What Is a Sales Qualified Lead?

A conversation that answered the questions a score cannot. Is there a problem the product addresses, is this person in the buying group or able to reach it, is there money, and is there a reason to act in a timeframe you can work with. All four are things someone says, not things a system observes.

The bar is fit and readiness rather than certainty. An SQL is not a deal, it is a lead worth spending selling time on, so a definition strict enough that only near-certain buyers pass will keep the conversion rate flattering and the pipeline empty.

BANT is the oldest and simplest: budget, authority, need, timeline. It works for a straightforward purchase with one decision maker and struggles when a committee is involved, because it has nowhere to record who else has to agree.

MEDDIC covers that case: metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, identify pain, champion. The extra fields are about how the decision gets made rather than whether it should, which is what a longer enterprise cycle needs. Pick one and use it consistently, because a framework applied differently by each seller produces a pipeline nobody can compare.

It goes back with a recorded reason, and the reason is the most valuable output of the whole process. Wrong company size, no budget, already using a competitor and bad timing are four different failures, and only the first two say anything about the targeting.

Rejections without reasons make the qualification step a filter that teaches nothing. With reasons, a pattern in them tells you whether the problem sits in the ideal customer profile, the message or the timing, which is the loop that improves the list rather than just cleaning it.