How to qualify a sales lead?

How to qualify a sales lead: start with a tight checklist fit (company size, industry, persona), pain/need (clear problem your product solves), authority (is the contact a decision-maker), budget (is there funding), and timeline/urgency. Use proven frameworks like BANT or MEDDIC to structure discovery questions, combine firmographic and behavioral signals into a lead score, and capture answers in your CRM so every lead is evaluated consistently. Turn qualification into a short workflow: run a quick discovery call or form, score the lead (thresholds for sales-ready vs nurture), and route accordingly pass high scorers to sales with a defined next step; add lower scorers to targeted nurture campaigns and retargeting sequences. Automate signals (site activity, content downloads, email engagement) to continually refine lead quality and increase conversion efficiency.