#395 | Dasha sits down with Freya Ward, Associate Managing Director at Headley Media, to talk about why MQLs get a bad rap and what to do about it. Freya explains why the problem is usually the framing rather than the tactic, how renaming MQLs changes how sales handles them, and what you should rename them to. They also get into how to run a workshop that aligns the team on what counts as a qualified lead, and three specific fixes you can make today for better sales and marketing alignment.
Show notes
Gareth James at Hallam on getting brand investment signed off by finance directors: https://hallam.agency/blog/investment-for-brand-how-to-get-sign-off-from-finance-directors/
Timestamps:
(00:00) - Why Freya quit marketing to join the sales team
(09:02) - Is the MQL actually dead?
(10:02) - Rename the MQL to qualified outbound leads
(11:22) - Why every marketer has speak the sales, finance, and other department’s languages
(16:47) - Three rituals that keep sales and marketing aligned
(20:47) - Build your MQL definition from deals that closed
(24:43) - Why Dasha's BDs report into marketing
(26:26) - Fix #1: make lead rejection a required CRM field
(31:46) - Fix #2: assign someone to nurture dead leads
(38:00) - Fix #3: pilot alignment with one SDR
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/
***
Brought to you by:
Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive.
Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive.
Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive.
Compound Growth Marketing- A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive.
Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
***
Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.
- They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
- Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.
Visit hatch.fm to learn more