The Marketing and Sales SLA for SaaS
A service level agreement between marketing and sales turns ‘your leads are bad’ and ‘you never follow up’ into numbers both teams signed. It is one page and reviewed monthly.
What is a marketing and sales SLA?
A marketing and sales SLA is a written agreement where marketing commits to a number of qualified leads or pipeline each month, and sales commits to how fast and how many times it follows up, and what it does with leads it rejects. Both sides are measured and reviewed monthly.
What goes into the SLA?
The SLA covers definitions, commitments on each side, follow-up rules, recycling, and how disputes get settled. The template below is a starting point for a company with an SDR or sales team; adjust the numbers to your volume.
| Section | Marketing commits to | Sales commits to |
|---|---|---|
| Definitions | MQL entry rules agreed in writing | SAL and SQL entry rules agreed in writing |
| Volume | A monthly number of MQLs or pipeline value | Working every MQL; no silent rejections |
| Speed | Routing and alert within 5 minutes | First contact within 1 business hour for high-intent leads |
| Effort | Context on each lead: source, activity, fit | A set number of attempts over a set number of days |
| Feedback | Adjusting targeting based on reasons | A disqualification reason on every rejected lead |
| Recycling | Nurturing recycled leads | Returning unready leads to nurture, not deleting them |
What does the follow-up timeline look like?
A typical follow-up timeline for a high-intent lead is contact within an hour, several attempts across phone, email and LinkedIn over about ten business days, then a decision: qualify, disqualify with a reason, or recycle to nurture. Agree the exact numbers in the SLA.
- Minute 0: lead routed, owner alerted with context.
- Within 1 business hour: first call and personal email.
- Days 1 to 10: further attempts across channels on an agreed schedule.
- Day 10: status set: SQL, disqualified with a reason, or recycled to nurture.
- Monthly: both teams review rejected and recycled leads together.
How do you measure it?
Measure both sides on one dashboard: MQLs or pipeline against marketing’s commitment, and time to first contact, attempts per lead and share of leads with a status against sales’ commitment. Review it monthly with both leaders. The point is to fix the system, not to blame a team.
Speed-to-lead reporting and routing are on lead scoring and routing. Stage definitions are on MQL, SQL and pipeline stages.
Measure both sides or neither.
An SLA that only measures marketing’s lead count, or only sales’ follow-up, will be resented. Both teams sign, both teams are measured.
Does a small startup need an SLA?
A small startup needs the habits, not the ceremony. Even with one founder selling, agree in writing what a qualified lead is, respond within the hour, and log why leads are lost. Formalize the SLA when you hire your first SDR or salesperson, because that is when leads start to fall between people.
Frequently asked questions
What is a marketing and sales SLA?
A written agreement on how many qualified leads marketing delivers and how quickly and thoroughly sales follows them up.
What should be in a marketing and sales SLA?
Stage definitions, volume commitments, follow-up speed and attempts, disqualification reasons and recycling rules.
How many follow-up attempts should sales make?
Agree a number in the SLA; several attempts across phone, email and LinkedIn over about ten business days is common.
What happens to leads sales rejects?
They get a required reason and go back to nurture, so marketing can learn and the lead isn’t lost.
How often should the SLA be reviewed?
Monthly, with both leaders reviewing the same dashboard.
When does a startup need an SLA?
When you hire your first SDR or salesperson. Before that, agree definitions and response time informally.