The qualified marketing lead and qualified sales leads are two very different things. Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are generated from digital channels like email, social media, website traffic and content marketing. 

Sales qualified leads (SQLs) come from in-person meetings or phone conversations with potential customers. Both MQLs and SQLs help grow your business, but they're not created equal.

They both play an important role in your business growth; however, they differ when it comes to qualification criteria: 

MQLs need to be qualified before being passed onto the sales team for follow up and conversion, whereas SQLs can be handed over as soon as a qualified conversation has taken place.

Qualification is paramount for B-to-B sales, turning new business opportunities into leads that your team can follow up on to close deals. 

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are generated from digital channels like email, social media, website traffic and content marketing. Sales qualified leads (SQLs) come from in-person meetings or phone conversations with potential customers.

That implies any discussion between your sales team and the lead won't be absolutely chilly; if marketing did their job correctly, the lead should answer with a "Oh yes" rather than a "Who?" when your salesperson says where they're calling from.

However, not every MQL will be a good fit for your business, which is where sales qualification comes in.

In other words, marketing qualified leads should be considered in terms of quantity, whilst sales qualified leads should be thought of in terms of quality. Before being approached, MQLs must still be qualified by sales.

In the same manner that Usain Bolt must qualify for the Olympics through heats, a MQL becomes a sales qualified lead (SQL) after advancing through the qualifying stages to the final.

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So, which lead has a higher tendency to be of higher quality?

The truth is that there is no conclusive solution to this question.

Qualified leads are important to market since they are much warmer. Someone has already learned about your brand and beliefs if they have read three blog posts, viewed eight emails, downloaded an eBook, or filed an inquiry.

Anyone, however, is welcome to inquire. Your grandmother may read your blogs and download a guide just because she cares about you and is curious about what you're doing.

Even though she's pleasant, she's unlikely to require whatever B2B service you're providing, making her a lousy lead.

SQLs, on the other hand, tend to be higher quality, presuming your BDMs are targeting people who are natural fits for your service.

However, if your marketing is distributed correctly and your messaging is clear, your MQLs may prove to be of higher quality than your SQLs.

There are other factors to consider, like your sector, company size, intended audience, and so on.

The idea is to generate as many leads as possible from various sources while tracking and testing your results to determine which paths provide the highest quality leads before committing more resources to boost your outcomes.

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Why is it so tough to qualify as a lead?

Before we go into recommendations for ensuring successful lead qualification, it's important to understand why many B2B sales teams struggle with the process. 

In order to gather the information you need, many qualification processes entail asking a series of questions to your potential business prospects. 

This can make leads feel uneasy because they aren't learning anything new about your goods and are simply repeating what they already know. 

Because the salesperson is so eager to validate their potential business opportunity, nearly three out of four prospects believe their demands aren't satisfied on the first call.

Sales teams must figure out how to collect the qualifying information they need while also ensuring that the potential buyer is a good fit for their product.

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1) Start lead scoring with your qualified leads.

If you do not have a lead scoring system in place, it is time to get one that will assist you with this process. 

There are many cloud-based platforms out there which allow users the ability to create multiple rules and assign points for different behaviors of prospects, moving them up or down through various stages in your sales process.

Get qualified leads with accurate lead scoring, so you know where to focus your attention and resources. Next steps: 

Callbox Pipeline has a number of qualification criteria set up for marketers who want to ensure the quality of their marketing qualified leads (MQLs). 

You can customize these rules or create new ones based on what is most important to you in your lead qualification process.

You can also access qualified leads using our free webinars . 

We will guide you through the steps of setting up qualified lists and how to keep track of them over time, so that there is no doubt about which leads are most likely to convert into sales opportunities when reaching out to prospects on the phone or via email.

Callbox Pipeline qualified leads can be downloaded in a spreadsheet or csv file, which you can then import into your CRM system for easy tracking and reporting of your qualified sales opportunities and pipeline forecast.

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2) Do some homework before your first call.

Before initiating contact with qualified leads, take the time to familiarize yourself with them and their company. 

If you were selling cloud-based software solutions like Salesforce or Netsuite, would it make sense for you to sell on-premise CRM systems? 

Of course not! Researching prospects will allow you to tailor your first contact to fit their needs and establish rapport with them. 

You can find valuable information about qualified leads, including company size, products or services they are interested in buying at what price range by looking at social media profiles like LinkedIn .

You may obtain basic contact information and a knowledge of your lead's current news and product launches by thoroughly engaging with their business website.

This makes it easier to ask key qualifying questions and receive the information you need. "I have XXX as a contact number for you, is it the best way to reach you?" for example. 

Many sales leads will be eager to elaborate on this yes or no question. Inquiring directly about their phone number isn't as effective.

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3) Begin with BANT.

Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe are all factors that qualified sales leads need to consider before moving forward with a purchase. Start by establishing what budget they have to spend on your product or service? 

What level of authority does the potential buyer hold in making this decision for their business? Do they feel it is necessary at this time? Have they considered all of their options?

These are just some examples of how qualified sales leads can be qualified. It's important to remember that the BANT questions don't represent a script you should follow, instead use them as a guide for your conversations with qualified sales leads.

 This way there is room for dialogue and both parties will know where they stand during the qualified lead generation process.

4) Look to SPIN.

SPIN is an acronym to help guide your qualified sales lead follow-up. S peed, P rospects (qualification), I nterest and N eeds are the four parts of SPIN that will make up qualified leads in your pipeline. 

Lead nurturing campaigns can play a major role in how you qualify prospects because it provides an opportunity to have qualified sales opportunities educated about your company and products. 

You can also use qualified leads to educate prospects by providing them with content like blog posts or whitepapers that will further their understanding of the topic at hand, whether it's product information or industry news.

"Speed up response time between follow-up attempts", "Prospect qualified leads" "Identify qualified sales opportunities in your pipeline", and lastly, "Nurture qualified prospects that are not ready to buy now". 

These are some examples of how you can utilize SPIN.

Asking the right questions is only part of qualifying a prospect as lead generation is an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. 

Ensure qualified sales leads are prepared, qualified and ready to move forward with your company by incorporating SPIN into qualified lead generation strategies.

5) Enrich your data profiles.

Every sales lead should have a data profile, which has all of the information you'll need to engage with them. 

The more information on this profile, from their name and company to their phone number and email address, the easier it will be to engage and manage your pipeline prospects throughout their buyer journey. 

Even little factors like postal address, working hours, and other BANT qualifying information help you better understand your leads and target your approach.

Creating a data profile will instantly alert you to what areas of qualifying data you're missing and what information you'll need to request in your next correspondence.

Some CRMs can assist you in creating the appropriate data profiles for enrichment and even connect them to your lead scoring model. Data is critical to company success; without it, you'd be hard-pressed to clinch a sale.

Many sales teams have a planned qualification process, but only a few have a proper system for capturing qualifying answers and constructing crucial data profiles, which might lead to problems down the road. 

Would you expect your prospect firms to wait until you return if a close family member becomes unwell and you are unable to meet your sales appointments? It's possible that you'll completely miss out on sales possibilities.

To keep the sales funnel running, it makes sense for the meeting to be kept by a colleague.

But how can they pick up this lead account if they don't have access to their data profile and valuable qualification data? 

Ascertain that all critical information may be easily shared among team members. The lead must always come first, so make sure that all of the information associated with their lead account is used on every call and in every message, regardless of who they are from.

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6) Use Lead Forensics to help you qualify qualified leads.

When qualified lead generation is done properly, your company can gain more insight into the buying habits of its clients and prospects alike. 

However, if your team fails to collect qualified data profiles for each prospect they meet with or interact with online, it could have massive repercussions on future sales efforts. 

For example: without accurate data profiles, qualified leads could get lost in the shuffle and your team might be unable to close it.

To ensure that this doesn't happen, you can use lead forensics software. 

This qualified data profiling technology will crawl through all of the information associated with each prospect's account to extract actionable insight into their buying habits so they may become more qualified leads.

Lead Forensics is a qualified data profiling software that crawls through all of the information associated with each prospect's account to extract actionable insight into their buying habits so they may become more qualified leads. This qualified data profiling technology will crawl through all of the information associated with each prospect's account to extract actionable insight into their buying habits so they may become more qualified leads.