Sales Qualified Lead (SQL).

Not every enquiry is a sales opportunity. A lead is at first simply a contact who has shown some interest. Whether it can turn into an order only becomes clear on closer inspection: does the person actually have a need your business can meet? Can they make the decision? Is the timing right? A sales qualified lead is a contact for whom sales has answered these questions. It is no longer just observed or nurtured with content, but actively worked.

The term belongs to a sequence of stages used by many companies. At the top are all leads. Marketing filters out the marketing qualified lead (MQL) using agreed characteristics, for example because someone viewed the pricing page and submitted a form. Sales then reviews that contact, usually in a short call, and either accepts it as an SQL or hands it back with a reason. From that point it appears as an opportunity in the sales pipeline.

What makes an SQL is for each business to define. Qualification frameworks such as BANT, which asks about budget, authority, need and timing, are widely used. In a small firm three questions settled in the first call are often enough. What matters is that marketing and sales use the same definition and write it down. Otherwise marketing counts successes that sales never saw, and vice versa.

For steering the business, the step from MQL to SQL is one of the most revealing measurement points. If the share of accepted contacts falls, either a campaign is attracting the wrong people or the criteria are too strict. Automated pre-sorting through lead scoring can help, but it does not replace the judgement of the people selling. Speed matters too: a good contact left waiting for days is often lost, see speed to lead.