MQL vs SQL: Why the Difference Matters When Choosing a Scientific Marketing Agency
If you’re in the process of choosing a science marketing agency, you’ve probably noticed something. Nearly every agency boasts about how many MQLs they can generate you. All of their websites will have a similar tone and concept:
“MQL growth.”
“More MQLs.”
“Scalable MQL pipeline.”
“We generated our client 00000’s of MQLs”
To be fair, at first glance, it sounds impressive, until you understand the truth behind the claims:
- Unfortunately, most MQLs don’t turn into customers.
- Most MQLs don’t even want to speak to your sales team.
- In fact, most MQLs don’t actually have a Scooby who you are or what your business offers.
And yet… businesses are paying agencies good money for them to measure their success by the volume of… well, nothing, they actually generate.
At Network Scientific, we don’t believe in MQLs. Honestly, some of our team didn’t even know what they were and laughed when they were told! We don’t measure our success on MQL numbers and we don’t celebrate them either. Why? Because they rarely lead to the thing you actually need for growth: Revenue.
What is an MQL?
A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is someone who has interacted with your marketing. They might have:
- Downloaded something
- Clicked an advert
- Opened an email
- Filled out a form
- Browsed a few pages of your website
It’s slight interest… in the loosest sense. But here’s the problem:
- An MQL is not ready to buy.
- An MQL is not a sales opportunity.
- Many MQLs don’t even remember taking the action that put them into your database.
Yet some marketing agencies count these as “leads”, and expect you to pay actual money for them.
What is an SQL?
A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is the complete opposite. A properly qualified SQL is a lead that has shown:
- A real problem
- A real need
- A real timeline
- Real authority
- Real intent to engage with your solution
This is the type of lead your sales team can pick up and immediately progress. No nurturing for six months. No guessing. No “call me back later down the line”. Just real opportunities with real revenue potential.
If you’re hiring a science marketing agency, SQLs are the only leads they should be generating for you.
MQL vs SQLs
Here’s the simple version: MQLs make agencies look good. SQLs make you money.
If you choose a science marketing company that sells you MQLs, you’ll end up drowning in names, not results. If you choose an agency that delivers SQLs, you’ll end up with:
- Relevant conversations
- Proposals out
- Genuine opportunities
- Robust pipeline
- Actual revenue
Let’s face it, that’s what matters when you’re calculating your ROI.
Why Network Scientific Marketing Only Measures SQLs
We’re not the same as other science marketing agencies; we don’t inflate numbers. We don’t pad reports with empty metrics and , to be frank, we don’t care how many people downloaded a PDF either! We care about one thing: Bringing your sales team qualified, ready-to-buy prospects:
- Decision makers
- Budget holders
- Active evaluators
- Real opportunities
Our focus is, and always will be generating revenue, not MQLs. Because your business doesn’t grow when someone opens an email. It grows when a qualified prospect books a call. It grows when a proposal is sent. And it grows when revenue lands.
How We Turn Our Own MQLs Into SQLs Before Passing Them to You
Here’s where we’re fundamentally different from most science marketing agencies:
we do generate MQLs, we just never hand them to you. We nurture them ourselves. Every contact who enters our funnel is guided through a structured, scientist-led outreach process. We identify high-quality prospects, our marketing experts work hard to generate interest, then our specialist telesales team engages prospects personally, warms them up, builds rapport, and uncovers real challenges long before they ever land in your CRM. We validate their interest, sense check their fit, qualify their need, and determine whether they’re genuinely in a buying cycle.
Only when a prospect demonstrates clear buying intent, not mild curiosity, do they become an SQL, and it’s at that point we hand them over.
This full funnel approach means:
- You never waste time on cold or lukewarm ‘leads’.
- You only receive opportunities with genuine commercial potential.
- Your sales team stays focused on selling, not chasing.
- Your pipeline is cleaner, stronger, and more predictable.
This is what real science lead generation looks like.
Not vanity or volume. Just well-nurtured, properly qualified SQLs that convert.
Drop us a line below to discuss how we can help you generate fully qualified sales leads for your scientific business.