Sales Qualified Lead
A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospect that the sales team has vetted and confirmed as a genuine opportunity worth active pursuit. Beyond the initial interest that makes a marketing lead, an SQL has met criteria for real need, budget, decision authority, and timing, making it ready to move into the sales pipeline.
An SQL usually follows a Marketing Qualified Lead and a Sales Accepted Lead in the funnel. Sales confirms qualification through discovery calls or research, often using frameworks like BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) to decide whether to convert the contact into an opportunity.
Tracking the MQL-to-SQL conversion rate is a key way to measure lead quality and marketing-to-sales alignment. A common pitfall is inconsistent qualification standards between reps, which makes the metric unreliable; a shared, documented SQL definition keeps the handoff clean.
Last updated: 14 June 2026