What do MQL and SQL mean, in owner terms?
They are labels from larger companies with separate marketing and sales teams. A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is someone who fits the customer profile and has shown interest, perhaps by downloading a guide or visiting the pricing page twice. A sales qualified lead (SQL) is one a salesperson has spoken to and confirmed has a real need, a budget and a timeframe. The handover between the two teams happens at that line.
A business of five people has no handover, so the two labels collapse into one question asked on the first call. Is this person worth a site visit or a proposal? If yes, the lead is qualified.
What makes a lead qualified for an owner-led business?
Three checks cover most trades and services. First, they want the kind of work you do: someone after a commercial fit-out is not a lead for a residential installer, however keen. Second, they are where you work, because an enquiry from two hours away is a cost unless you travel that far. Third, they can say yes, which means a budget in the right range and the authority to spend it, something a tenant or a receptionist usually lacks.
Timing is a fourth check for some businesses: a wedding two years away is a lead, but not one for this month's callbacks.
How many of a Rockhampton air-con installer's 50 forms were worth a call? (example figures)
An air-conditioning installer in Rockhampton spends $1,800 in a month on Google Ads and Meta and receives 50 quote requests through the website form. The office manager sorts them with the three checks.
| Forms | Running cost per lead | |
|---|---|---|
| All forms received | 50 | $36 |
| Less: outside the service area | 9 | |
| Less: renters without the landlord's approval | 7 | |
| Less: wanted commercial work or a brand the installer does not service | 6 | |
| Qualified leads | 28 | $64 |
The ad accounts said leads cost $36. A lead worth calling cost $64. The nine out-of-area forms point at a setting: Google Ads' location options can show ads to people interested in a place as well as people in it, and the installer had left that option on (Google Ads Help, About advanced location options). Adding two questions to the form, postcode and "do you own the home?", deals with most of the rest before anyone picks up the phone.
Can CoraVision tell a qualified lead from any other?
Not by itself: CoraVision reads the leads Google Ads and Meta record, and those accounts count every form, qualified or not, so the gap between their count and yours is a number only you can supply. When a setting like the location option needs changing, Gage, the CoraVision Google Ads specialist, talks you through it in pill mode while you click.
Questions
Who should decide whether a lead is qualified?
Whoever answers first, using questions you have written down. If the owner qualifies on Monday and the office manager on Tuesday with different tests, the numbers mean nothing. Three or four fixed questions, asked the same way every time, are enough.
Should I still reply to a lead that does not qualify?
Yes, quickly and politely. Point them to someone who can help if you know one. A renter told kindly to come back with the landlord's approval sometimes does, and a person you helped for free is more likely to mention you to someone who does qualify.
Can Google Ads learn which leads were qualified?
Yes, if you tell it. Google Ads can take in offline conversions, so a lead you mark as qualified, or as a won job, can be sent back against the click that produced it. With enough of them, bidding starts to favour the searches that bring qualified leads instead of any lead.