A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead that has met defined marketing criteria indicating readiness for sales follow-up. Qualification typically combines demographic fit (job title, company size, industry matching ICP), behavioral signals (downloaded gated content, attended webinar, requested demo), and engagement scoring (lead score above threshold). The MQL designation triggers handoff from marketing to the sales team (typically the SDR or BDR team) for outreach and qualification. It's the bridge between marketing-generated awareness and sales-driven pipeline.
The MQL → SQL → Opportunity progression: