A lead generation process goes through various stages from being a prospect to the customer. Qualified Lead is a phase where the lead is said to have a great chance to be converted into sales.
One of the terms that are least discussed but you must know is Sales Accepted Lead (SAL).
Here in this article, you are going to know about this. Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) & Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) are previously discussed that you can check out as well.
What is Sales Accepted Lead (SAL)?
A sales accepted lead (SAL) is a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) that is passed to the sales team. When a lead exhibits positive indications to become a customer, in the journey in the sales funnel. Then, MQL passes through the SAL stage before turning into a SQL.
There is no universal definition of Sales Accepted Leads (SAL). Its meaning & criteria change when you go through different companies, agencies & start-ups.
The definition is set up by both the sales & marketing teams by keeping some qualification criteria of the leads. But, due to the less importance of the SAL stage, it’s not discussed that much as compared to the difference between MQL vs SQL.
Why are Sales Accepted Lead Important?
Though Sales Qualified Lead (SAL) is considered an unnecessary step by many organizations, but SAL has a considerable impact on revenue. Here are the benefits that can be accomplished by adopting the SAL step in your sales process.
1. Strengthen the follow-up effort
When you have a dedicated portal where you keep track of your all leads, your sales team can view the status of all MQL, SAL & potential prospects. The sales team can be aligned with the status of SAL to do important follow-ups.
2. Assurance for timely follow-up
This step assures of doing timely follow-up. In most B2B organizations, there is SLA (Service Level Agreement) between the marketing & sales teams. When a Lead is in SAL status, the sales team has to contact those leads within 24-48 hours. Hence the timely follow-up can be shaped by having SAL step in your sales process.
3. Eliminate the risk of losing the potential leads
Most of the leads are stagnant at the stage of MQL as the sales team is not aligned with the marketing team when it comes to the lead scoring qualification. If you have a SAL step in your sales process, the movements of the leads will be smoother & the risk of losing potential leads will be reduced.
4. Quick identification & addressing problems
The sales lead acceptance rate should always be 90% & above. If it is less than that, then it indicates miscommunication or any kind of disagreement between the sales & marketing teams. Here, the SAL step will help you identify the issue & address it quickly.
5. Aligns the sales & marketing teams
All the aforementioned points are a clear indication that a strong collaboration is required between the sales & marketing teams to increase revenue. If you have a SAL step in your sales process, there is less chance of disagreement between both teams about lead qualification.
This is what you must about Sales Accepted Lead (SAL). Hope you find this helpful.
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