🤝 Ending the "Cold War"

It happens in every Monthly Business Review (MBR).

VP Marketing: "We delivered 500 MQLs. Why is revenue down?"

VP Sales: "Because those 'MQLs' were garbage. My team called them, and they didn't pick up."

This is the Sales vs. Marketing Cold War. It kills culture and it kills revenue.

The root cause is a lack of alignment. You are operating on "assumptions," not "agreements."

• Marketing assumes Sales will call every lead instantly.

• Sales assumes every lead should be ready to buy immediately.

You need a treaty. You need a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

An SLA is not a vague promise to "work together." It is a mathematical contract.

• Marketing commits to: Quantity and Quality.

• Sales commits to: Speed and Depth.

Here is the blueprint to writing an SLA that holds up in court (or at least, in the boardroom).

📝 Clause 1: The "MQL" Definition (Quality)

You cannot hold Sales accountable for following up on junk.

The Agreement: Marketing agrees to only pass leads that meet specific criteria.

• Demographics: Must match ICP (Industry/Size).
• Behavior: Must show Intent (Demo Request OR Pricing Visit).

The HubSpot Enforcer: Use the Lead Scoring property.

HubSpot’s lead scoring tool lets you create scores based on fit and engagement and set score thresholds to categorize and prioritize records.

Rule: "A lead is only an MQL if Score > 50."

If Marketing passes a "Score 20" lead, Sales has the right to reject it without penalty.

📝 Clause 2: The "Handoff" Volume (Quantity)

Sales needs to eat. Marketing must provide the food.

The Agreement: Marketing commits to generating $X of Pipeline Value (not just lead count).

The Math: To hit the $1M revenue goal, we need $4M in pipeline.

The HubSpot Enforcer: The Marketing Performance Dashboard.

Metric: "MQLs Created" vs. "Goal."

If Marketing is red, they need to spend more on ads.

📝 Clause 3: The "Speed to Lead" (Velocity)

Leads rot. Fast.

The Agreement: Sales commits to contacting every MQL within X Hours (usually 2-4 business hours).

The Logic: Following up in 5 minutes increases conversion by 9x compared to 30 minutes.

The HubSpot Enforcer: "Time to First Action" Report.

Build a Calculated Property: Time of First Call - Time of MQL Assignment.

HubSpot calculation properties support “Time between” calculations between two date/date-time properties on the same object.

If the average > 4 hours, Sales is in breach of contract.

📝 Clause 4: The "Depth" of Pursuit (Persistence)

One call is not enough.

The Agreement: Sales commits to a minimum of 6 touches over 14 days before disqualifying a lead.

The Logic: Most deals happen on the 4th or 5th attempt.

The HubSpot Enforcer: Sequences.

Enroll every MQL in a "6-Touch Sequence."

HubSpot allows sequence enrollment automation via workflows or via the sequence tool’s Automation tab (depending on subscription).

If a rep disqualifies a lead with only 1 call logged, the system (via Workflow) flags it and sends it back to the manager.

📊 The "SLA Dashboard" (The Referee)

An SLA is useless if no one looks at it. You need a shared dashboard that is reviewed weekly.

The 4 Charts You Need:

• Marketing Output: MQLs Generated vs. Goal (Month to Date).
• Lead Quality: % of MQLs Accepted vs. Rejected by Sales.
• Sales Speed: Average Time to First Touch (by Rep).
• Sales Depth: % of Leads with >3 Activities before Disqualification.

When you put this on the screen, the arguments stop. The data speaks.

Alignment is Revenue.

Companies with aligned Sales and Marketing teams grow 24% faster (hubspot data).

The SLA removes the emotion. It turns "The Blame Game" into "The Optimization Game."

• If Sales is slow, hire more reps.
• If leads are bad, fix the scoring model.

It’s not personal. It’s process.

Not sure how to build the "Time to First Action" calculation?

This is part of our Free HubSpot Health Check.

We will audit your "Alignment." We'll interview both VPs, review your handoff logic, and build the "SLA Dashboard" that acts as the referee for your growth engine.