what is a qualified lead?

A qualified lead is a person or business that has asked for what you sell, fits the kind of customer you serve, and is able to buy. All three have to be true. Miss one and you have an inquiry, not a lead.

That sentence is the easy part. The hard part is agreeing, before any work starts, who checks each of the three and how.

the three tests

They asked. The person raised their hand: a form, a call request, a quote request. Someone who downloaded a PDF, or whose email was bought, has not asked for anything.

They fit. They are the type of customer you actually serve. That usually means the right kind of business or household, in a place you work, at a size you can handle. Write the fit rules down as a short list, not a feeling.

They can buy. They have the need now, or soon, and the authority or budget to act. You rarely know this from a form alone, which is why the definition has to say how it is confirmed, for example a short call or one reply to a question.

why the definition matters more than the number

When a lead is “anyone who filled in the form”, a campaign can look successful while your team spends the week talking to students, competitors and people in the wrong country. The count goes up and the work gets worse.

A written definition changes the conversation. The agency knows what it is aiming at, your team knows what it will be judged on, and a bad week becomes a specific question about one of the three tests instead of an argument about quality.

marketing-qualified and sales-qualified

You will also see leads split into MQLs and SQLs. A marketing-qualified lead (MQL) has passed the first two tests: they asked, and they fit. A sales-qualified lead (SQL) has also passed the third, usually on a first call where your team confirms the need, the budget and who decides.

The split matters for accountability. An agency can control who asks and whether they fit. Whether they can buy is confirmed in your sales conversation, so agree in advance which of the two the agency is counted on.

what to put in writing

• The three tests, in your words.
• Who judges each one, and how quickly.
• What happens to a lead that fails: it is not counted, and the agency is told why.
• Where leads are recorded, so both sides look at the same list.

If you pay for results, this definition is the contract. If you pay a retainer, it is still how you tell whether the retainer is working. Our lead generation service starts with this exercise for exactly that reason.