Qualified Lead
A prospect who has been vetted, either by marketing behavior (MQL) or sales criteria (SQL), as being a good fit and ready for a conversation.
A qualified lead is a prospect whose firmographic data, budget, business need, and engagement behavior demonstrate a high likelihood of converting into a paying customer.
Common Qualification Frameworks
- BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. Traditional and direct.
- MEDDPICC: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Paper Process, Identify Pain, Champion, Competition (widely utilized in enterprise B2B sales).
- Product Qualified Leads (PQLs): Users of a freemium or free trial who hit key product activation thresholds signaling readiness for a paid upgrade.