Qualified lead
A contact who passed objective criteria for profile, problem, decision, and timing, and therefore justifies a salesperson's time.
Also known as: qualified lead · lead qualification · qualify a lead · MQL · SQL
Try CRPRO free for 7 daysA qualified lead is a contact who went through a filter and is still standing. The word doing the heavy lifting here is criteria: without written criteria, "qualified" just means "I liked the conversation."
MQL and SQL
Two acronyms that show up in any discussion on the topic:
- MQL (marketing qualified lead) — showed enough interest to deserve contact: replied to an ad, downloaded material, asked for pricing.
- SQL (sales qualified lead) — someone in sales talked to them and confirmed it makes sense to move forward.
The classic fight between marketing and sales starts when each department uses a different definition of MQL. It gets solved by writing down the criteria, not by arguing about volume in a meeting.
What makes a criterion verifiable
A criterion is useful when two different people reach the same conclusion about the same lead. Four questions cover most operations:
- Profile — is this the type of customer we serve well?
- Problem — do they have the pain we solve, and does it bother them now?
- Decision — does this person decide, or at least influence who decides?
- Timing — is there a deadline, or is this research for next year?
BANT, GPCT, and the other qualification acronyms are variations on this same set. What matters is not which acronym you pick, it is that the answer gets logged on the deal instead of living in the agent's memory.
Over-qualifying also has a cost
A filter that is too tight discards people who would have bought. With a low order value and a short cycle, expensive qualification does not pay for itself: it is cheaper to serve them and find out. The higher the order value, the more the filter earns back the time it consumes. The right question is not "is this lead good?", it is "how much does finding out cost?"
On CRPRO
Qualification becomes a stage: a funnel stage can be marked as the qualification milestone, and moving into it becomes countable on the dashboard. On the Scale plan, the AI agent runs the qualification conversation and moves the deal to the matching stage, with nobody needing to drag the card.
Frequently asked questions
What is a qualified lead?
It is a contact that meets objective criteria for profile, problem, decision-making power, and purchase timing. Without those criteria written down, the word describes a personal impression, not a state of the deal.
What is the difference between MQL and SQL?
An MQL is a lead marketing considers ready for contact, based on demonstrated interest. An SQL is a lead sales talked to and approved. Friction between the two departments almost always comes from mismatched MQL definitions.
How many qualification questions should I ask?
Few and objective. Four are usually enough: profile, problem, decision, and timing. A long qualification script drives leads away on WhatsApp, where the conversation is short and the patience for interrogation is lower than on a phone call.
Is it worth qualifying a low-order-value lead?
Generally an expensive process is not worth it. When the order value is low and the cycle is short, serving them and finding out is cheaper than filtering. Rigorous qualification pays for itself as the deal value and the salesperson's time per conversation increase.
Who should qualify the lead: marketing or sales?
Both, at different moments. Marketing filters by interest and profile before handing off; sales confirms it in conversation. What does not work is each side having its own criteria, with neither one written down.
Related pages
Related glossary terms
Lead
A contact who has shown some interest in what the business sells and left a way to be reached — not yet qualified by profile or buying moment.
SDR (Sales Development Representative)
A pre-sales professional responsible for qualifying contacts and booking meetings for the closer, without running the negotiation.
Prospecting
The process of identifying and approaching potential customers who have not reached out to the business yet, to turn them into sales opportunities.
Sales pipeline
A representation of the stages a contact moves through from first contact to purchase, used to measure where deals stall and to project revenue.
Conversion milestone
A classification that tells what a funnel stage means — qualification, proposal, won, or lost — so metrics know what to count.
Inbound and outbound
Two opposite acquisition logics: inbound attracts the customer to the business with content; outbound actively reaches out to people who never sought it out.