MQL vs SQL (Marketing Qualified Lead vs Sales Qualified Lead)
GLOSSARY
Definition
An MQL is a lead that marketing deems ready for sales based on engagement signals: they downloaded three whitepapers, attended a webinar, and visited the pricing page. An SQL is a lead that sales has accepted and is actively working. The gap between the two is where most marketing-sales friction lives.
Why it matters
The MQL/SQL framework comes from the SiriusDecisions (now Forrester) demand waterfall model from 2006. It made sense when marketing's job was to fill the top of a funnel and sales caught whatever fell out. The problem is that the handoff criteria are usually negotiated once, written into a service-level agreement, and never revisited. Marketing says they delivered 500 MQLs. Sales says 480 were junk. Both are probably right.
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Related terms
CRM · Marketing automation · Deliverability · ABM · Customer journey