WE BUILT THE FUNNEL.
THEN IT BROKE US.
of growth leaders say fixing the MQL-to-SQL gap is their number one priority
For the last decade, we’ve optimized everything for lead volume. Clicks, downloads, form fills, MQLs. All great for dashboards. All terrible for business outcomes.
The result? Marketing is praised for output, not outcomes. Sales is buried in noise, not readiness. You’re spinning the funnel faster, but not moving forward.
We call it the Lead Volume Trap. And it’s more than inefficient—it’s disorienting.
That pain isn’t just theoretical anymore. It’s showing up in meetings, in the metrics, and in missed revenue.
“THE LAND OF THE LOST”: ASHLEY’S ‘PROJECT DEAD ZONE’ EXPLAINED
50 conversations with middle market growth leaders to unlock a new era of growth.
Chief Marketing Officer at VelocityEHS, put it plainly on a recent episode of Unlock Growth:
“This is my number one challenge right now, and I’ve had a lot of meetings about it. One thing we’ve recently done is create an internal initiative. I’m a marketer, so of course I branded it. We call it Project Dead Zone. It’s the land of the lost, the dead zone between marketing MQL and SQL.”
If you’ve felt that space where leads look good but nothing moves, you’re not alone. That’s where the pipeline goes quiet. And where good intentions go to die.
Ashley Emery
Sources: Podcast “Project Dead Zone”
MQL HELL: WHERE GREAT INTENTION MEETS ZERO PROGRESS
of MQLs take no action after initial engagement
of leads never even become MQLs
of “hot intent” signals go nowhere
MQL Hell isn’t just a metaphor. It’s an emotional reality.
It’s what happens when you hit your goals but still feel like you’re failing.
It’s what happens when your team works overtime just to feed a funnel no one trusts anymore.
And it’s what happens when you’ve built a lead machine that forgets there’s a human on the other side.
Sources: Podcast “From Grit to GTM: How In-the-Weeds Marketers Are Building AI-Ready Teams”, Podcast “Project Dead Zone”
Why the Funnel Rewards
the Wrong Things
Let’s zoom out. The modern funnel has a signal problem. This funnel wasn’t built for the way we buy today. It’s a relic from a time before dark social, before AI, before everyone had 95 unread emails in the last two minutes.
| Tracked (False Signals) | What Actually Matters (Real Signals) |
|---|---|
| Pageviews | In-market buying behavior |
| Downloads | Engagement across multiple content types |
| Email opens | Product usage, time on site, firmographics |
| Form fills | Readiness, timing, and account fit |
It rewards noise. Not timing, not intent, not trust. And in today’s market, especially in high-stakes, timing-sensitive industries like SaaS and financial services, that’s a death sentence.
So what’s the alternative? It’s not more leads. It’s better signals.
STOP SENDING. START RESONATING.
cold emails go unanswered
average cold email open rate
Growth doesn’t come from more activity. It comes from identifying and acting on readiness. Signals are the real currency of modern go-to-market. They tell us not just who, but when. Not just what they clicked, but why it matters
Still, we write better emails to people we know. Why? Because we have context. We understand their priorities, the timing, and the relationship history.
Signals are how we get back to that.
They’re how we meet buyers where they are. How we shift from chasing to resonating. From generic to relevant. From blasting to aligning.
This isn’t about tweaking nurture flows. It’s about a new discipline.
SIGNAL ACTIVATED GROWTH
Real signals, real timing, real personalization.
If you’ve felt the trap, we hear you. You’re not alone. You’re just listening to the wrong inputs, and the signal era is just getting started.
We’re exploring it every day at mabbly.ai.