Lead Lifecycle Clarity, From MQL to Closed Won

At Candybox, we follow a templatized lifecycle stage framework that works for about 90% of our clients... especially B2B SaaS companies dealing with multiple touches and re-engagements. It’s flexible, and we adapt it as needed, but it gives teams a clear, shared language to understand where a lead is in the journey.

Here’s a simplified version of how we typically define those stages:

• Lead → Someone who’s entered HubSpot but hasn’t engaged with any marketing content yet.
• Marketing Engaged Lead (MEL) → They’ve started to interact with marketing (clicked an email, visited a high-intent page), but haven’t raised their hand.
• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) → A clear hand-raise, usually via a “Contact Sales” or “Request Demo” form, though some clients also include event attendance or booth visits.
• Sales Accepted Lead (SAL) → Sales has reviewed and accepted the lead.
• Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) → Typically triggered when a meeting is booked and an opportunity is created.
• Sales Accepted Opportunity (SAO) → A more confident signal—post-demo, where sales has validated a real path forward.
• Customer
• Lost / Churned / DQ’d → These show up at various stages depending on fit, timing, or qualification.

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Most breakdowns come from inconsistent stage definitions, missing automation, or poorly synced data. If HubSpot and Salesforce don’t agree on a lead’s stage or status, reporting gets messy, leads fall through the cracks, and Sales doesn’t trust the handoff.

You need a custom framework to track and re-qualify leads that become active again. We use a custom Contact Stage field to re-MQL leads without breaking historical data. This allows you to rerun scoring, update timestamps, and route them correctly, which is something default HubSpot and Salesforce setups don’t support well.

At minimum: lifecycle stage, lead status, lead source, MQL/SQL timestamps, and funnel conversion dates. These fields help track movement across stages and power accurate reporting on funnel health and velocity.

You need date fields for each stage transition (e.g., MQL date, SQL date, Opportunity Created date) to calculate conversion percentages and stage duration. Without these, your funnel metrics will be incomplete or misleading.

Build one shared lifecycle model with clear, agreed definitions for each stage, and then drive the logic from a single source. We typically configure HubSpot as the system of record for contact stages, using workflows there to manage progression and re-entry. Salesforce pulls that data in via mapped fields and flows, so both tools reflect the same reality without competing logic.

Lifecycle stage tracks the lead’s journey in the funnel (e.g., Subscriber → Lead → MQL → SQL → Customer), while lead status indicates current engagement status (e.g., New, Open, Disqualified, Contacted). You need both to manage handoffs and reporting effectively.

Yes. We audit your current stages, clean up field logic, sync Salesforce and HubSpot definitions, and set up proper automations for clean handoffs and accurate reporting. We also build in logic for re-MQLs and funnel tracking so your team has full visibility.