Three rules stop most lost leads: one named owner for every new enquiry, a first personal reply within one working hour during agreed coverage hours, and one backup when the owner cannot act. Write them into a one-page SLA, record three timestamps per lead, and test the routes before you trust them.
Issue 1 looked at seven places where leads leak between marketing and sales. This issue fixes the handoff instead of describing it again. It is a starting agreement to test against your team’s capacity, not a universal benchmark or a promise of more revenue.
What is a lead handoff SLA?
A lead handoff SLA (service-level agreement) is a short, written agreement between marketing and sales. It says who owns each new enquiry, how fast they reply, and what happens when they do not.
The first leak: everyone thinks someone else owns it
Asked which leak to look for first in Dutch B2B pipelines, my answer is unclear ownership in the first hours. A shared inbox can receive a lead. It cannot be accountable for it.
Assign one person when the request enters the CRM. Routing can depend on territory or product, but every route needs a fallback. If the usual salesperson is away, the fallback gets the lead immediately.
Ownership means checking the request, making the first relevant response and recording the next action. An assignment notification is not the same as follow-up.
What travels with the lead comes first
A reader raised the other side: Google click identifiers and LinkedIn campaign context can disappear between the form, the CRM and the sales sequence. Should you fix the timing first, or what travels with the lead?
Fix what travels first, then the timing. Preserve the request and its source context at capture, so a fast reply is not a blind reply. But do not delay a buyer’s response while you investigate missing attribution.
Start with the actual request, the company context that is known, the original source and a stable lead ID. Preserve campaign or click identifiers where they are available and permitted. Missing context stays unknown, not guessed.
Define the clock before you set the timer
Use a first personal reply within one working hour during agreed coverage hours. A personal reply addresses the request and gives a useful next step. An automated receipt can confirm arrival, but it does not count as the reply. Log call attempts separately; an unanswered call is not a personal reply.
Write down working days, public-holiday exclusions and the coverage time zone. A team serving several European markets may need different coverage windows.
Record received, assigned and first-personal-reply timestamps separately. Calculate the deadline from receipt, not assignment, or late routing makes slow follow-up look on time. Reassignment must not restart the clock.
Copy this one-page handoff SLA
| Clause | Agreement |
|---|---|
| Scope | New inbound sales enquiries. Route support, recruitment and other requests separately. |
| Coverage | Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:00 Europe/Amsterdam, excluding agreed holidays. Replace with your actual staffed hours. |
| Marketing owns | Capturing the request, preserving permitted source context, preventing duplicate routing and assigning one named person at receipt. |
| Sales owns | Reviewing the request, sending a relevant personal reply within one working hour and recording the next action. |
| Backup | A named backup for every route. Planned absence routes straight to the backup. |
| Missed deadline | Alert the owner and the backup immediately. The backup takes responsibility under the agreed takeover rule. Log the breach. |
| Second checkpoint | At 24 working hours without a personal reply, alert the sales lead. This is an escalation, not the normal target. |
| Evidence | Received, assigned and first-personal-reply timestamps, the calculated deadline and the reassignment history. |
| Review | Exceptions weekly. The agreement monthly, with marketing and sales together. |
Count working hours only inside the coverage window. On an eight-hour day, 24 working hours means three staffed days, not tomorrow morning. Do not agree to a response target nobody can cover; fix staffing or scope openly rather than letting the timer become a decorative dashboard.
Run three tests before trusting the rule
Use dummy requests, clearly labelled as tests. The times below are illustrative, not client data, and assume no public holidays.
- In hours: A request arrives Tuesday at 10:10. One owner appears immediately and the reply deadline is 11:10. A missed deadline triggers the backup alert.
- Outside hours: A request arrives Friday at 18:30. With the example coverage above, the deadline is Monday at 10:00 Europe/Amsterdam. The automated receipt can explain the coverage hours without pretending a person has already replied.
- Absent owner: Submit a request while the normal owner is marked unavailable. Confirm that the backup receives responsibility, not just a copy of an email.
If any test fails, repair that route before adding more automation.
This week’s action
Copy the SLA into a shared page. Fill in real names, coverage hours and the takeover rule, then run the three tests with someone from sales. Use the free LinkedIn Lead Handoff Checklist to inspect the wider journey. If your CRM is HubSpot, see how Samsina sets up HubSpot CRM routing and pipelines.
Frequently asked questions
What should a marketing and sales SLA include?
Scope, coverage hours, what marketing owns, what sales owns, a named backup, what happens when a deadline is missed, an escalation checkpoint, the evidence you record and a review rhythm.
Does an automated email count as replying to a lead?
No. An automated receipt confirms arrival. The SLA clock stops only at a personal reply that addresses the request and offers a useful next step.
Should reply time start when the lead is received or when it is assigned?
When it is received. Starting at assignment hides routing delays, and reassignment should never restart the clock.
What if our team cannot reply within one working hour?
Agree a target you can actually cover, or change staffing or scope openly. One working hour is a starting point to test, not a universal rule.
Need help finding where your handoff breaks?
Sina Dadmehr is the founder of Samsina in Utrecht and the author of The Pipeline Quality Playbook. Next issue: the four CRM fields a lead needs before sales can work it. Subscribe to The Pipeline Notes on LinkedIn.
Book a growth call