Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) - these three letters have long been the holy grail in the B2B world. They stood for the big dream of packing potential customers into the marketing funnel, sprinkling a little content magic on top, and voilà - the deal is practically on the doorstep.
Now for the reality check:
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It's time to admit it: MQLs are yesterday's news. What was once celebrated as a clever KPI has long since turned out to be a massive obstacle. Instead of generating deals, MQLs divide marketing and sales and cause frustration on both sides.
It's time to focus on what really matters. Find out why MQLs are outdated and how you can finally get your marketing and sales team on track with a new approach.
MQLs were originally intended to simplify the process: Marketing collects potential customers (leads) and filters out those who appear “ready to buy”. These are passed on to sales, who then close the deal - sounds simple, right?
The problem with MQLs is the quality. Marketing chases the MQL mass: the more MQLs, the better. The result? Marketing hands over huge quantities of leads, the majority of which never had the slightest impulse to buy, no signals. And what happens then? Sales desperately tries to work these leads, only to hear at the end of the month: “Those leads were all garbage!”
Frustration on both sides. Marketing has met its quotas, but Sales is left with a mountain of worthless contacts. Instead of closing deals, the team spends time weeding out bad leads. There is no real collaboration, no shared success. A wedge is driven between the teams.
Imagine your marketing and sales teams actually working hand in hand. No wild back-and-forth with masses of unqualified leads, no mutual recriminations - but clear processes, measurable results and real, qualified contacts that have the potential to turn into customers.
How does that sound? This is where the Weighted Qualified Pipeline comes in, with real, qualified connections.
Instead of focusing on quantity, this pipeline focuses on the quality of the leads. It's about building a pipeline that offers real opportunities to close deals - not just numbers for reporting. And the best part? Marketing and sales are working towards the same goal here, with a common KPI that everyone can understand.
At the heart of this approach is Qualified Connections. Instead of reaching out to every lead who has just entered their name and email address into a form, marketing focuses on relationships. A Qualified Connection is far more than a mere record - it's a real connection to a potential customer who gains meaning through interactions and interests.
The goal is not to book as many meetings as possible or push leads through the pipeline, but to create a qualified pipeline filled with valuable relationships. These connections are genuine, relevant and have the potential to lead to long-term customer relationships.
You're probably asking yourself: “Sounds good, but how do I put it into practice?”
This is where the Weighted Qualified Pipeline comes into play. This pipeline is weighted, meaning that each deal is evaluated based on its probability of closing. For example, a deal that is 70% likely to be closed could be entered into the pipeline - with the expected turnover. This creates a pipeline that reflects the real value in CHF/€ that potential customers bring with them.
How do you measure this? Here is an example:
The best thing about this approach? Marketing and Sales finally have the same KPI. Both teams are working towards a common goal: a pipeline that is based on actual opportunities rather than pure numbers.
The Weighted Qualified Pipeline creates a new level of transparency. Everyone in the team, from the CEO to sales, understands how much potential there really is in the pipeline and which deals have the highest chances of success. This new clarity not only helps to avoid frustration, but also to strengthen collaboration between marketing and sales.
It's time to say goodbye to the old MQLs. They have done their job, but their time is over. With a qualified pipeline and qualified connections, you can build real, valuable relationships - and it pays off.
Marketing and sales are finally pulling in the same direction. The result? More deals, less frustration. Welcome to the era of Qualified Connections - and out with the MQL craze!