Beyond MQLs and SQLs: Building a Revenue-Driven Funnel Model

Let’s be real—if you’re still boasting about how many MQLs your campaign generated, you may be missing the point.

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) had their day in the sun. But growth companies in 2025 are demanding harder questions. Such as:

“How much revenue did this funnel actually generate?”

“Where are we hemorrhaging leads—and budget?”

“Is our sales process aligned with actual customer intent?”

That is, the contemporary sales funnel isn’t so much about lead scoring. It’s about making money—and doing so on repeat.

Here’s how to change the way you think from MQLs and SQLs to something more strategic: a revenue-focused funnel.

ALSO READ: Sentiment Analysis: Using AI to Decode Consumer Emotions

1. Begin at the End: Establish Revenue Objectives, Not Lead Targets

Ditch the vanity metrics. Begin with your revenue goals and back into them.

Ask:

• How much new revenue do we desire this quarter
• What is our average deal size
• How many closed-won deals must we achieve in order to reach that goal

Then you can chart how many actual opportunities must be created—not leads who completed a form.

Tip: All leads are not created equal. Maximize for intent and quality, not quantity.

2. Reframe Lead Stages: Include Intent and Buying Signals

SQLs tend to be sent to sales too prematurely, causing frustration and lost deals. In a revenue-based funnel, we align on buyer readiness rather than checkboxes.

Think about rewriting your funnel stages in the following way:

• Engaged Leads- Demonstrating consistent behavior across channels
• Opportunity Qualified Leads (OQLs)- Leads demonstrating buying intent signals
• Revenue Opportunities- Leads being accepted by sales and actively worked

This shifts the emphasis to actual sales momentum rather than lifecycle labels.

3. Unite Marketing and Sales Around Common Revenue KPIs

This is a big one: get rid of solo dashboards. Develop common KPIs between sales and marketing on opportunity pipeline and revenue.

Example:

• Pipeline contribution by marketing (%)
• Opportunity-to-close rate
• Revenue per campaign, not lead volume

When each group is responsible for pipeline quality and closed revenue, they work better together and finger-pointing vanishes.

4. Double Down on What Works with Attribution and Forecasting

Guessing is amateur hour. Use metrics to measure where the touchpoints actually translate into dollars—and put more money there.

Contemporary attribution models (multi-touch, U-shaped, etc.) are able to illustrate which channels, content, and campaigns nudge deals over the finish line.

Seek patterns in won deals, not click-through rates.

5. Automate Smarter, Not Louder

Just because you’re able to automate all of your nures doesn’t mean you need to. Create automated paths that mirror where a lead is within the buying process—rather than where they are in your funnel map.

Think trigger-based message by product interest, role, company size, or intent score—rather than “Day 3 of the sequence.”

In Summary

It’s time to end the habit of treating MQLs and SQLs as the final destination. They’re just milestones—not the end. An actually great funnel doesn’t applaud handoffs; it applauds revenue. When marketing and sales organizations come together around common revenue objectives, leverage intent to qualify leads, and focus on what truly converts, the outcome speaks for itself.

Focus less on stages in a funnel, and more on velocity of sales. That’s how you future-proof growth and create a pipeline that performs under stress.

Author - Samita Nayak

Samita Nayak is a content writer working at Anteriad. She writes about business, technology, HR, marketing, cryptocurrency, and sales. When not writing, she can usually be found reading a book, watching movies, or spending far too much time with her Golden Retriever.