Marketo Office Hours

Why your MQLs are not enough anymore - MOH 2025 09 26

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October 09, 2025 abm, marketing automation, marketing strategy, marketo office hours, sales marketing alignment

You've invested in marketing automation... but is that enough?

You've deployed Marketo, built your nurturing scenarios, set up your scoring, and aligned your campaigns.

Your reports show rising MQLs, and your workflows are running like clockwork.

Well done.

But is that really enough to generate business?

Not quite.

Most B2B marketing departments face the same problem: despite a well-stocked lead pipeline, sales are struggling to convert. It's the modern marketing blues.

And it's not a technical execution problem: it's a model problem.

The problem with the traditional funnel

The classic funnel (Visitor → Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity) was designed to simplify a much more complex reality.

And we made the convenient assumption that purchasing decisions were linear and individual.

Suddenly, everything became simpler:

  • Creating tracking metrics,

  • Evaluating marketing performance,

  • Setting volume targets.

But by simplifying, the model became reality in many companies:

exclusive focus on MQLs, pressure on quotas, and volume targets disconnected from the real business.

However, modern B2B does not work that way.

Today, a B2B purchase involves several decision-makers, often from different departments, and 70% of the purchasing journey takes place without direct contact with your teams.

The result:

  • The MQL represents only a fragment of the account,

  • and the traditional funnel no longer reflects the reality of the purchasing journey.

Limitation #1: Too much volume, not enough focus

Marketing automation has made it possible to generate a lot of leads. Too many, sometimes.

Hundreds of MQLs are generated, but only a handful are truly strategic accounts.

This discrepancy creates noise: sales teams spend their time sorting through leads instead of focusing on the right accounts.

“We have too many MQLs and not enough customers.”

This is a phrase often heard in organizations with mature marketing automation programs.

Limitation #2: MQLs arrive too late

“80% of buyers choose a brand they already know.”

(The Day One List, Bain & Company)

When a contact reaches MQL status, they are often already well advanced in their journey.

Signs of interest—searches, page visits, interactions—have been visible for weeks, but have not been exploited.

As a result, marketing reacts instead of anticipating.

Buyers have already shortlisted their options, sometimes even choosing a competitor.

You're coming into the conversation too late.

Limitation #3: Lack of alignment between Marketing and Sales

Sales says, “These leads aren't good.”

Marketing responds, “But they meet our MQL criteria.”

Both are right.

But each is working according to a different logic:

  • Marketing thinks in terms of individual leads,

  • Sales thinks in terms of accounts and opportunities.

This structural misalignment explains why the MQL → opportunity conversion rate remains low, despite all the automation efforts.

The necessary transition to ABM

This is where Account-Based Marketing (ABM) comes in.

ABM offers a radically different approach: moving from lead to account.

Rather than seeking to generate more and more leads, ABM focuses on:

  • Strategic accounts, those that really matter to the business,

  • Signals of intent, to detect the right moment for action,

  • And orchestration between marketing and sales, to send the right message to the right people.

Lead funnel vs. account funnel

In a lead-based funnel, each contact progresses on its own.

In an account-based funnel, it is the entire account that advances in its journey.

Lead-Based Approach ←> Account-Based Approach

Unit = individual ←> Unit = account

Objective = volume ←> Objective = relevance

Individual scoring ←> Collective scoring (Intent + Engagement)

Marketing pushes leads ←> Marketing and sales work together

Measurement = MQL ←> Measurement = account progress

This shift changes everything: marketing becomes a strategic partner in business development.

Key concepts of ABM

  1. Target Account List (TAL)A list of priority accounts defined jointly with sales.

  2. Intent DataAnalysis of search signals to detect accounts “in the market.”

  3. Buying GroupsPurchasing committees to be identified, mapped, and engaged collectively.

  4. PersonalizationAdapting the message and campaigns to the reality of each account.

ABM + Marketing Automation: a powerful combination

Good news: everything you've built with your marketing automation tool (Marketo, Eloqua, HubSpot, etc.) remains useful.

ABM does not replace your existing stack: it guides and reinforces it.

  • Marketing Automation = the execution engine (nurturing, email, campaigns, scoring)

  • ABM = the navigation system (targeting, timing, alignment, strategy)

Marketo + ABM is like a powerful engine with smart GPS.

By combining the two, you move from volume-oriented marketing to value-oriented marketing.

In conclusion

Your MQLs aren't dead, but they need to evolve.

MQLs remain a useful indicator, but they can no longer be the sole compass for B2B marketing.

What matters now is the progress of strategic accounts in their buying cycle.

That's the purpose of this new series of Marketing Office Hours: to help marketers move from volume-driven to value-driven management.

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It's interesting to see this perspective, especially in 2025. We've all been chasing MQLs for so long. It makes sense that the focus needs to shift towards the quality and engagement after that initial lead qualification. Maybe thinking about the whole customer journey as a continuous flow, like mastering the perfect drift in a game like Drift Hunters, could be a good analogy. It's not just about starting the drift (getting the MQL), but maintaining control and direction all the way to the finish line (conversion). Thanks for sharing this insight!

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