{"id":3216,"date":"2025-03-22T17:28:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T16:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/2025\/03\/22\/forget-leads-and-mql\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T15:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T13:06:11","slug":"forget-leads-and-mql","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/insights-en\/forget-leads-and-mql\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget leads and MQL"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time for metrics to
\nfocus on what really matters.<\/h2>\n

In many marketing departments, leads and MQLs are still the holy grail. They are widely used in reports, dashboards and as a yardstick for measuring how well marketing is performing. But in an increasingly data-driven and results-oriented business world, more and more people are starting to question how relevant these KPIs actually are. Is it time to leave the MQL mindset behind us?<\/p>\n

The problem with leads and MQL<\/h3>\n

Leads and MQLs often measure activity, not results. A large number of email addresses collected or whitepaper downloads says very little about whether a business is actually moving closer to its business goals. These metrics risk creating a false sense of success\u2014especially if they don\u2019t translate into tangible sales or long-term customer relationships.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the definition of an MQL varies widely between companies, making it a subjective and often inconsistent measurement point. In the worst case, it leads to silos between marketing and sales, where marketing “throws over” leads that sales doesn’t consider qualified. The result? Poor conversion and lost trust between departments.<\/p>\n

MQL definitely has a purpose \u2013 but primarily as an indication, not as a goal in itself. It\u2019s a number that can give you an indication of what to expect later in the sales journey. MQL should be seen as a data point on the path to what really counts: business results.<\/p>\n

What really counts: Sales and customer loyalty<\/h3>\n

Instead, marketing and sales efforts should be measured on what actually drives growth:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Increased sales: The most direct and measurable proof that your marketing is working. Have the activities contributed to more revenue? Has customer value increased? KPIs like “pipeline created”, “closed deals” and “marketing sourced revenue” are significantly more business-related than the number of MQL.<\/li>\n
  2. Share of Wallet \u2013 customer loyalty and trust: It\u2019s cheaper to sell more to existing customers than to constantly chase new ones. A high \u201cshare of wallet\u201d shows that customers don\u2019t just buy from you \u2013 they choose you over the competition, time and time again. Measuring loyalty, retention and upsells per customer is a powerful way to show the value of relationships, not just one-time purchases.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I help you create structures that deliver real results.<\/h3>\n

    Shifting focus from traditional KPIs to more business-oriented metrics requires both courage and structure. I help companies build clear processes and interactions between marketing and sales \u2013 with shared goals that actually drive sales and strengthen customer relationships.<\/p>\n

    Together we create a model where marketing not only generates activity, but contributes to measurable growth and long-term customer value.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3216"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3534,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions\/3534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolder.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}