Sales blames marketing, and back again

The short answerStop arguing and measure both claims. Median hours from lead creation to first activity settles the follow up question in an afternoon. Conversion rate by lead source settles the quality question. In most companies both numbers are bad, which is why the argument never resolves: each side is correct about the other.

The four numbers that end the argument

Median hours to first touchSettles the follow up claim. Use the median, not the average.One query

Ninetieth percentileWhere the real problem hides. Averages conceal the tail entirely.Always pair them

Conversion by sourceSettles the quality claim. In aggregate it tells you nothing.Split it out

Rejection reasonsCaptured and actually read. The cheapest loop available.Monthly review

Leads with no ownerNobody follows up a lead that was never assigned.Usually a surprise

Friday to Monday gapThe single biggest bucket of slow responses in most companies.Rota, not tooling

What this looked like in practice

$10M given a traceable source

Two teams had been blaming each other monthly. Neither had data. Once $10M of pipeline had a traceable source, the argument stopped, because there was finally something to check.

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Questions

How do we settle the lead quality argument?

Measure both claims. Median hours from creation to first activity settles follow up. Conversion by source settles quality. Usually both numbers are poor, which is why the argument never resolves.

What is a reasonable speed to lead?

Hours rather than days. Track your own median and ninetieth percentile over time; the tail matters more than the average.

How do we build a feedback loop between sales and marketing?

Capture a rejection reason on every rejected lead, report on it monthly, and change the qualification definition based on what it says.

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Sales blames marketing for bad leads and marketing says sales does not follow up. How do we fix it?