Business Owner's B2B Sales Dictionary: What Do Lead, SQL, MQL Mean?

Every profession has its own language. If you're not familiar with the subject, the discussions might seem like a foreign language from a distant country to you. Especially when abbreviations come into play, the topic can turn into a real mess.

We wanted to gather the abbreviations used in demand generation processes to explain what they stand for. What does "Lead" mean? What is the difference between a Contact and a Lead? Are MQL and SQL different things? How do sales stage and opportunity stage differ?

The meanings of these words can vary slightly from company to company or depending on the CRM and automation systems used. For example, in HubSpot, a person's record is always passed as "Contact" from the first moment to the last, while in Salesforce and other CRMs, it starts as a "lead" and becomes the "contact" of an opportunity if added to one. However, the information shared below will be useful in forming a general understanding.

Demand Generation: A marketing strategy focused on developing interest in a company's products or services. It involves various marketing and communication activities to create brand awareness, nurture interest, and generate potential customers.

Lead: An individual or organization that has shown interest in your product or service. This interest can be expressed through actions such as visiting your website, filling out a form, or engaging with your content.

Contact: A person identified within a company as being relevant to a specific sales or marketing effort. Unlike a potential customer, a contact may have been researched and added to a database for targeted marketing or sales efforts, or may be the person spoken to on the customer side within an opportunity.

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead): A potential customer deemed more likely to become a customer compared to other leads based on intelligence generated by marketing teams. MQLs have engaged with your marketing efforts but are not yet ready to receive a sales call. The sales team needs to review and decide whether to proceed further.

SQL (Sales Qualified Lead): A potential customer evaluated by the sales team as ready for direct sales follow-up. An SQL has shown an intention to purchase your company's products or services and meets the necessary criteria for a closing attempt.

SAL (Sales Accepted Lead): A potential customer accepted by the sales team for follow-up. It indicates that the sales team agrees the lead meets the qualification criteria and is worth pursuing.

SAO (Sales Accepted Opportunity): A lead that has progressed to a certain stage. The definition of sales steps varies by company, but commonly this stage indicates a higher level of interest and engagement from the potential buyer, which might have progressed to detailed product presentations, demos, offers, etc.

Opportunity: A customer identified as having potential for a sales deal. Opportunities represent a higher level of qualification than leads or contacts, including details such as deal size, purchase timeline, and closing probability.

Sales Stage: The steps a lead goes through in the sales process from first contact to closing the deal. Common stages include Lead, MQL, SQL, Opportunity, and Closed Won/Lost. Each stage represents a step closer to making a sale. In some CRM applications, it can also be named Life Cycle Stage (e.g., HubSpot).

Opportunity Stage: The process an opportunity goes through from initial meetings to closure. As the process progresses, the likelihood of closing the opportunity increases. It might be numbered or have different names like presentation, demo, scope study, offer, POC (Proof of Concept), negotiation, contract, etc.

Lead Nurturing: The process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel. It involves listening to the needs of potential customers and providing the information and answers they need.

Lead Scoring: A methodology used to rank potential customers on a scale representing the perceived value they hold for the organization. The score helps determine which leads should be prioritized for engagement.

Conversion Rate: The percentage of leads that move from one stage of the sales funnel to another. High conversion rates indicate effective demand generation and lead management processes.

Pipeline: The set of active ongoing sales deals. It is a visual representation of where potential customers are in the sales process.

If you want to see the marketing side of this glossary, don't forget to fill out our contact form and add your note!

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