SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)

A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a lead that has cleared the qualification bar and is ready to be worked as an active deal. The distinction between a lead and an SQL matters because not all leads are worth a salesperson’s time. An SQL has been assessed — usually during a discovery call — and confirmed to have the need, the budget authority, and a timeline that makes a deal realistic.

The most common qualification framework is BANT: Budget (can they afford it?), Authority (is this person the decision-maker?), Need (do they have the problem your product solves?), and Timeline (when are they looking to make a decision?). Modern teams often replace BANT with MEDDIC or MEDDPICC for more complex enterprise deals.

SQL vs MQL

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead that marketing has flagged as potentially interesting based on behaviour (downloaded a guide, attended a webinar, visited pricing). An SQL is one that sales has evaluated and confirmed. Many outbound-generated leads skip the MQL stage entirely — an SDR books a meeting, the AE runs a discovery call, and the lead becomes an SQL or gets disqualified.

What happens when an SDR generates an SQL

In a typical outbound motion, an SDR finds a prospect, books a meeting, the AE runs discovery, and that meeting either becomes an SQL (moves to active pipeline) or gets disqualified. The ratio of meetings to SQLs is a key metric for evaluating SDR targeting quality.

Related concepts

SQLs feed into pipeline and are the handoff point between the SDR function (prospecting, booking) and the AE function (discovery, closing).