Define the service needed, real coverage, customer type, timing and any essential constraints. Budget fit can matter, but an arbitrary form field does not establish purchasing intent. Keep the definition appropriate to the business.
Guide / comparison
Define the useful inquiry before counting it.
A form submission, a suitable opportunity and a customer are different stages. Shared definitions make reporting and follow-up more useful.
01 / Guide / comparison
Start with the actual offer
02 / Guide / comparison
Agree a qualification rule
This blank worksheet stays in the page. Use roles and non-sensitive examples. Unknown values identify decisions to resolve; they are not a score.
Use roles and hypothetical examples. These fields stay in this page; no information is submitted or saved.
A person, form event, request and deal are different units.
Use actual service/area/need rules; avoid sensitive demographic profiling.
Unknown is not automatically poor quality or permission.
Keep genuine unsuitable requests distinct from fabricated traffic.
Name the responsible human role.
No universal score threshold or quality multiplier.
03 / Guide / comparison
Test the definition on ordinary and unclear cases
| Example | Classification to review | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Supported service, area and expressed need; permitted reply route | Potentially qualified under the business rule | Human confirms any required readiness evidence. |
| Same durable request retried | Duplicate of that request | Do not create a second inquiry count. |
| Nonsense automated payload | Spam after the agreed evidence check | Exclude with a reason code. |
| Genuine request outside service area | Real but out-of-scope inquiry | Record reason; do not relabel as spam. |
| Missing budget/timing/permission | Unknown, not automatically unqualified or authorized | Ask only the permitted necessary next question or hold for review. |
To keep paid-platform actions separate from business qualification: Use the rule in advertising decisions
To preserve versions, reason codes and source reconciliation: Keep the definition in recurring reports
04 / Guide / comparison
Separate the funnel stages
- Inquiry
- A person or organization makes contact through a valid path.
- Qualified opportunity
- The inquiry meets the business’s agreed suitability conditions after appropriate review.
- Booked or accepted work
- A further business decision or confirmed arrangement has occurred.
- Completed sale
- The authoritative sales record confirms the agreed commercial outcome.
05 / Guide / comparison
Handle the excluded cases consistently
Agree how duplicates, spam, supplier messages, job applications and out-of-area requests are classified. They may still need a courteous route, but should not be silently counted as the same commercial opportunity.
06 / Guide / comparison
Use a simple qualification worksheet
- Requested service and actual service fit
- Coverage or delivery fit
- Status: qualified, unsuitable, duplicate or still unknown
- Reason for the classification and responsible role
- Next action and the source/date of the review
07 / Guide / comparison
Feed the decision back without leaking private data
Aggregate quality feedback can help interpret traffic and campaign changes. Keep private messages and identifiers out of analytics, and agree any permitted CRM or offline-stage exchange separately.
08 / Guide / comparison
Use the definition in the reporting scope
A useful report shows the stages and their evidence, rather than renaming every platform event a lead.
If a different decision is blocking you: Choose another question in this topic