Marketing Qualified Lead vs Sales Qualified Lead: The Ultimate Breakdown

Jade Javier
Apr 29
2 min read

When you’re scaling a business and investing in paid traffic, the last thing you want is a misalignment between marketing and sales. The root of this issue often comes down to one thing: not clearly defining what makes a lead marketing qualified vs sales qualified.

At YRV Dynamics, we’ve worked with dozens of brands where the sales team was chasing the wrong leads—and the result? Wasted ad spend, frustrated teams, and stalled growth. In this post, we’ll break down what MQLs and SQLs really are, why the distinction matters, and how to structure your funnel for both.

What is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)?

An MQL is a lead that has shown interest in your business based on marketing efforts but isn’t quite ready to buy yet. These are leads that have engaged, but haven't taken a high-intent step.

MQL Examples:

Downloaded a guide or eBook
Clicked on multiple ads
Spent time on key pages like Pricing or Case Studies
Signed up for your newsletter or webinar

✅ Think of MQLs as “curious window shoppers.” They’re worth nurturing—but not selling to just yet.

What is a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?

An SQL is a lead that’s been vetted by marketing and is ready to move forward with a sales conversation. They’ve either raised their hand to talk or taken a clear, high-intent action.

SQL Examples:

Booked a discovery call
Filled out a quote request form
Replied to a sales outreach email
Took product demo action

🚀 SQLs are “ready buyers.” These are the leads your sales team should be prioritizing.

MQL vs SQL: How They Move Through the Funnel

Let’s visualize the difference:

As you can see:

MQLs enter the funnel early during awareness and consideration phases.
SQLs appear later—after a level of intent has been demonstrated.

Understanding this difference helps you tailor messaging and goals at each stage.

Why This Distinction Matters

Without clear definitions, your teams will work in silos. Here’s what’s at stake:

Mistake	Impact
Sending MQLs to sales too early	Sales wastes time on cold leads
Mislabeling SQLs as MQLs	You miss out on ready-to-close deals
Using wrong KPIs	Marketing celebrates “leads” that never convert

✅Aligning on MQL vs SQL ensures that everyone is optimizing for revenue, not vanity metrics.

How We Align MQLs and SQLs at YRV

Here’s how we do it for our clients:

Lead Scoring Framework: We assign scores based on intent signals (behavioral + demographic).
Ad Set Segmentation: We run separate campaigns for awareness (MQL) and bottom-funnel (SQL).
Sales Feedback Loop: Our clients’ sales teams report back on quality to constantly refine targeting.
Automated Routing: Using lead forms with conditional logic to send SQLs directly to the sales calendar.