Marketing Qualified Accounts instead of Leads

In my career as a marketing and sales manager in various B2B companies, I've seen them all come and go: Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Goldmine, Act!, Apollo, and whatever they're all called. They all have one thing in common: they force us into an American perspective on sales.

The most prominent example for me is Pipedrive. Originally a lean tool for tracking process progress, the entity "Lead" was introduced only later, influenced by the US market. Just because software giants from Silicon Valley prefer this process, it doesn't mean it is the right one for European SMEs with complex products and long decision cycles.

I even go so far as to say that the use of the "Lead" entity successfully prevents account-based marketing in many cases.

We often discuss abbreviations passionately in the industry. There is the classic Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): an individual who downloads a whitepaper. This is particularly well-suited to standardized products with short sales cycles.

But in complex B2B business, where decisions are made by committees, focusing on the individual reaches its limits. This is where the Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) comes into the game. He considers the entire company and aggregates signals from various contacts. The goal: to identify high-value accounts instead of individual business cards.

That sounds plausible in theory and is completely correct from a strategic standpoint. MQA is the answer to buying groups and the associated long sales cycles. But most companies fail in operational implementation because their CRM structure ("Here are the leads, there are the accounts") technically sabotages a holistic view.

The traditional approach involves marketing, collecting leads, qualifying them, and, hopefully, eventually converting them into contacts or sales opportunities. This break in the process is toxic for efficiency:

1. Data cemeteries: We capture new inquiries in Pot A (Leads) – often even if it's a duplicate. After elaborate verification, we migrate data from Pot A to Pot B (Accounts/Contacts). Often this happens too late (responsibilities!). Inquiries are then no longer relevant.
   Or the account and contact already existed in Pot B, but the sales team was unaware of the "new lead" request because it landed in Pot A.  

2. Loss of context: A lead is isolated. An account is context. When we collect leads, we often don't know that colleague Müller from the same company already spoke with sales yesterday.

3. Silo thinking: Marketing "makes leads", sales "makes deals". Everyone only sees their own "pot" and is focused on it. The handover is often the moment when information dies: because sales de-prioritizes inquiries from the awareness phase, and because information about wins & losses doesn't flow back to marketing.

Of course, this radical approach doesn't suit everyone. If you're selling printer paper, stick with MQLs. But if you, like most hidden champions in medium-sized businesses, are selling complex machines, IT projects, or consulting services, the lead pool is often a dead end.

To help you decide, I have created a concise checklist. Find out in less than 2 minutes whether your CRM process is holding you back or whether you are ready for the "marketing pipeline."

I know this approach contradicts many CRM administrators and orthodox teachings. The tools (Salesforce & Co.) suggest the "lead" to us, so we use it. But just because there is a hammer doesn't mean every problem is a nail.

I have implemented this approach in practice several times. The result was always the same: less data waste, happier salespeople, and a marketing department that could finally demonstrate a direct influence on revenue.

How do you see it? Are you still holding on to your leads because "that's how it's done," or are you ready to align your process with the reality of your business model?

Please download the checklist and let's discuss your results. Write to me or call – I look forward to an honest exchange on equal terms.

I have implemented this approach in practice several times. The result was always the same: less data waste, happier salespeople, and a marketing department that could finally demonstrate direct influence on revenue.

How do you see that? Are you still holding on to your leads because "that's how it's done," or are you ready to align your process with the reality of your business model?

Please download the checklist and let's discuss your results. Write to me or call – I look forward to an honest exchange on equal terms.