What is Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?
A lead that has been vetted by the sales team and confirmed as a genuine potential buyer.
Definition
A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospect that has been evaluated by the sales team (or an automated qualification process) and determined to have genuine buying intent, budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT). SQLs are leads ready for direct sales engagement – meaning a sales rep should be actively pursuing them. The MQL-to-SQL conversion rate is the key handoff metric between marketing and sales.
Why Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) Matters
Only 25-30% of MQLs typically become SQLs (Sirius Decisions). This means 70% of marketing's output is wasted from a sales perspective. Improving MQL-to-SQL conversion from 25% to 60%+ (achievable with intent-based scoring) dramatically improves pipeline efficiency.
How IngageNow Uses Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
IngageNow's autonomous scoring pre-qualifies leads against BANT criteria automatically. Instead of passing 100 MQLs to sales (of which 25 become SQL), IngageNow identifies the 30-40 genuine SQLs and flags them for immediate action – saving sales teams 60% of their qualification time.
Try IngageNow FreeRelated Terms
Assigning numerical values to leads to prioritise those most likely to convert.
A structured sequence of outreach touchpoints (emails, calls, social) over a defined time period.
A lead that has shown interest through marketing interactions and meets basic qualification criteria.
The process a B2B buyer goes through from identifying a problem to purchasing a solution.