What is a qualified lead and how is it treated in your company? A rather simple question, but too often a gap between marketing and sales opens up. Especially if you want to work with account based marketing. Because then the classic MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) does not go far enough – instead you should think in MQAs: Marketing Qualified Accounts.
MQL vs. MQA: What’s the difference?
Simply put, an MQL is a single person, while an MQA refers to the entire company and therefore usually to a group of leads. This obviously makes sense in B2B marketing, as there are usually several people involved in a B2B customer’s purchase decision. If, however, we no longer regard inbounds as persons but as accounts, the way in which we have to deal with them changes.
Advantages of MQAs compared to MQLs
The account perspective allows your marketing and sales team a more holistic view of the company as a customer – beyond the concrete contact person(s). This allows much more precise assumptions to be made about this account:
- Does it have an acute need for a product like yours?
- How great is its concrete interest?
- Where is it in the buying process?
- Does it have potential for up-selling and cross-selling?
- …
By merging the information about your leads into accounts, you gain a deeper knowledge about the respective company. Especially if you enrich your database with data from a third-party source such as the Implisense API or Companies and Markets. And the more you know, the better you can target promising accounts with the right messages at the right time. In marketing and sales.
Bring marketing and sales closer together
Traditionally, marketing holds back a lead until a concrete purchase intention can be assumed. Only then is it handed over to sales so that the resources can be used there as effectively as possible. The account-based approach weakens this hard limit to the benefit of both sides. Account Based Marketing (ABM) and Account Based Sales (ABS) overlap significantly. Due to the comprehensive database, the sales team can focus on the right accounts at the right time – while marketing continues to feed the accounts with the right messages about their status in the purchasing process. Instead of treating a lead – or now an account – one after the other, marketing and sales are mutually supportive. This increases productivity in both departments.
We have already described in this blog post how marketing and sales can move closer together through the use of data.
MQAs are the consistent continuation of MQLs for B2B marketing in the data age. They bundle information, but also internal resources in marketing and sales. At best, you can turn unattractive leads into highly potent accounts.
We are happy to help you implement your ABM strategy. Please contact us at hello@implisense.com