What is the difference between MQL and SQL?
They are two stages of the same funnel. The MQL, marketing qualified lead, is a contact that fits the profile and has shown enough interest, for example downloading content, visiting the website repeatedly or attending an industry event. Marketing considers it ripe for someone to work, but nobody has validated the opportunity yet.
The SQL, sales qualified lead, has passed that validation. A salesperson has spoken with the contact and confirmed a real need, a plausible budget and a reasonable decision timeline. The distinction prevents two classic failures, sales wasting time on the curious and marketing delivering volume without quality. The threshold between the stages is usually set with a lead scoring model both teams agree on.
How do you qualify a trade show lead?
Leads from a trade show arrive with more signal than those from any other channel, but mixed together. The same badge scanner collects decision-makers with projects, students and salespeople from other vendors. Qualification separates that wheat from the chaff in two steps.
The first is automatic and uses fit. Every captured company gets compared against your ideal customer profile, and the ones that do not fit leave the queue without consuming sales time. The second is human and uses the event’s context. The conversation held at the booth, the notes taken and the meeting accepted say a lot about real interest, and a validation call or email in the following week confirms whether there is a project behind it. Our guide on qualifying trade show leads develops the process with examples and templates.