Marketing-Qualified Lead (MQL)
A lead meeting marketing's threshold of fit and interest, worth sales effort. The B2B pipeline's first quality gate.
Free · no signup · last reviewed August 29, 2026
The definition
A lead meeting marketing's threshold of fit and interest, worth sales effort. The B2B pipeline's first quality gate.
Why it matters to an owner
The owner-scale translation: a lead matching your ICP with a real project. Track the split. 100 leads at 20% qualified is worse than 40 at 80%.
Keep going
LeadA person who raised a hand, form, call, message, with contact info attached. Upstream of p…Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)A specific description of the customer you serve best and profit from most. Industry, size…Sales-Qualified Lead (SQL)A lead vetted by an actual conversation. Real need, budget, timeline. The stage where pipe…
This is the work. Want it done?
Everything here is free to use yourself. That’s the point. If you’d rather a senior marketer just handle it, in your accounts and your name: 20-minute call, no pitch deck.