The Power of Sales Qualified Leads

Sales qualified leads are beloved by salespeople everywhere. They can turn the often frustrating, time-intensive task of prospecting into an efficient (and satisfying) method for quick conversions. With the right process, good resources, and a bit of experience, you’re well on your way to watching prospects become customers. 

What is a sales qualified lead?

A sales qualified lead (SQL) is someone who has passed the first stage of lead generation as a marketing qualified lead (MQL). When the marketing department decides that a warm lead is ready for some kind of direct contact, they pass their list of top MQLs to sales.   

With SQLs at the ready, the sales team reaches out to the lead through phone or email, makes a pitch, and hopefully closes a deal. 

Examples of sales qualified leads

There is no set, permanent, taught-in-school standard for when an MQL becomes an SQL. Your team’s lead scoring process will highlight the leads with the best chance of conversion. But this list of leads will constantly be revised as sales metrics tell you more about which MQLs and SQLs finally become customers in response to new marketing ideas, sales campaigns, product changes, and so on. For this reason, the types of leads that are seen as most promising will frequently change. Still, there are some actions that can indicate when a lead is ready to be approached as an SQl, like: 

• Asking for pricing info
• Contacting the sales department
• Engaging with a chatbot on the website
• Using a demo version of your product as part of a free trial

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SQLs vs. MQLs

One of the ways to differentiate between MQLs and SQLs is to take a look at the intent data that’s been recorded for each. To put it simply, an SQL is a lead that has shown a strong engagement intent signal, AKA a buying signal. In contrast, MQLs aren’t quite there yet; they want a bit more information and engagement before they’re ready to start talking about making a purchase. Examples of MQL actions include things like:

• Following your social media activity
• Clicking on a CTA
• Downloading product literature

What is a sales qualified lead vs. an opportunity?

Whereas an MQL is further away from becoming a customer than an SQL, an opportunity is a lead that has a very good chance of making a buy. Think of an opportunity as the “pointy” end of the sales funnel; they are hot hot hot. Meanwhile, SQLs will be a little further up the funnel. So, if you are using a five stage funnel, SQLs will be at the intent stage, and opportunities will be at the conversion stage.

How do you determine sales qualified leads?

As mentioned, SQLs get high grades in a lead scoring framework. But how do you know that they’re likely to buy? One way is to simply call the lead, especially if they have already shown strong purchase intent.

Another way is to know when a prospect is likely to buy is to leverage intent data. Platforms like Lusha automate the process of analyzing behavioral signals to determine a prospect company’s purchase potential. Then you can use that info to help you with a “warm outbound” approach, helping open doors and cut your deal cycle time by reaching out to prospects who are actively interested in what you’re selling.

Regardless of your approach, you’ll probably work according to a scoring model. One of the most popular models for evaluating SQLs is called BANT. There are others, of course, but BANT (which was actually invented by IBM) has been around since the 1950s, so it’s tried and true. Let’s break down BANT into something more than an acronym:

Budget

Show me the money! The lead might be everything that you are looking for, but if they can’t afford the product or are more interested in something up-market of what you are selling, then they definitely can’t qualify. Some of the signals that you can look into are:

• Revenue – Is the company earning six, seven, or more digits?
• Industry economics – Do the forecasts look good for the lead’s industry?
• Size – Is the lead one that fits your Ideal Customer Profile?
• Technographics – Have they previously purchased systems at a similar cost level?
• Season – Are they nearing the end of their yearly purchasing funds?

Authority

Every lead represents a company, but the person on the other end of the line might not have the power to make a purchasing decision. Waste of time? Not necessarily. Establishing a healthy rapport with any stakeholder is never a bad idea. With a good pitch, you might turn them into a fan who convinces the actual decision maker to go for it–and get some inside information at the same time. 

Eventually, however, you’ll need to talk to somebody who can sign on the bottom line. Going back to our stakeholder, they might be able to put you two in touch. But if you want to go straight for it, certain types of data might be your best bet–for instance:

• Employee profiles – give you information about who in the organization does the buying
• Titles – hint at what a person’s role is and where they are in the hierarchy

Need

Some MQLs might just be browsing your website, or building up their general knowledge by downloading a white paper. How do you separate them from SQLs? There are indicators that suggest whether they have more than just a passing interest in your product:

• Recent announcements – Is the lead’s organization expanding or contracting? Have they announced a new strategy or released a new product? Are they creating hype through increased social media activity?
• New hires – Has the target company recently brought on board a manager for a new department, or people for a new division?
• New competitors – Are there competing companies in the market that will motivate the lead to up their game with your product?
• Buying signals – Is the lead showing strong buying signals for a topic related to what you sell?

Time Frame

Even if you’re not a Jordan Belfort lover, you can still admit that urgency is an important part of conversion. Understanding if a lead wants to buy now, or when they get around to it, is a final and essential qualifier. How can you get some hints about how long a purchase might take? Try looking at the size of the organization, which can indicate the complexity of the purchase process. Look at their industry, too – companies in certain industries might have a typically longer purchase cycle than others. 

Key Takeaways

• A sales qualified lead has been identified by a lead scoring system as someone who is ready for direct contact from the sales department.
• SQLs are derived from marketing qualified leads; the sales leads with the highest potential are known as sales opportunities.
• You can determine an SQL by using the BANT framework and looking at intent signals to figure out if the lead has the budget, authority, need, and purchasing time frame that suits your goals.