The truth is that lead generation, and consequently the generation of qualified leads, has been a topic that has been discussed for almost two decades. There is little that has not been said yet.
The real search for the best qualified lead generation techniques will be in this little bit . And this knowledge is only obtained through practice.
Here at Adtail we are experts in generating qualified leads, both through paid media and organic work.
Today we are going to talk in more detail about these secrets that only come with experience, seeking to understand how the generation of qualified leads happens and how it could be happening in your company.
What is a lead and what is a qualified lead?
For us to understand what a qualified lead is, we germany email list to start by understanding what exactly a lead is.
A lead is any person who has left their contact information with you and allowed further communication from your company.
It works like this: you, browsing the internet, found some really cool material about something related to your area.
A whitepaper, a success story , an e-book, a free course, a webinar: the type of material doesn't matter. What matters is that, in order to download it, you will need to leave your email and allow us to contact you later.
Important: Today, it is entirely possible for someone to download your material, leave their contact information, but not allow future communications.
This is a requirement of the LGPD. In this case, the brand cannot contact the person, who cannot be considered a lead either — at least not yet.
In the future, as it comes into contact with new materials, it may convert again and allow contact.
In fact, this is the main argument in favor of having a wide variety of conversion points on your website . By offering a newsletter, for example, you ensure that everyone who converts to receive it will accept receiving future communications.
What is the difference between leads and qualified leads?
A qualified lead comes with an extra feature that makes all the difference: it fits into your Ideal Customer Profile.
This Profile is also known as ICP, and is the natural evolution of one of the oldest marketing techniques in the world: knowing and formalizing who your target audience is.
The thing is, ICP is a little different from Target Audience. While the latter seeks to understand who are the people who will be impacted by your product and are interested in it, ICP seeks to illustrate who your most attractive customer is.
Here’s a quick example: You open a drone store. Your target audience could range from amateur videographers to gadget-loving teens.
But your ICP determines who are the people most likely to buy and increase your average ticket.
In the case of the drone store, people who use the devices professionally, for example.
So, we can determine a qualified lead as someone entered into your ICP and converted into a lead.
But there are not only qualified and unqualified leads. There are some other variations that are also interesting to talk about before we continue with the text.
The types of qualified leads according to their stage in the funnel
Qualified leads are also divided into a few other types of leads: MQLs, SQLs, SALs, and PQLs.
They are related to the stage they are at in the Sales Funnel and also in the Customer Journey.
Just a quick point: Sales Funnel and Customer Journey are similar terms, but they are not synonymous.
The Funnel is related to the journey a lead takes within your Lead Nurturing models. It is a way of understanding the steps you take to transform that lead into a sale.
The Customer Journey is similar, but the focus is on the actions that the customer himself takes.
All of this, of course, talking about a digital marketing strategy, more specifically an Inbound Marketing strategy .
Understanding what stage a qualified lead is at is very important for organizing your work. This is the only way you will be able to create an updated dashboard that shows in real time how your efforts to convert and nurture leads are going.
Important: throughout the text, we will talk more about marketing automation and creating dashboards. What are MQLs?
MQLs are marketing-qualified leads. They are the first stage within the Sales Funnel after the Lead Nurturing efforts carried out by the marketing team.
It works like this: you are generating leads, some of which are qualified leads.
This is important: not all the leads you generate will be qualified leads. In fact, most of them won’t be, but that doesn’t make them any less relevant.
These qualified leads that you are generating need to be treated by marketing through Lead Nurturing — emails sent with more offers, more materials, newsletters, invitations to webinars, etc.
This is also when you put your Lead Scoring strategies into practice: for each interaction with your brand, you determine a score.
For example: downloaded an e-book — 5 points. Subscribed to the newsletter: 3 points. And so on.
When a lead reaches a certain score — which you determine — within this scheme, it has been qualified by marketing and is ready to move on to the next stage:
What are SQLs?
The next step is to hand over the leads that have reached this score to the sales team.
Now, she is the one who will start treating you, but with a different approach: less focus on content marketing and a greater focus on offers and sales opportunities.
MQLs, the previous stage, work primarily at the Top of the Sales Funnel. While SQLs transition between the Middle of the Funnel and the Bottom of the Funnel.
It is the salespeople's responsibility to take these leads that are in the Middle of the Funnel and advance them to the last stage, the Bottom of the Funnel, turning them into Sales Qualified Leads, or SQLs.
This is also done through Lead Scoring, but with different strategies and approaches. Here, personalized demonstrations, product demo offers, sending comparisons, webinars focusing on product tutorials, case studies, etc. come into play.
When this qualified lead reaches the score determined by Lead Scoring, it advances to the most critical stage: the one that will generate the sale.
What are SALs?
SALs are Sales Approved Leads .
These are leads that have already gone through the sales team's qualification process and are now ready to receive direct offers.
The strategies here are much more direct. There is no more discussion: the lead has already gone through an entire content journey and no longer needs to know more about the product and its sales conditions.
This is the moment to close. Direct calls offering the product and good conditions, scheduling meetings, discount coupons: this is the moment to generate the sale.
But there is still one last category, which is more related to your performance and is especially important for companies that operate in the SaaS sector.
Let's talk about her now:
What are PQLs?
Within the SaaS category, there is no qualification level or Lead Scoring score more important than product testing.
All marketing objectives are aimed at ensuring that your target audience gets to know the product in practice by testing it.
When the lead takes this test, it is entered into the PQL category — Product Qualified Lead.
In the case of SaaS companies, this category is inserted just below MQLs. The truth is that testing is the main objective of the marketing department, and most SQLs and SALs for this type of company will also be made up of PQLs.
Once the test is completed by the lead, they immediately jump to the Bottom of the Funnel, and start receiving offers, discounts and Bottom of the Funnel materials.
Is everything okay so far? Well, we've finished the theoretical part of the text. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment at the end of the text.