An enquiry is a person asking for something. A qualified lead is an enquiry your business has assessed against criteria that make a sales follow-up worthwhile. The difference matters when marketing reports enquiries and sales says the leads are not useful: the teams may be describing different stages.
There is no universal definition that fits every offer. Agree one for the specific business and sales motion, make it visible in the CRM, and give both teams a way to challenge it as they learn.
Define fit and intent separately
Start with the customers your business is equipped to serve. Decide which characteristics matter to the offer and which are useful context rather than requirements. Depending on the business, that could include the type of organisation, the need expressed or the market served. Avoid making a field mandatory simply because it is available.
Then define what shows a reason to follow up. A direct request can signal an active need; a content download may tell you much less. Neither proves that a purchase will happen. Write down which signals warrant a sales conversation and which belong in a different follow-up.
Some information will be unknown when the enquiry arrives. Keep unknown distinct from a confirmed mismatch. Decide who can investigate it, what they should look for and when the lead should remain unqualified rather than be rejected.
Make the handoff an explicit decision
The definition is useful only if someone applies it. Agree who reviews an incoming enquiry, where the evidence is recorded and who receives the next action. The B2B pipeline page shows how marketing, qualification and sales connect.
At the handoff, the receiving person should be able to find:
- The contact and company, with enough context to understand the request.
- The source, where it is known, and the original enquiry or relevant signal.
- The fit and intent assessment, including anything still unknown.
- The next action, its owner and the agreed time for follow-up.
Use the information your team can lawfully collect and needs for the work. A long form is not a substitute for a clear qualification process.
Record what sales found
Agree a small set of outcomes that people can apply consistently: accepted for follow-up, needs more information, unsuitable, or another disposition relevant to your process. Make the reason visible when sales disagrees with the initial assessment. A contact who is a good fit but not ready now may need a different next action from someone outside the market you serve.
The sales owner should record the result and the next step in the same place the team uses for the handoff. Marketing can then see whether the criteria are helping, instead of relying on a disputed total. Review unclear cases together and change the definition when the business, offer or evidence justifies it.
Compare stages without blending them
Keep enquiries, qualified leads, accepted opportunities and won business as separate stages. For each comparison, state which group you are following and the period in which it entered that stage. An enquiry may take time to reach a decision; a recent group can look incomplete simply because follow-up is still underway.
When comparing channels, check that source information and dispositions are sufficiently complete. Keep unknown sources visible rather than assigning them by assumption. A shared definition will not settle every disagreement, but it gives both teams the same question to inspect: did this enquiry meet the criteria, and what happened after the handoff?