B2B Sales Glossary

Conversion Rate

A conversion rate is the percentage of leads (or visitors, or opportunities) that progress from one stage to the next. In B2B, the most-watched conversion rates are MQL-to-SQL, SQL-to-Opportunity, and Opportunity-to-Closed-Won.

What is conversion rate?

Conversion rates compound: a funnel with five stages at 20% each has a 0.032% overall conversion. Improving any single stage rate by 5 percentage points lifts the total dramatically — which is why optimization tactics target the worst-performing stage first. Different stages have different driver levers: MQL conversion is driven by targeting and content fit; SQL conversion by SDR script and qualification rigor; opportunity conversion by AE skill, product fit, and competitive pricing.

Examples

→MQL → SQL conversion 22% (benchmark ~25%) — slight underperformance, audit qualification criteria
→Demo → Trial conversion 60% (strong); Trial → Paid only 12% (weak) — onboarding issue
→Cold email → Reply rate 4.2% — within industry norms for cold outbound

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Related terms

Sales Funnel

The sales funnel is the stage-by-stage view of how leads move from first touch to closed-won. Each stage has its own conversion rate, drop-off, and SLA — and the funnel's shape reveals exactly where revenue is being lost.

MQL vs SQL

An MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) has shown enough interest to be worth a follow-up but is not yet ready to buy. An SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) has been vetted further — usually by an SDR — and is ready for an AE conversation. The MQL-to-SQL conversion rate is one of the most-watched funnel metrics in B2B.

Sales Velocity

Sales velocity = (Number of Opportunities × Average Deal Value × Win Rate) ÷ Sales Cycle Length. It is the single most predictive metric of future revenue growth — moving any of its four levers compounds the others.

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