Qualifying lead in deal stages and lead statuses
SOLVE
2 Accepted solutions
Qualifying lead in deal stages and lead statuses
SOLVEHi @OlenaBondar ,
There are many things to consider when making decisions about lifecycle stage management, but it is really important not to conflate lifecycle stages with deal stages, since they are not the same thing. Deal stages represent where you are in your current sales process, while lifecycle stages present where you are in your relationship with the contact (person).
The most important thing to remember is that while lead statuses and deal stages can be changed forward and backward and repeated over and over again, a lifecycle stage should only move forward and does not repeat.
In other words, your contact becomes an SQL when they have been qualified by a salesperson for this first time, and never again.
You might qualify that same contact as the lead for several different deals over their lifetime in your HubSpot database. Some of those qualifications might happen much later in their lifecycle, while they are an customer or evangelist, for example.
I hope this helps explain the difference. If you had access to workflows I might potentially recommend using automation to automatically set the Lifecycle Stage to "SQL" when the deal stage reaches "Qualified to Buy" but that isn't available with Starter.
- Trevor
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
Qualifying lead in deal stages and lead statuses
SOLVEHi @OlenaBondar ,
I work with many clients and each has a different process, but you are correct that in most cases a deal is created at the opportunity stage.
How MQL and SQL are defined varies somewhat from client to client, but here is a rough definition:
- MQL: A contact that has been identified by marketing as ready to talk to sales, either because they completed a "Contact Us" or "Demo Request" (aka "Hand Raiser" form, or because they completed a top of funnel form and then interacted with enough content to demonstrate clear interest (evaluated using the HubSpot Score property.)
- SQL: A contact who has been initially qualified by a salesperson. In many cases this means that the SDR or Salesperson has made contact by phone or email, received a response, and scheduled a Discovery meeting.
- Opportunity: The initial discovery meeting has taken place and the contact has met the qualifying criteria, such as BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing).
- At this point, a deal is created. If timing is not right, but the other criteria exist, the contact stays in SQL and is nurtured by the salesperson until the timing is right.
Your qualification criteria may be different of course, but this is the sort of thing I see most often.
- Trevor
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
Qualifying lead in deal stages and lead statuses
SOLVEHi @OlenaBondar ,
There are many things to consider when making decisions about lifecycle stage management, but it is really important not to conflate lifecycle stages with deal stages, since they are not the same thing. Deal stages represent where you are in your current sales process, while lifecycle stages present where you are in your relationship with the contact (person).
The most important thing to remember is that while lead statuses and deal stages can be changed forward and backward and repeated over and over again, a lifecycle stage should only move forward and does not repeat.
In other words, your contact becomes an SQL when they have been qualified by a salesperson for this first time, and never again.
You might qualify that same contact as the lead for several different deals over their lifetime in your HubSpot database. Some of those qualifications might happen much later in their lifecycle, while they are an customer or evangelist, for example.
I hope this helps explain the difference. If you had access to workflows I might potentially recommend using automation to automatically set the Lifecycle Stage to "SQL" when the deal stage reaches "Qualified to Buy" but that isn't available with Starter.
- Trevor
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
Qualifying lead in deal stages and lead statuses
SOLVEQualifying lead in deal stages and lead statuses
SOLVEHi @OlenaBondar ,
I work with many clients and each has a different process, but you are correct that in most cases a deal is created at the opportunity stage.
How MQL and SQL are defined varies somewhat from client to client, but here is a rough definition:
- MQL: A contact that has been identified by marketing as ready to talk to sales, either because they completed a "Contact Us" or "Demo Request" (aka "Hand Raiser" form, or because they completed a top of funnel form and then interacted with enough content to demonstrate clear interest (evaluated using the HubSpot Score property.)
- SQL: A contact who has been initially qualified by a salesperson. In many cases this means that the SDR or Salesperson has made contact by phone or email, received a response, and scheduled a Discovery meeting.
- Opportunity: The initial discovery meeting has taken place and the contact has met the qualifying criteria, such as BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing).
- At this point, a deal is created. If timing is not right, but the other criteria exist, the contact stays in SQL and is nurtured by the salesperson until the timing is right.
Your qualification criteria may be different of course, but this is the sort of thing I see most often.
- Trevor
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
If my post solves your problem, please accept it as a solution.
