The irony of course, is that the deliverable for sales is crystal clear – the sale. The contract is signed and the PO received. The heavy lifting from sales is finished and that of accounts receivable begins.

But for marketing, whose key deliverable is often the qualified lead, the picture is confusing: the definition of a sales lead can be all over the map. Is a lead an appointment or a qualified lead (or both)? Is a lead an inquiry, a trade show visitor, a webinar registrant, a downloader of a white paper or a referral?

To some, a lead is defined as an interested responder. To others, a fully qualified BANT lead (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe).

A poorly defined lead is one symptom of a crippling disease: sales & marketing mis-aligment (see my post on ten signs that sales and marketing are mis-aligned).

In the simplest possible terms: a lead is a prospect that sales agrees to accept, engage and close. Best-in-class sales & marketing organizations will add richer criteria to the definition, but the willingness of sales to accept a lead from marketing is elegant in its simplicity.

It also takes into account an important distinction: the definition of a lead may vary by the sales rep. For example, a new sales rep with no sales funnel may accept ‘loosely’ defined leads versus a sales rep who has a full funnel who will only accept ‘strictly’ defined, fully-qualified leads.

Unfortunately, the term ‘lead’ is frequently taken out of context by the vendors that sell to B2B marketers. This may artificially enhance the perceived value of the vendor’s solution but adds to the malaise and confusion in the market.

Ask yourself after reading the examples below and apply the simple acceptance rule: can you fathom a field salesperson accepting these ‘leads’?

Data Vendors – A significant number of data vendors continue to merchandise their lists as ‘leads’. Nothing could be further from the truth. These are lists of ‘Accounts and Contacts’.

CRM Vendors – Most CRM solutions have separate buckets for accounts/contacts and leads. Although I agree that leads need a home in the CRM system, the lead bucket seems to be a dumping ground for all flavors of inquiries and marketing responders. A more applicable label would be ‘Prospects’

Marketing Automation Vendors – A popular and vital process in the demand generation process is ‘lead nurture’. I agree that this is an easy to understand term for describing the cultivation of prospects until the prospect is sales-ready. However, these contacts are not leads but are prospects that are not yet ready to speak to sales. At one time, some of these prospect may have spoken to sales and subsequently disqualified. A better term would be ‘Prospect Nurture’.

It is important for marketing to under-promise and over-deliver to sales. It makes sense to ask their vendors to do the same.

Call me a stickler if you want, but until we see greater success in sales and marketing alignment and in particular, lead definitions, we need to be a lot more careful in the way that we throw around a pivotal term like ‘lead’.

Otherwise, it becomes one of those four letter words.

Your thoughts?

Photo Credit: Ash-rly

As a provider of lead generation services, we are afforded a unique position at the intersection point between sales and marketing to observe many of these ‘canaries’.

Today, I have tallied our top ten signs that sales and marketing are mis-aligned:

1) Wrestling in the Office – Sales and marketing settle their differences like cro-magnon men (see photo).

2) Rental Lists as Leads – Marketing refers to accounts and contacts on rental lists as ‘leads’. Any marketer who indiscriminately parrots this term from list vendors should be sent back to B2B marketing school.

3) Inquiries as Leads – Marketing categorizes an inquiry as a ‘lead’. A responder is just that: someone who is interested in your offer and may not be evaluating solutions.

4) Multiple Definitions for a Lead – Marketing and sales can’t agree on a single definition of a qualified, sales-ready lead.

5) Recycling Marketing Messaging for Sales – Dragging-and-dropping a message from a marketing brochure or website does not satisfy the needs of inside and outside sales for precise, distinct and succinct messaging.

6) No commitment from Sales on Lead Handling – Once marketing hands off a lead to sales there is no agreed upon course of action for lead engagement, lead reporting or lead recycling.

7) Fuzzy Sales Lead Feedback – The reports from sales are full of emotion but not facts. Leads are tossed aside with little detailed feedback as to why the lead did not meet the lead criteria.

8 ) A Qualified Prospect Calls Back – A lead who is expecting a call from sales, never receives contact. The lead re-contacts your organization to find out when someone will call.

9) Leads Generated by Marketing are Not Factored into Quota – Sales does not count on marketing-sourced leads to achieve their quota.

10) Marketing is Measured on Inquiries or Responses – Marketing is measured on activity metrics, rather than results metrics.

What signs do you see that cause you concern about sales and marketing alignment? What would you add to the list?