A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a lead that marketing has judged likely enough to buy, from their fit and behaviour, to hand to sales for follow-up.
Worked24 ÷ 80 = 0.3
A B2B software company gets 400 leads from one campaign. Marketing passes 80 as MQLs because they match the target profile and downloaded the pricing guide. Sales accepts 24 of the 80. The MQL-to-SQL rate is 24 divided by 80, or 0.3.
The MQL is the handshake between marketing and sales. Without a definition, marketing counts every form fill as a win and sales calls most of them time-wasters. With one, both teams argue about the same number. An MQL is not a purchase signal on its own; it is marketing's claim that "this person looks like a customer and has shown interest."
The most useful figure around it is the MQL-to-SQL rate: how many of the leads marketing hands over does sales accept? If it is low, either marketing is sending the wrong people or sales is not following up fast enough. Both are fixable once you can see which.
BridgeE helps teams set the definition and connect it in the CRM as part of lead generation work.