Demand generation
The handoff document that ends the sales and marketing argument
One page, four definitions and a service-level agreement. Most of the friction between the two teams disappears once it exists.
By Omer Katz, Head of demand generation1 min read
Sales says the leads are bad. Marketing says sales never follows up. Both are right often enough to keep the argument alive for years. The fix is unglamorous: a one-page agreement.
The four definitions
- Marketing qualified lead: the firmographic and behavioural criteria, written as a checklist.
- Sales accepted lead: what sales must do, and by when, to accept or reject with a reason.
- Sales qualified opportunity: the discovery criteria that turn a conversation into pipeline.
- Recycled lead: what happens to leads that are rejected, and when marketing gets them back.
The service levels
Marketing commits to a volume and a quality threshold each month. Sales commits to a follow-up time and a rejection reason on every lead. Both numbers appear on the same dashboard.
The review
Thirty minutes every two weeks, with the rejected leads on screen. This meeting is where the definitions get tightened. Skip it and the document decays within a quarter.
The document is short because the argument it replaces is long.
