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    Glossary›SQL
    Glossary · Metric

    What is Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?

    Definition

    A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospective customer that both marketing and sales have agreed meets the necessary criteria for a direct sales conversation or proposal. SQLs have validated budget, authority to purchase, clear need, and relevant timeline—collectively known as BANT. This designation signals that a lead is genuinely ready to evaluate a purchase and justifies dedicated sales resources.

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    BANT CriteriaSales ProcessDeal StageConversionPipelineRevenueSQL
    In short

    SQL at a glance.

    Sales confirms ready for direct engagement
    Meets BANT or similar qualification framework
    Higher conversion potential than MQL
    Justifies dedicated sales resource allocation

    Qualifying a SQL

    Sales qualification involves verification calls or discovery conversations where reps confirm the prospect has genuine need, budget availability, and decision authority. Common frameworks include BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) or MEDDIC (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion). The goal is to filter out disqualified leads early, protecting sales capacity for deals with realistic close potential.

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    SQL — frequently asked

    Typically a sales development rep (SDR) or account executive conducts the qualification conversation and applies the organization's SQL criteria. Some organizations use scoring to flag candidate SQLs, but human verification is important because scoring can miss context that a conversation reveals.

    Most B2B SaaS businesses see SQL-to-deal-close rates of 15-30%, depending on industry, contract value, and sales process maturity. Enterprise software is often higher (25-40%), while very low-ticket products may be lower (5-15%). Tracking your own baseline helps you spot process improvements.

    Use a clear, written qualification checklist that reps apply to every prospect call. Have sales managers review early SQLs to validate quality. Track SQL quality by cohort to find which sources, campaigns, or reps are sending higher-quality leads, then replicate and coach accordingly.

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