How do we define and enforce a legal SLA between sales and marketing when neither team owns follow-up velocity?
BRIEF
SLA ownership requires lead distribution clarity: who owns the handoff trigger, what constitutes acceptance, and which team corrects timing failures. Without this, both teams blame each other while pipeline stalls.
DETAIL
SLA Foundation (3 pillars)
- Response SLA: Marketing delivers qualified leads within 2 hours; Sales accepts or rejects in 4 hours. Bridge Group data shows teams missing both targets lose 23% of conversations.
- Follow-up SLA: Once accepted, Sales commits to first contact within 24 hours for enterprise, 48 hours for mid-market. OpenView operators tie this to conversion uplift (inbound leads contacted <1hr convert 30% higher).
- Lead Disqualification SLA: Unresponded leads return to Marketing after 7 days for re-engagement; Sales must flag clearly why rejection occurred (ICP miss, timing, intent gap).
Enforcement Model
Assign weekly SLA reviews with both leaders present. Track breach causes:
| Metric | Trigger | Owner | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Response >4h | Lead sits | Sales | Escalate to VP Sales |
| Contact >24h | No dial | Sales | Weekly QA coaching |
| Rejection unclear | Reason missing | Marketing | Recycle or educate |
Accountability Setup
Link SLA attainment to comp/bonus (10-15% weighting). Pavilion research shows teams with financial skin-in-the-game meet SLAs 91% vs. 61% for handshake agreements. Publish weekly dashboard: response rate, first-contact velocity, recycled-lead ratio. Force.com or Slack integration keeps data frictionless.
Establish quarterly SLA reviews. If Marketing misses lead quality, lower response requirement; if Sales misses contact velocity, raise qualification bar. MEDDPICC does this well—Sales confirms fit, Marketing stops sending tire-kickers.
TAGS: sla,lead-handoff,accountability,bridge-group,openview,pavilion,velocity,pipeline-health