Introduction
There’s been a lot of chatter in B2B marketing circles about the "necessary shifts" businesses must make to stay competitive in 2025. One persistent theme? The long-standing friction between Sales and Marketing, fueled by the way companies handle Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs).
Personally, I love MQLs - mostly out of nostalgia.
My teams fought for them. Defined them. Built entire demand-gen engines around them. Sat in conference rooms, whiteboarding lead-scoring models, debating engagement thresholds, and convincing skeptical sales teams that, yes, this webinar attendee was worth a follow-up. We spent years getting leadership to understand why a "Marketing Qualified Lead" actually mattered—why it wasn’t just a vanity metric, but a meaningful step toward revenue.
And now? I hate to admit, but MQLs are relics of a past era, casualties of shifting buyer behavior, AI-driven personalization, and the undeniable reality that a lead filling out a form just isn’t what it used to be. It’s a little sad, honestly. We put in the work. But, it’s time to admit that MQLs had their moment—and that moment has passed. It's time for an optimized approach.
In 2025, the most effective way to align Sales and Marketing is to shift the handoff metric from MQLs to Qualified Meetings Completed. This ensures that what gets passed to Sales is a real opportunity—a prospect who has expressed buying intent and meets clear qualification criteria. This shift not only streamlines the sales process but also fosters greater trust between teams, leading to better outcomes for the business.
The Problem with MQLs as a Handoff Metric
MQLs have long been the standard, but they come with inherent challenges. They are often based on weak engagement signals—downloading a whitepaper or attending a webinar—rather than real buying intent.
In a traditional B2B buyer journey, a prospect first becomes a lead, then an MQL (Marketing believes they could become a customer), followed by a Sales Accepted Lead (SAL), and finally a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), where Sales agrees they have real potential.
The handoff at the MQL stage is a frequent source of tension. Marketing works hard to generate and nurture leads, yet Sales often feels these leads aren’t ready to buy or are ready for meaningful conversation. The result? Sales wastes time, Marketing feels undervalued, and the business suffers from misalignment.
Even worse, the definition of an MQL varies wildly between companies, leading to inconsistent expectations and unreliable performance metrics. Marketing is incentivized to hit MQL quotas, while Sales cares about closing deals. This misalignment creates friction and inefficiencies, making it harder to drive revenue growth.
The real issue? MQLs focus on engagement, not intent. Just because someone filled out a form doesn’t mean they have buying authority or a clear need. This leads to wasted resources and a disconnect between Marketing’s pipeline goals and Sales’ revenue targets.
The Case for "Qualified Meetings Completed"
The shift to Qualified Meetings Completed as the new handoff point eliminates the ambiguity surrounding lead quality. A meeting with a qualified prospect ensures that Sales is only working real opportunities—no more debating whether a lead is "good enough."
A Qualified Meeting means the prospect:
Fits the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Has a clear business need
Demonstrates real intent
Involves decision-makers or key influencers
With this approach, Marketing remains responsible for generating demand but focuses on ensuring that leads progress to a meaningful sales conversation—not just an arbitrary engagement threshold.
This shift also changes how success is measured. Instead of celebrating MQL volume, Marketing is now judged on its ability to generate high-quality conversations that convert into revenue. This fosters true alignment with Sales and eliminates the need for back-and-forth debates about lead quality.
What Is a Qualified Initial Meeting?
A Qualified Meeting Completed is a initial scheduled conversation between Sales and a prospect who has met specific criteria indicating they are ready for a meaningful sales discussion. Unlike MQLs, which are based on engagement signals, a Qualified Meeting Completed ensures that Sales is speaking with a prospect who has demonstrated genuine buying intent.
The criteria to be qualified, the business could use defined BANT process, or could include the following:
The prospect fits the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) (industry, company size, job role, etc.).
There is a clear business need or pain point that aligns with your solution.
The prospect has shown active interest, such as requesting a demo or discussing challenges your product solves.
A decision-maker or key influencer is present in the conversation.
By shifting the handoff metric to Qualified Meeting Completed, businesses ensure that Sales teams are engaging with prospects who are truly ready to buy—leading to higher conversion rates, better efficiency, stronger collaboration between Sales and Marketing, and aligning teams on revenue.
Business Benefits of This Approach
This model provides clear, measurable benefits across the organization:
True Revenue Alignment – Every lead that reaches Sales has demonstrated buying intent, making revenue contribution easier to track and optimize.
Stronger Sales-Marketing Trust – Instead of debating MQL quality, teams can collaborate on refining qualification criteria and improving the sales process.
Greater Agility in Qualification – If conversion rates drop, it’s easier to tweak meeting qualification criteria rather than reworking an entire MQL strategy.
More Predictable Pipeline Performance – When meetings are truly qualified, forecasting and revenue planning become far more accurate.
What Happens to MQLs?
MQLs still serve a purpose—but they should remain within Marketing’s domain rather than acting as a pass-off to Sales. Instead of treating them as sales-ready, Marketing should leverage MQLs for ongoing nurturing, ensuring they move toward true sales-readiness.
To make the most of MQLs, Marketing should:
Use them to refine targeting and messaging.
Implement strategic nurturing campaigns to guide them toward a qualified meeting.
Apply AI and automation to identify which MQLs are progressing and which need more time.
By keeping MQLs as a Marketing metric, the team can optimize its strategies without setting Sales up for failure. This approach leads to better conversion rates and a more efficient revenue engine.
Where Does AI Fit In?
AI is a game-changer in making this shift work seamlessly.
On the Marketing side, AI can:
Engage website visitors in real time with intelligent chatbots that qualify and schedule meetings.
Use predictive analytics to prioritize leads with the highest likelihood of conversion.
Automate personalized email sequences that nurture leads until they’re ready for a conversation.
On the Sales side, AI enhances efficiency by:
Summarizing call transcripts and extracting key insights to streamline follow-ups.
Automating timely engagement, ensuring no promising lead slips through the cracks.
Using AI-powered forecasting to predict deal success and optimize sales strategies.
The integration of AI enables both teams to work smarter, ensuring that only the best opportunities move forward.
Making the Shift: How to Implement This Model
Redefine What "Qualified Meeting" Means – Sales and Marketing must agree on precise criteria for what constitutes a qualified meeting.
Leverage AI and Automation – Use technology to ensure that only high-intent leads reach the meeting stage.
Establish a Feedback Loop – Regular syncs between Sales and Marketing ensure that qualification criteria remain relevant and effective.
Measure Success by Revenue, Not MQLs – Move beyond lead volume and focus on meetings booked, meetings completed, and pipeline contribution.
Continuously Optimize – Use real conversion data to refine strategies and improve lead nurturing efforts.
Conclusion
MQLs aren’t the enemy—but they shouldn’t be the defining metric for Sales handoff. The shift to Qualified Meetings Completed creates a more effective, revenue-focused approach that eliminates friction between teams. By embracing this model and leveraging AI, businesses can ensure that their pipeline is filled with real opportunities, not just vanity metrics.
It’s time to move beyond the MQL debate and focus on what actually matters: getting qualified buyers into meaningful sales conversations and closing more deals.