Whenever a metric becomes a target, it alters people’s behavior - even if they don’t realize it. Marketing may commit to delivering ‘50 qualified leads per month’, but this only works if you have a concrete shared definition of what a ‘qualified lead’ actually is.
Without that shared definition mexico phone number search the quality of leads is likely to suffer. Marketing may unconsciously lower their standards, as they want to hit their quotas. As a result, sales will receive leads that are not worth contacting - wasting their time. This will make relations between the departments more difficult, which is exactly the opposite of RevOp’s purpose.
The best way to avoid this sort of error is through rigorous, mutually agreed upon definitions that allow as little wiggle room as possible. Create explicit parameters about what constitutes a qualified lead; what is required for a lead to move through each Lifecycle Stage; and what is expected of each lead.
2. Built-in Collaboration
Another problem for sales and marketing alignment is accountability. Many leads slip through the cracks simply because the rep responsible for their territory is not available when the lead comes in. But oftentimes, nobody on the team is designated as a back up to be directly responsible for ensuring the lead is contacted, which means nobody ends up acting.
Ensure your SLA explicitly stipulates that leads must be contacted - regardless of the territory management strategy in place. The lead doesn’t care who is calling them - they just want to hear from someone. Leverage automation in your CRM to pass the lead on to a different sales rep if the original assigned rep cannot reach out within a certain amount of time.
3. Segmented Protocols
Your SLA should feature a fixed protocol for responding to leads. Let’s say sales is expected to contact new inbound leads within five minutes. But this is not always going to be an effective strategy, depending on the type of lead you’re dealing with and the way they enter the funnel.
Differentiate between Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and demo request leads, ensuring each has their own protocols within the SLA. A simple example: Leads that requested a demo should be contacted within 5 mins, or 2 hours max; Leads that become MQLs via lead scoring should be contacted within 1 day.
This will ensure sales has a clearer sense of what they are dealing with, and treat each type of lead in the most effective way.
