{"id":62793,"date":"2026-06-09T19:40:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=62793"},"modified":"2026-06-09T20:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:19:59","slug":"what-is-a-sales-qualified-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/what-is-a-sales-qualified-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A sales qualified lead (SQL) is a way of categorising prospects during the lead lifecycle. It refers to a prospect that has already been deemed a marketing qualified lead (MQL) by meeting your ideal customer profile (ICP) requirements, and has then progressed to show clear buying intent. In B2B SaaS<\/a>, this often means booking a demo or starting a free trial. In other models, it could be requesting a quote or asking to speak with sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, identifying and prioritising these leads is becoming more difficult. Buyers expect speed, but reps spend around 60% of their week<\/a> on non-selling work, making it harder to spot and act on high-value opportunities before they go cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pie\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Source: Salesforce State of Sales Report (7th Edition)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is where AI-powered sales software can help. In this article, we cover what a SQL is, how it fits into the lead lifecycle and differs from a MQL, and how agentic AI is reshaping the qualification process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tKey Takeaways\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t