What Is a Sales Qualified Lead?
SQL definition, qualification criteria, and the difference between an MQL and an SQL.
Definition
A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospect that has been vetted by an SDR and confirmed to have the need, authority, and budget to justify an Account Executive's time in a commercial conversation.
Why it matters
SQLs protect AE time. An AE working only with SQLs closes deals at a significantly higher rate than one who takes every call that lands in the calendar. The SQL is the output of successful SDR qualification and the input to the AE's commercial pipeline. The quality of the SQL definition is the hinge on which the entire revenue operation turns. A loosely defined SQL floods AEs with poor opportunities. A tightly defined SQL produces predictable close rates and accurate revenue forecasting.
In practice
An SDR has a 20-minute qualifying call with a Director of Operations at a logistics company. She confirms the company has 150 employees (ICP match), the Director has sign-off authority for operational software up to $30K, the business is losing 12 hours per week to manual freight reconciliation (genuine pain), and a decision is needed before the end of Q2 (live timeline). The SDR marks the lead SQL, books a 45-minute demo with the AE, and sends a pre-meeting briefing note covering all four qualification points.
Frequently asked
What is a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?
A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospect that has been vetted by a Sales Development Representative and confirmed to have genuine need, decision-making authority, allocated budget, and a relevant timeline for purchase. SQLs are passed from the SDR team to Account Executives for commercial follow-up. The SQL designation protects AE time by ensuring they only engage prospects who have already passed a basic qualification threshold.
What is the difference between an MQL and an SQL?
>An MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is a lead flagged by marketing based on engagement signals such as content downloads or website activity. An SQL is a lead that a sales rep has personally spoken to and confirmed meets qualification criteria for a commercial conversation. MQLs come from marketing activity. SQLs come from SDR qualification conversations. Not all MQLs become SQLs.
How do you qualify a lead as an SQL?
>A lead is qualified as an SQL through a discovery conversation where the SDR confirms: the company matches the ICP, the contact has relevant decision-making authority, a genuine problem exists that the product addresses, and there is some indication of timeline or urgency. Most teams use BANT as their qualification framework. Once all criteria are met, the lead is marked SQL and passed to the AE with a meeting booked.
What SQL to closed-won rate should a B2B team expect?
>A well-run B2B sales team with rigorous SQL qualification should expect a 20 to 35 percent SQL to closed-won rate. Rates below 15 percent typically indicate the SQL qualification bar is too low and AEs are spending time on unqualified opportunities. Rates above 40 percent are possible with very tight ICP definition and senior-level deal involvement from the first meeting.
Every meeting Rev-Empire books is pre-qualified against your ICP and BANT criteria.Your AE team receives SQLs, not raw leads.
Related terms
