Why MQLs Are Letting You Down – And What to Focus on Instead

If you’ve ever received a list of leads from an agency and thought, they’re not bad, but they’re not buying, you're not the only one.

For a long time, the Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) was seen as the benchmark of success. Someone downloads a whitepaper? MQL. Registers for a webinar? That'll do. Clicks an email? Close enough.

But in reality, most MQLs simply aren’t ready to buy. And if your agency’s filling your pipeline with these kinds of leads, it’s likely your sales team is wasting valuable time chasing people who were only ever mildly interested at best.

MQLs: Interest, Not Intent

MQLs are usually the result of early-stage activity – content downloads, form fills, email opens. But that sort of engagement doesn’t necessarily signal purchase intent. In fact, according to Forrester, fewer than 1% of MQLs convert into closed deals. That’s a staggering stat, and it speaks volumes about how much time and budget gets tied up in chasing leads that were never sales-ready in the first place.

This isn’t just inefficient – it’s frustrating. Sales teams are left following up on leads that don't respond or have no real need. Marketing hits their lead targets, but the revenue doesn’t follow.

Sales Ready Leads (SRLs): The Smarter Metric

SRLs, on the other hand, are a completely different story. These are prospects who’ve gone beyond passive content consumption. They’ve engaged in meaningful ways – with your brand and your sales team. They’ve shown real buying signals, often behavioural or contextual, and they’re much further along in the decision-making process.

According to MarketingSherpa, while MQLs convert to SQLs at around 10%, SRLs do so at a rate of 50%. That’s a fivefold increase in efficiency – and a clear argument for rethinking where your focus lies.

It’s About Better Alignment, Not Just Better Leads

One of the biggest problems with the MQL model is that it creates tension between marketing and sales. Marketing celebrates when the MQL volume looks good. Sales, meanwhile, is left to sift through leads that go nowhere.

SRLs help bridge that gap. They’re based on real conversations, genuine signals of readiness, and shared understanding across teams. Sales knows they’re worth speaking to. Marketing knows they’ve moved the needle. Everyone wins.

Smarter Demand Generation

This isn’t about throwing out your top-of-funnel activity. MQLs still have a place – but their role is educational, not transactional. The goal should be to nurture MQLs into SRLs – not to treat every content download as a buying signal.

You need a two-speed demand strategy:

• One stream focuses on educating and nurturing early interest (MQLs).

• The other focuses on identifying and converting intent-rich leads (SRLs).

Done right, this creates a healthier funnel, stronger alignment, and far better use of resources.

Rethinking ROI

If you’re spending with an agency that’s handing over leads based on form fills and scoring logic, it’s worth asking:

• What percentage of these actually speak to sales?

• How many turn into qualified opportunities?

• What’s the cost per SRL – not just per MQL?

Because if the answer is “not many”, then the issue isn’t your sales team. It’s the way you’re defining success.

The Bottom Line

MQLs might still make sense on paper – but in practice, they rarely deliver. They clutter your CRM, slow down your sales team, and make it harder to see what’s really working.

SRLs, on the other hand, offer a clearer path to revenue. They're built on real buying signals, create tighter alignment between teams, and ultimately deliver better ROI from your marketing efforts.

If your agency isn’t prioritising SRLs, it’s worth asking why.

Getting a Predictive, Proactive, and Proven Pipeline with Quantum

At Quantum, we don’t stop at surface-level engagement. We use Propensity Modelling to identify who in the market is most likely to buy – not just who’s opened an email.

By analysing thousands of behavioural, firmographic and contextual data points – collected from multiple, verified data sources – our models predict purchase intent and prioritise accounts based on real buying signals. That means fewer wasted conversations. Higher conversion rates. And marketing spend that delivers real ROI.

We pass on leads that Sales want to speak to – not ones they ignore.

Ready to upgrade your pipeline? We can help.

Talk to us