Go-to-Market Steering Model · Phase 6 of 9 · System and turnover
Sales Development
Purpose
Through systematic qualification and personal contact, phase 6 turns Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) into genuine, reliable sales opportunities: Sales Qualified Leads (SQL). It does not close, it prepares.
Key message
A systematic decision is made as to which leads are genuine sales opportunities. The focus is on qualification and on protecting the time of the sales team. The result is Sales Qualified Leads. The phase is one of qualification and handover, carried strongly by people and conversations, and forms the bridge between demand from marketing and responsibility in selling.
When the phase begins
When phase 5 is complete and the MQL criteria and handover rules are defined. Without a clear MQL definition, Sales Development remains ineffective.
Who drives this phase
Phase 6 is driven by Sales Development Representatives (SDR) or Business Development. Overall responsibility lies with sales management. Marketing and product are involved, and Sales and executive management are informed.
The division of labour is clear: Sales Development qualifies, Sales closes. Sales Development qualifies leads against defined criteria (ICP, need, timing), conducts structured initial conversations, hands qualified leads over to Sales and documents why leads are disqualified. Closing deals, price and contract negotiations, shaping the offer, and market and product strategy are not part of this.
Realistic in this phase are qualification, meetings and SQLs, not closing or contract negotiations.
Key questions
Phase 6 is only successful once these questions have been answered reliably:
- Is the lead really part of the defined ICP?
- Is the problem relevant and current?
- Is there, in principle, a budget, decision-making authority and suitable timing?
- Is there genuine interest in a next step?
- Does it make sense in substance to deploy the sales team?
What actually happens
The basis is the MQLs from phase 5, the offer and benefit arguments, and interview guides with qualification questions. Sales Development makes personal contact (by telephone, email or message), qualifies against the defined criteria and answers basic questions. At the end there is either a meeting for Sales or a deliberate disqualification. Every contact is documented cleanly.
Expected results
Phase 6 is complete when the following is in place:
- Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
- qualified meetings for Sales
- documented reasons for disqualifications
How you can tell that the phase holds up
A traceable share of the MQLs becomes SQLs. Prospects are contacted promptly. And agreed meetings actually take place.
Phase principle
“Sales Development does not decide who buys, but whether selling should take place.”
What deliberately does not happen here
Sales Development is not measured by turnover. No handover to Sales without qualification, and Sales does not step into early conversations. Quality comes before speed.
Typical failure patterns
- Sales Development is used as “junior sales”.
- Sales takes on unqualified leads.
- Marketing is expected to compensate for weak qualification.
- Unverified meetings create the illusion of a pipeline.
Terms
Sales Development Representative (SDR). A role for the systematic qualification of leads and the preparation of sales opportunities. It carries no responsibility for closing or for turnover.
Business Development (BD). A role for identifying, validating and qualifying new business opportunities. It works on the basis of learning and feedback, likewise without responsibility for closing or for turnover.
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). An SQL is a lead that Sales Development has qualified and for which active involvement of the sales team makes sense in substance. It is not a guarantee of a close, but a deliberate handover decision. The SQL marks the transition from qualification to active selling: it defines where the time of the sales team begins.
Typical criteria (by way of example):
- The lead matches the defined ICP.
- A relevant problem is confirmed.
- There is specific interest in a solution.
- A next step with added value for both sides has been agreed.
- The structures of decision-making and influence are understood in broad outline.
Budget and contract details do not yet have to be conclusively clarified. That is the task of Sales in phase 7.
An SQL is not:
- an MQL,
- an opportunity with a probability of closing,
- a contribution to the forecast,
- a closed sale.
It does not answer the question “Will a purchase be made?”, but solely: “Should the sales team invest time here?” Responsibility is clearly allocated: Sales Development decides between SQL and disqualification, Sales takes over the SQL and leads the decision process, and Marketing is no longer responsible after the handover.
An SQL is a decision about quality, not sales optimism.
Transition to phase 7
Phase 7 begins when an SQL with documented qualification has been handed over to Sales. Without documented qualification there is no active sales process.