Summary
For years, MQLs have been the backbone of demand generation. They brought structure. They created accountability. They gave leadership a way to measure progress.
And for a long time, they worked.
But modern growth looks very different from the world MQLs were designed for. Buying journeys are longer, less linear, and more fragmented. Multiple stakeholders influence decisions. PLG, outbound, ABM, and content all overlap. Intent builds gradually — often invisibly — long before a form is filled.
In this environment, volume-led demand generation creates activity, not confidence. Funnels look healthy, yet revenue feels unpredictable. Sales teams inherit leads, but not readiness.
Leading teams aren’t abandoning measurement. They’re changing what they measure.
This piece explores why MQLs are straining under modern GTMs, what “meaningful conversations” actually signal, and how demand generation is evolving from a lead factory into a readiness engine for revenue.
Who this is for
- Series A+ startups scaling demand generation
- Founders and revenue leaders accountable for pipeline quality
- Demand Gen and Growth leaders under pressure to deliver results
- Enterprise and GCC-led teams supporting complex sales cycles
What you’ll gain from reading this
- Why MQLs struggle to represent real buying intent today
- What meaningful conversations actually signal about readiness
- How strong teams redesign demand generation for revenue confidence
Why MQLs Made Sense — And Why They’re Straining Now
MQLs didn’t appear by accident. They were created to solve real problems:
- Sales teams needed prioritisation
- Marketing needed accountability
- Leadership needed visibility
In a simpler GTM world — with shorter sales cycles, fewer stakeholders, and clearer funnels — MQLs worked as a practical proxy for intent.
A lead filled a form. It met a threshold. Sales followed up. Progress was visible. Momentum was measurable.
But that world has changed. MQLs weren’t wrong. They’re just outdated for modern GTMs. The metric didn’t fail. The environment outgrew it.
The Modern Demand Gen Reality MQLs Can’t Capture
Today’s buying journeys are messy by design. Buyers:
- Research independently
- Engage across multiple channels
- Loop in stakeholders asynchronously
- Delay direct sales conversations
Intent rarely shows up in a single action. It emerges in patterns:
- Repeated engagement
- Deeper consumption
- Cross-channel behaviour
- Internal sharing within accounts
In this reality, single-point scoring breaks down.
A form fill doesn’t equal readiness. A download doesn’t mean urgency. A demo request doesn’t guarantee consensus.
Modern demand gen operates in a world where readiness is distributed over time, not captured in a moment.
The Core Problem: Demand Gen Optimised for Activity, Not Readiness
Most demand generation engines are doing exactly what they were designed to do. They optimise for:
- Form fills
- Lead volume
- Short-term conversion
And they do it well. The problem is alignment. Sales teams don’t need more leads. They need better conversations.
When demand gen success is measured by volume, the system optimises for activity — not readiness. Leads move forward because a score threshold was crossed, not because buying intent has matured.
Demand generation doesn’t fail. It succeeds at the wrong objective. This misalignment is subtle, but expensive.
What “Meaningful Conversations” Actually Signal
A meaningful conversation is not just:
- A booked meeting
- A calendar slot
- An inbound request
Those are events. A meaningful conversation is a signal. It suggests:
- The buyer recognises a problem
- The buyer is open to exploring solutions
- The buyer sees value in engaging now
- The buyer is willing to invest attention
Not all conversations meet this bar. And not all leads ever will. Meaningful conversations indicate readiness, not just interest. That distinction changes everything.
The Five Shifts Teams Make When They Move Beyond MQLs
1. From Leads to Intent Patterns
Strong teams stop treating intent as a single action. They look for:
- Repeated engagement over time
- Depth of interaction
- Behavioural progression
A single download can be accidental. A pattern of engagement rarely is. Readiness is revealed in patterns, not points. This shift reduces false positives and increases sales confidence.
2. From Gated Content to Trust-Building Touchpoints
Gated content once made sense as a filtering mechanism. Today, it often creates friction too early. Modern buyers want:
- Understanding before commitment
- Value before exchange
- Confidence before conversation
Leading teams use content to:
- Educate
- De-risk
- Demonstrate expertise
Ungated value doesn’t reduce pipeline. It improves conversation quality downstream.
3. From Handoff Metrics to Shared Readiness Signals
Sales–marketing friction often lives in the handoff. Marketing says: “These are qualified.”
Sales says: “They’re not ready.”
The problem isn’t effort. It’s definition. When teams align around shared readiness signals — not arbitrary thresholds — trust improves:
- Sales follows up faster
- Feedback loops tighten
- Win rates increase
Alignment doesn’t come from more dashboards. It comes from shared interpretation.
4. From Funnel Stages to Conversation Readiness
Funnels imply linear progression. Modern buying journeys are anything but linear. Readiness varies by:
- Account
- Market
- Segment
- Buying committee
High-performing teams track:
- When conversations should happen
- What context is needed now
- What signals justify the next step
Demand gen stops pushing leads forward — and starts preparing conversations.
5. From Volume Targets to Revenue Confidence
Large pipelines look impressive. Confident pipelines close deals. As teams shift focus, they often notice:
- Fewer leads
- Better conversations
- Shorter sales friction
- More predictable forecasting
Leadership stops asking: “How many leads did we generate?”
And starts asking: “How confident are we in this pipeline?”
That’s a far more useful question.
What This Means for Series A+ and Enterprise GTMs
Enterprise and complex GTMs magnify weak intent. Longer sales cycles expose:
- Poor qualification
- Shallow readiness
- Forced conversations
In these environments, demand generation must support:
- Trust-building
- Risk reduction
- Internal selling across stakeholders
Volume-led funnels create drag. Readiness-led demand gen creates leverage. This is why mature teams redesign demand gen before scale exposes the cracks.
What Not to Do When You Move Beyond MQLs
Moving away from MQLs doesn’t mean:
- Abandoning metrics
- Declaring MQLs “dead” overnight
- Letting sales define success alone
- Over-engineering scoring models
Replacing bad metrics with no metrics is not progress. The goal isn’t rebellion. It’s better alignment.
The Strategic Reframe: Demand Gen as a Readiness Engine
Modern demand generation doesn’t exist to create leads. It exists to create readiness. Readiness for:
- Conversation
- Evaluation
- Decision
When demand gen is designed as a readiness engine:
- Sales engages with confidence
- Forecasting improves
- Growth becomes calmer and more predictable
This isn’t about doing less. It’s about doing the right work earlier.
A Closing Reflection
Pipelines don’t close deals. Conversations do. And not all conversations are equal.
In modern growth, the real metric isn’t how many leads you generate — it’s how confident you are in the conversations you start.
