SLA / SOP (Sales Funnel 101)

4 min readJan 9, 2023

This is part of an introductory series written for first-time sales managers and also for executives, founders, and owners whose day-to-day is not sales. Links to the rest of the series are at the bottom of this post.

Definitions → Expectations

Now that you have leads and opportunities clearly defined with as black-and-white criteria as possible, you can now move into establishing Service-Level Agreements (SLA) and/or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

It’s all about expectations.

If marketing and sales are aligned and working toward the same goal, then they each need to make known to the other what can be expected. This builds expectations and opens the door for accountability.

Every scenario is different but what is below is a simplified example that should give you something to run with.

Marketing’s SLA

Marketing will produce 50 leads / month for sales.
These leads will fit the definition of lead agreed upon. If they do not, they are not leads and do not “count.”
The SLA may even include breakdowns by sources (e.g., 25 leads will come from Source A, 15 from Source B, and 10 from Source C). Whatever best fits your situation.
Because qualifying is not selling, marketing is actually responsible for the conversion rate of leads to whatever stage is next (opportunity, maybe). Marketing and sales will have an agreed-upon conversion rate. For this, let’s say 35%. If you can, you should have specific conversion rates by lead source (e.g. Source A converts at 50%, Source B at 20%, etc.). The devil is in the details.

Sales’ SLA (and thus SOP for sellers):

Sales will respond to leads within two business hours both by phone and email.
If contact is not made on initial attempts, sales will continue to work the lead for a period of two weeks during which the seller will call a total of three times and email a total of four times.
If the lead is still unresponsive after the agreed-upon period of time and agreed-upon activity by the seller, the seller can mark the lead as unresponsive in the CRM and marketing will pick up nurturing that lead.
If / when a seller makes contact with the lead, the seller will convert the lead to an opportunity if the lead meets certain already agreed upon criteria for an opportunity.
All lead conversion, opp creation, and lead disqualification criteria will be established as part of the SLA. Sales and marketing will regularly and jointly review disqualification data to look for patterns and signals that make require adjustments either to marketing’s work or sales’ work.
Marketing is responsible for the conversion rate of leads (read: quality of the leads) but sales is responsible to work the leads the agreed upon way. If sales does this, then marketing can “accept” the conversion data as being legitimate.

Where the rubber meets the road

Ever hear an exchange like this one?

Marketing: “Sales is dropping the ball with leads. We gave them a ton of leads and they just aren’t converting them.”
Sales: “Hey we are doing what we can. We’re doing a good job.”

So, how would sales know that it was doing a “good job”?

The SLA / SOP would tell you. It’s the rule and guide. If sales is executing that, that’s what everyone already agreed is a “good job.” As the company learns along the way, it can always update the SLA / SOP in light of that to keep current guidance on what a “good job” looks like.

If you have the SLA and SOP in place, then the conversation can look something like this.

Marketing: “Sales is dropping the ball with leads this quarter. We have consistently been delivering 50 leads / month this year but conversion rates dropped this quarter from 35% to 22%.”
Sales: “Hey we are doing what we can. We’re doing a good job. Your leads stink! They don’t respond to us!”
Marketing: “Are you following up with two hours?”
Sales: “Well, most of the time.”
Marketing: “Are you staying on top of it after that — taking action on the lead with seven touches in fourteen days?”
Sales: “Uhhhhhh sometimes…?”
Marketing: “Well, the leads may indeed ‘stink’ but if you’re not working them consistently per the SLA, then we don’t really know. We agreed, per the SLA, that two hour response time followed by seven touches over fourteen days was the best way to work these leads. If sales isn’t doing that and is inconsistently working leads, then the data isn’t reliable. Can you guys get back on track with the SLA and we will see where numbers are in 4–6 weeks? If conversion rates are still down then, then we will look farther up the funnel to see what else may be contributing to this. But right now, the obvious change is how you’ve departed from the SLA. Please get back on track with that.”
Sales: “Ok, you’re right. We are sorry that we complained. We are like wide receivers in football — we act like prima donnas at times. We need to be reminded that we are part of a team. We’ll get our act together.”
Marketing: “Let’s hug it out, friend.”

TL;DR recap

You have definitions for leads and opps with clear criteria
Now build expectations for marketing and sales so that they are aligned and can work together and hold each other accountable
Ultimately, you want everyone to know who is responsible for doing what, when, and how with a lead / opp. Account for the lifecycle.
Reporting should be built in a way that gives easy insight so that teams can hold themselves and each other accountable