Just as lawyers grasp that there are many different kinds of evidence, and doctors know that the word “medication” can refer to anything from over-the-counter headache remedies to extremely potent prescription pharmaceuticals, sales professionals know better than anyone else that there is not one, but two distinct classification of marketing leads:
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL).
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) Explained
MQLs are legitimate customers who are reflective of a business’s target audience or, more specifically, its buyer personas. For example, a company that provides professional office relocation services would consider a Facility Manager of a business that is considering a move (potentially, seriously or definitely) to be a MQL.
The word legitimate is stressed above, because some leads aren’t looking for a solution – and therefore, they aren’t essentially customers. They may be conducting research (this is often the case with highly technical products or services), or they may simply be in the wrong place (i.e. looking for a product or service that a business doesn’t offer).
As such, the function of inbound marketing and all other related advertising and marketing strategies – which of course can include offline efforts and conventional “interrupt” marketing as required – is to:
- Filter in legitimate MQLs and filter out folks who have no intention to enter into a transaction at some point in the foreseeable future.
- Usher MQLs along the customer journey by engaging them with various relevant and informative, which can be delivered automatically (e.g. eBooks, Infographics, white papers, datasheets, etc.).
Before moving onto SQLs, it’s important to note:
Businesses need to make sure that they aren’t filtering out MQLs by having poorly developed (or perhaps non-existent) buyer personas. There is a balance to strike between making the net as wide as possible, but not making it TOO wide that it’s no longer a net – and too many non-customers get into the pipeline. Finding this balance is both an analytical and strategic exercise. It’s an ongoing one as well, since buyer personas change over time, as do businesses.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) Explained
SQLs are the types of marketing leads that sales teams CRAVE and LOVE!
This isn’t because SQLs are ready to make a purchase – although every now and then, this is the case. Much more often, SQLs are primed, focused and engaged on solving their problem or achieving their goal and recognize that a specific business (i.e. the one that the sales team works for) could be the right partner.
Furthermore, SQLs almost always derive from MQLs, which means that the business usually has some valuable data on each specific lead. In addition to their name and email (which itself can open the gates to plenty of publicly available information on LinkedIn, Facebook, directories and so on), sales teams may also have information on where they work, when they plan on making a purchase, the issues that they consider a priority, their key concerns, and so on. All of this can be leveraged as part of the sales discussion, whether to neutralize objections, highlight key benefits and features, or most often both.
Once again, inbound marketing helps generate leads by playing a big role in cultivating SQLs and handing them off to the sales team, who can launch their internal process and move towards closing the deal. Inbound marketing also keeps SQLs in the pipeline and on the radar screen by providing stage-specific assets that function as automated sales support tools.
In simpler terms: Instead of a salesperson calling the customer and saying, “Do you have any questions?” or “I have some information that may be helpful to you”, businesses can use inbound marketing to share information and keep the relationship energized – but in a manner that customers find agreeable and non-aggressive.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, not all marketing leads are created equal – and that means they shouldn’t be defined or engaged the same way.
Pure leads (those that aren’t even legitimate customers) should be filtered out at the earliest possible opportunity because focusing on them is a waste of resources and time.
MQLs should be reflective of a business’s buyer personas, brought into the relationship and advanced via inbound marketing along the customer journey.
And SQLs should be picked-up by the sales team, who can engage them one-on-one, while they use inbound marketing to keep the relationship strong throughout a sales cycle.
Learn More
To learn more about buyer personas, MQLs, SQLs and the role that inbound marketing plays in pulling everything together, contact Leap Clixx today. We’ll be pleased to provide you with a free consultation and give your sales team something to smile about!
Topics: Lead Generation
