3 Steps to Building the Perfect MQL Workflow

When a new Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) enters your sales pipeline, what happens next?

Is that MQL left to sit untouched for days? Does a sales rep call the lead once and then forget about it? Does someone call that MQL 15 times in a row?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you need a standardized MQL Workflow for your sales team. This workflow should clearly outline how sales reps handle every net new MQL your marketing team hands off to sales.

These MQLs are incredibly valuable to your business, and you need to know exactly what’s happening to them from the moment they fill out a form and raise their hand. Don’t leave your MQLs to chance. Here’s how to build the best possible MQL Workflow for your sales team.

1. Standardize the Workflow

As long as your reps are calling and engaging with MQLs, does it really matter when they’re doing it? Actually, yes it does. Industry research shows that the sooner sales reps call a new MQL, the more likely they are to connect with the prospect and convert them to a customer. Letting your sales reps engage with MQLs at any time or in any way they choose could hurt your bottom line. Not to mention, it’s not an efficient or scalable process as your team grows.

Here at InsightSquared, the sales team follows a specific MQL workflow with multiple options for engaging with a new lead. Depending on the lead score, they can either accept or disqualify the lead from the start. If they accept the lead, then they can begin the 8-touch sales call cadence of engaging with the lead until they connect. This workflow details every single step in the process of engaging with an MQL, from first call to — hopefully — meeting scheduled.

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2. Build Sales and Marketing Alignment

Every single MQL that is generated by marketing costs your company money, and should be treated as a valuable asset. The discord between sales and marketing often occurs when there is a disagreement about how these MQLs are handled. For example, if your sales reps are disqualifying leads without following the workflow, marketing may feel like your team is throwing money down the drain and wasting valuable business opportunities that they have worked so hard to acquire.

By standardizing this MQL workflow, you ensure your entire team sticks to the Service Level Agreement with marketing. Following these guidelines will guarantee that sales is covering all their bases and give the marketing team confidence in that lead they hand off will be handled appropriately. This workflow aligns with the promises outlined in the SLA, and ensures that every MQL is worked appropriately and disqualified for clear, agreed-upon reasons. Following this process will ensure the agreement never breaks down, eliminating the possibility of error and keeping your marketing team happy with sales.

3. Track the Metrics

Just standardizing and communicating these steps for your sales team isn’t enough. A crucial aspect of the MQL workflow is tracking the metrics so that you can gauge its impact and continually optimize it as your team evolves. You must measure every sales reps’ successes and failures as they move through the process. Is one rep struggling to book meetings despite following the process? Is another not making enough dials to new MQLs? If so, you can track activity metrics and conversion rates through the MQL process to see where reps are falling short.

Take that data and offer your reps metrics-driven sales coaching to help improve their skills and drive up conversion rates within the sales funnel. Once you start using this workflow and coaching your reps accordingly, you should be able to track the results and see an increase in dials, connects and even meetings booked. Your entire sales process will become more organized, more fluid, and will scale easily as your sales team grows.

Don’t let your sales team waste valuable MQLs and miss out on sales opportunities. Take this MQL workflow, customize it for your own sales team, and experience the benefits of a data-driven and highly organized sales team.