SQL to Opportunity Conversion
Quick definition
The percentage of Sales Qualified Leads that convert into an active opportunity in your pipeline.
Detailed explanation
SQL to Opportunity conversion measures how effective you are at converting interested, qualified prospects into real deals. A typical healthy rate is 40-60% - meaning roughly half of your SQLs actually enter your pipeline as trackable opportunities. Lower conversion (<30%) usually indicates: too loose SQL definition (you qualify too easily), poor discovery (you miss deal-breakers), long time between SQL and follow-up (momentum lost), or product-market fit issues. Higher conversion (>70%) may mean you qualify too strictly and miss opportunities. This metric is crucial for pipeline planning - if you know 50% of SQLs convert, you can backwards calculate how many SQLs you need for your target.
Synonyms
Examples
A team has 100 SQLs per month but only 25 become opportunities (25% conversion). Analysis shows: average 12 days between SQL and first call, many SQLs have gone "cold". By shortening response time to <24 hours, conversion rises to 45% → 45 opportunities instead of 25 with same SQL volume.
Conversely: conversion is 75% but deal volume is low. Team realizes they qualify too strictly - only "perfect fit" becomes SQL. By slightly broader criteria, conversion drops to 55%, but SQL volume increases by 60% → net 30% more opportunities.
When to use this?
Measure SQL to Opportunity conversion monthly and per SDR. Dig into why SQLs don't convert - did discovery reveal deal-breakers? Did they ghost? Was budget/timing off? Use these insights to improve your SQL criteria and discovery process. Target 50% as baseline.
Match-day approach
Match-day helps you optimize SQL to Opp conversion by tackling both sides. We refine your SQL definition so it's not too loose or too strict, train SDRs in rigorous but fast qualification, and implement SLAs for response time (SQL must be contacted within 24 hours). We also analyze why SQLs don't convert and build those learnings back into qualification criteria. Often we discover that "soft" SQLs (form fills, webinar attendees) convert much lower than "hard" SQLs (outbound responses, demo requests) - we then segment and treat differently.
Related terms
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)(SQL)
A prospect who has been qualified by sales and is ready for an active sales process.
Sales Qualified Opportunity (SQO)(SQO)
An SQL that has been further qualified and officially converted into an active opportunity in your pipeline.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of prospects that move from one stage to the next stage in your sales funnel.
Learn more
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