Guide to MQL, SAL, SQL Tracking and Definitions

Firstly, you don't have to name your stages MQL, SAL, SQL

Secondly you don't have to use them all

Really what you should do is map out your sales process or customer lifecycle journey. Think about what key milestones are important to your business and set up your model accordingly, things are going to be different depending if you're B2B/B2C, the industry/vertical or length of sales cycle. There are plenty of guides on the web talking about what stages to consider (and the definitions of those stages) as well as how to build a program/model in Marketo, just google Marketo + RCM or Marketo + Lead lifecycle 

Everyone's going to have different opinions. My definitions for the 3 you listed:

MQL - These are leads that have gone through automated filters determining they have met marketing criteria (you do need to go through a thought process on what are your own marketing criteria)

SAL - These are leads that have been handed over to Sales

SQL - These are leads that, after being contacted by Sales, have been determined to be a good fit to do business with

Using the numbers that pass through each stage in a period of time, you can construct a funnel to identify where your processes can be improved

The difficulty with these very widely spread acronyms is that the definition of "Qualified" is multifaceted: when you talk to various people, you get a different definition each time... Plus the fact that the A in MAL / SAL stands sometimes for "assigned", or for "accepted". The last drawbacks with the MQL/SAL/SQL acronyms is that the next step is not straightforward.

This is why we prefer and usually implement:

• Conversation Ready or Call Ready (Meets the criteria to be qualified and called. Next step is picking the phone and calling)
• Sales Ready (Meets the criteria to be managed by sales, lead is handed over to sales)
• Opportunity (= Sales accepted, an opportunity has been created).

Greg