Stop obsessing over MQLs, they're a vanity metric

I keep seeing folks in here bragging about hitting 500 MQLs last quarter. But when I dug into our own numbers back in March, 80% of those MQLs never even replied to an email. We shifted to tracking actual conversation starts and booked meetings, and our pipeline doubled over 3 months. Has anyone else seen MQLs just waste your SDRs time?

2 comments

2 Comments

evannelson1mo ago

Man, I feel this so much. We were in the exact same boat last year and it drove me crazy. Our SDRs were spending hours chasing leads that just downloaded a white paper once and never showed any real interest. When we finally went back and looked at the actual conversations, like you said, maybe 15% of those MQLs were even worth a follow up call. I think people get stuck on the number because it feels good to report a big number to leadership, but it's a total waste of energy. Your experience tracking actual conversations matches what we found too, it's a way better use of everyone's time.

nina1801mo ago

Idk, I kinda think the MQL number still matters for measuring top of funnel volume even if most of them are trash. You just need a better system to score them before your SDRs waste time.