Table of contents
In many companies the marketing and sales relationship is reduced to "marketing brings people in, sales closes them". That is not wrong, but it hides the question that causes most friction: where is the baton passed, and against what standard.
1. Different Judgements, Not Sliced Territory
Marketing owns whether an opportunity exists: does this audience have a need, in what situation does it appear, what language is understood, which channel reaches them.
Sales owns whether this particular deal closes: budget, decision maker, timing, competitors.
Because the objects differ, the metrics must differ. Marketing is measured on lead volume and lead quality; sales on conversion and deal size. Mix them into one number and both sides stop trusting the data.
2. Three Handoff Points That Cause Friction
| Item | Marketing owns | Sales owns | How it is judged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead standard | Defines qualifying fields | Reports why a lead cannot be worked | Same definition for two consecutive months |
| Response time | Delivers leads within a window | Makes first contact within a window | Timestamps in the system, not verbal promises |
| Enablement | Case studies, pricing frame, talk tracks | Reports what customers actually ask | One review per month |
Half a page is enough. Timestamps in particular end most arguments, because "I thought you had it" stops being a defence.
3. Agree the Lead Standard Up Front
A qualified lead needs four fields: industry and size, a specific need description, a budget range, and the decision role. Leads missing two of four go to a nurture pool and are excluded from the conversion denominator.
Fix the standard at the start of a quarter and leave it alone. Changing it mid-quarter makes both dashboards unreadable.
4. When One Person Does Both
Under ten people, the same team usually runs promotion and closes deals. Do not split departments; split time. Mornings for leads and content, afternoons for follow-up and quotes, no new tasks at night. Physical separation on a calendar beats willpower.
Keep a weekly half hour for review with three numbers: new leads, qualified rate, sales cycle. Read together, they reveal whether the bottleneck is acquisition or negotiation.
5. Two Adjacent Relationships
Upstream sits the product: the product decides what can be claimed, marketing decides how. A claim the product cannot support fails at the second purchase.
Outward sits the channel shift from offline to online. The judgement is unchanged - find the audience, then decide what to say. What the internet added is measurement, which lets marketing see where each step loses people.
6. FAQ
Who owns the revenue number?
Both, with split targets. Marketing owns qualified lead volume and cost; sales owns conversion and collection. Give one side the whole number and behaviour distorts.
Sales says the leads are bad. What now?
Read data, not sentiment. Sample ten leads and check industry fit, need specificity and contact validity. Two of three wrong means marketing; fit but no follow-up means sales.
Is the handoff the same in B2C?
No. B2C hands off at visit or order, a short chain. B2B hands off at confirmed need and budget, with multiple touches before that.
See also
- Marketing growth: targets into channel mixes
- Website development: forms that do not waste traffic
- Role clarity for marketing planners
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