Sales-marketing alignment and SLA

Use this when the user names lead handoff, MQL, SQL, or follow-up speed, or asks why marketing pipeline never closes. Start from the lead tiers and definitions on hand, the funnel numbers by stage — HubSpot or an export — and the follow-up reality today.

Define the lifecycle in shared words

Lead, MQL, SAL, SQL, opportunity. SAL is where sales accepts or rejects with a reason code — the handoff accountability mechanism. Lifecycle stage is marketing-owned for the first half and sales-owned for the second; lead status is always sales-owned. Each stage gets its entry bar in observable terms — fit score plus behavior, never vibes. One definition per stage, signed by both sides.

Start scoring at 100 points

Roughly 25 demographic, 25 firmographic, 40 behavioral, 10 negative; MQL at 65–75, SQL at 85. Weight behavior over demographics, decay stale activity, and backtest the bars against the last 100 won and 100 lost before they ship.

Set the handoff rule

What a sales-ready lead carries (tier, source, context, next step), where it routes, and what bounces back with cause. Every bounce gets a reason code; reason codes get reviewed monthly.

Set the time bars

First response inside 4 business hours — inbound inside 5 minutes, social inside 15, referral inside 60 — 6 touches over 14 days, and disposition inside 5 business days as Accepted, Rejected, or Disqualified. Speed-to-lead is the one SLA number that never gets negotiated away, and a breached bar escalates to the named owner the same day.

Write the joint scorecard

Volume, acceptance rate, conversion by stage, velocity, and the sourced vs influenced pipeline split with named proofs. Starter bars: MQL-to-SAL acceptance above 60%, SQL-to-opportunity above 30%; any published MQL-to-SQL benchmark is direction-only until your own funnel confirms it. One scorecard, reviewed in one forum, monthly at least.

Add the feedback loop

Sales grades lead quality weekly with quotes, marketing tunes scoring and sourcing monthly. Scoring changes need triangulated evidence — quotes plus conversion drift — before they ship.

What you hand back

The SLA doc with definitions, handoff rules, time bars, and the joint scorecard template beside it, shown in chat. Take one round of edits from each side, then save under alignment. You draft the agreement; the approver signs it, and neither side gets to freeload.

Fallbacks

No funnel numbers means you draft the SLA on tier math and hold the targets as UNKNOWN. No shared CRM means the SLA ships with a routing log template instead of automation. Never invent a conversion rate, a lead count, or a follow-up time. Label each line FACT, INFERENCE, or UNKNOWN.