Market qualification (MQ) representatives, sometimes also known as lead qualification or lead qual reps, are highly specialized agents whose role in inside sales transactions is to qualify an inbound lead. Compared to lead development specialists who engage a sourced outbound lead, MQ reps are the ones who research a client who proactively engaged the service to see if there is a possible sale that can be made.

Marketing qualification reps: The tasks

While market qualification is similar to lead development, MQ is much easier to carry out due to a much lower level of research needed to qualify the client. Additionally, since the initiative is with the customer, MQ reps generally need a shorter engagement time to qualify a lead.

The only potential issue is that it’s possible to acquire leads that are not really the target of a service. This can be detrimental as the MQ rep can lose time that could have been used to qualify other incoming leads. A silver lining is that it could still open up good opportunities due to the number of potential clients who are interested in the service.

Tools of the Pre-Trade

Market qualification reps definitely need CRM tools when they engage their leads, moreso than their outbound lead counterparts. This is mostly because MQ reps have less targeted groups of customers to address, whereas outbound lead development specialists are already aware of the specific consumer group they are targeting (i.e. sourced from lead generation, etc.). Specific  CRM functions like the ability to record information, track the customer life cycle, and remind the team to follow up on a lead at specific stages—even after handing off to sales—are very important in market qualification. Even the circumstances of a customer who do not continue with the sales process is a rich source of market intelligence data and can further help MQ reps in improving their qualification process.

In line with having a strong CRM foundation, another good tool is marketing automation software. Because some leads can be qualified immediately based on social media, transaction and payment histories, or even based on their credit rating (if involving financial information), market automation software can help an MQ rep identify and prioritize strong leads. This will increase the velocity of lead hand-overs to the sales team, which allows them to work down their leads immediately and get back quickly to leads that need more research and identification.

Source: Tenfold