What Is A Marketing & Sales Service Level Agreement?

A service level agreement is a contract between two parties that defines the expected level of service. It holds each team accountable to specific, agreed-upon expectations that align to the same goal.

We recommend that you create a service level agreement between sales and marketing teams that details both marketing goals (like number of leads or pipeline revenue) and the sales activities that will follow and support them (like following up on leads qualified by marketing). Both teams use this document as a commitment to support each other, based on concrete, numerical goals.

Why Is A Service Level Agreement Important?

According to the 2017 State of Inbound report by Hubspot, fewer than half of all marketers would describe their respective companies' Sales and Marketing teams as "generally aligned."

Marketers are tired of their lead opportunities being wasted by sales. Why should we spend all this time and money just to generate leads that aren’t effectively being nurtured through the buyer’s journey?

But it’s not just the marketers that are frustrated.  Sales representatives consistently complain that the leads marketers generate aren’t qualified enough. 

Can’t we find a way to get along?

We’re extremely lucky here at Incept to not only have a strong sales and marketing relationship, but also a bunch of experience coaching other organizations to create a more cohesive approach for their sales and marketing departments.