MQL / SQL
Definition
MQL and SQL are the two gates a lead passes on its way to revenue: marketing qualified, meaning marketing believes sales should see it, and sales qualified, meaning sales agrees it is worth working.
How you recognize it
A real definition is written, agreed by both teams, and specific enough that two people would score the same lead the same way. Definitions that live in two heads differ, and the difference surfaces as a recurring argument: marketing reports lead volume while sales reports nothing worth calling, and both are reading their own numbers honestly. The pair belongs in the SLA between the teams, next to the response time sales commits to. Rewrite them when the ICP changes; a qualified lead is an ICP fit arriving through a form.
What to watch for
Ask both team leads to send you the MQL definition without conferring; two documents, or none, is the finding. Put the MQL count next to the SQL count for the last few quarters: an MQL line that climbs while the SQL line stays flat means the first gate has loosened to hit a target, and that gap is where budget leaks. Check the time stamps between qualification and first sales touch; qualified leads that wait days are a definition dispute expressed as a queue. And if the definitions predate your current ICP, rewrite them; the old ones qualify leads against a customer you no longer target.
The question you ask
“Would sales agree with marketing’s definition of a qualified lead?”