SalesB2B ServicesSaaSFinancial ServicesOutputNeeds Revision

Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)

The count of leads that sales has reviewed and accepted as worth actively pursuing, typically after an MQL handoff.

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Business Question Answered

“How much of the demand marketing hands off does sales actually deem worth pursuing?”

What This Tells You

The quality of the marketing-to-sales handoff and initial fit-qualification.

What It Does Not Tell You

Ultimate close likelihood — SQL status only confirms initial fit, not buying intent strength.

Formula & Example Calculation

Count of Leads Accepted by Sales as SQL in the period

Numerator

N/A (count metric)

Denominator

N/A (count metric)

Example

Of 620 MQLs passed to sales, 340 are accepted as SQLs after review. SQLs = 340.

Recommended Dimensions & Segments

SourceSegmentSDR/rep

Recommended visualization: Funnel chart MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Won

Technical Implementation Notes

Track MQL→SQL conversion rate as an SLA metric between marketing and sales; a persistently low rate signals a scoring or definition misalignment, not just execution.

Data Quality Checks

Confirm rejected MQLs are logged with a reason code, not silently dropped

Common Pitfalls

Not tracking why MQLs get rejected as SQLs, which prevents marketing from correcting the lead-scoring model

AI Explanation

Get a conversational, stakeholder-friendly explanation of this KPI, generated on demand.

Metadata

Funnel StageAcquisition

Owner RoleSales Development Manager

CadenceWeekly

Data Sources

CRM