer specific downloadable resources related to blog content to convert readers into leads by providing deeper value on topics they're already interested in.
Identify individuals who've shown initial interest in your offering, separating them from cold prospects for targeted nurture.
Sequence multiple touchpoints across channels and time to increase response rates through persistent but respectful follow-up that prospects don't perceive as harassment.
Require email addresses in exchange for valuable content to generate leads whilst ensuring the asset provides enough value to justify the friction.
Identify prospects that sales has vetted as qualified opportunities, establishing the handoff from marketing to active deal pursuit.
Use specific tactics that ask for the sale and overcome final hesitation to convert qualified prospects who need a clear signal that it's time to commit.
Flag leads who meet defined engagement or fit criteria, creating a qualified handoff between marketing and sales for efficient follow-up.
Gradually collect information across multiple form submissions rather than overwhelming new leads with long forms that decrease conversion rates.
Qualify leads systematically by assessing budget, authority, need, and timing to focus sales effort on high-potential opportunities.