Definition
Potential customer trails that meet the criteria and can be forwarded to the sales follow-up, as confirmed by the market sector.
In detail
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a potential customer lead that has been confirmed by the marketing department as meeting criteria and ready for transfer to sales for follow-up. It addresses the problem of inconsistent lead quality and low sales efficiency by setting criteria (e.g., budget, need, timeline) to filter leads. Unlike Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), MQL only represents marketing acceptance and requires further sales confirmation. Its output is typically a lead list with scoring.
Example in practice
When the sales team complains about poor lead quality, define MQL criteria. For example, a software company sets MQL as: clear need, budget over 50,000, and decision-maker involvement. Marketing uses forms and scoring to filter and pass qualifying leads to sales. After follow-up, conversion rate improves and sales efficiency increases.