MQL and SQL
Marketing qualified lead: someone whose behaviour and fit suggest sales-readiness by marketing's criteria. Sales qualified lead: one sales has accepted as a real opportunity. The handoff definitions matter more than the acronyms - most marketing-and-sales friction lives in the gap between the two.
Where it's used
Used in B2B funnel reporting and sales agreements. Good for making both teams define what counts before they argue about who failed.
How to calculate it
Acceptance rate = SQLs ÷ MQLs
Close rate = Customers ÷ SQLs
Worked example
Illustrative numbersMarketing reports 800 MQLs in a quarter. Sales accepts 120 of them as SQLs, and 30 of those become customers.
MQL to SQL
120 SQLs ÷ 800 MQLs = 15%
SQL to customer
30 customers ÷ 120 SQLs = 25%
MQL to customer
30 customers ÷ 800 MQLs = 3.75%
What it tells you
At 15% acceptance, sales is rejecting most of what marketing counts as a win. Sit down together and rewrite the MQL definition.