Sales–Marketing Alignment Framework

Source: Kahan (2022) High-Velocity Digital Marketing

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Use when

• Establishes shared KPI ownership, CRM discipline, and a lead handover SLA between marketing and sales functions. Invoke when a client has both marketing and sales teams and attribution disputes, low lead conversion rates, or siloed reporting are reducing the effectiveness of both functions. Also invoke when a sole-trader or micro-business owner needs to align their marketing activity with their own follow-up behaviour.
• Use this skill when it is the closest match to the requested deliverable or workflow.

Do not use when

• Do not use this skill for graphic design, video production, software development, or legal advice beyond the repository's stated scope.
• Do not use it when another skill in this repository is clearly more specific to the requested deliverable.

Workflow

1. Collect the required inputs or source material before drafting, unless this skill explicitly generates the intake itself.
2. Follow the section order and decision rules in this SKILL.md; do not skip mandatory steps or required fields.
3. Review the draft against the quality criteria, then deliver the final output in markdown unless the skill specifies another format.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not invent client facts, performance data, budgets, or approvals that were not provided or clearly inferred from evidence.
• Do not skip required inputs, mandatory sections, or quality checks just to make the output shorter.
• Do not drift into out-of-scope work such as code implementation, design production, or unsupported legal conclusions.

Outputs

• A structured audit, report, model, or analytical framework in markdown, with decisions and recommendations tied to evidence.

References

• Use the inline instructions in this skill now. If a references/ directory is added later, treat its files as the deeper source material and keep this SKILL.md execution-focused.

Required Inputs

Ask for the following before generating any deliverable:

1. Client business name
2. Industry
3. Country / city (defaults to Uganda / East Africa)
4. Primary goal (e.g. reduce lead wastage, improve MQL-to-deal conversion, establish attribution clarity)
5. Sales team size (number of sales staff, or confirm if owner handles all sales)
6. CRM system in use (HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, spreadsheet, none — critical to know before recommending process changes)
7. Current monthly lead volume (approximate)
8. Average sales cycle length (days from first contact to signed contract or purchase)

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The Core Problem

Marketing generates leads; sales does not follow up promptly or considers them unqualified. Sales closes deals; marketing does not receive credit for sourcing them. Both functions optimise for their own metrics and neither is held accountable for revenue. The result: wasted leads, duplicate effort, and attribution disputes that undermine both teams.

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KPI Ownership Map

Marketing-Owned KPIs

• Website visitors per month
• Lead volume per month (by channel)
• Cost per lead per channel
• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) volume
• Marketing-sourced pipeline value (UGX/KES value of opportunities that marketing generated)
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Marketing ROI — apply the formula: (Total Lifetime Value − CAC) ÷ CAC (Bodnar and Cohen, 2012)

Sales-Owned KPIs

• Total revenue (monthly and cumulative vs. target)
• Pipeline coverage ratio: total pipeline value ÷ quarterly revenue target (target: 3–4×)
• Lead-to-opportunity conversion rate
• Opportunity-to-deal conversion rate
• Average sales cycle length (days)
• Average revenue per account

Jointly-Owned KPIs

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Revenue by acquisition channel (first-touch attribution)

Agree and document KPI ownership in writing before implementing any reporting or scoring system. Disputes about KPI ownership are the most common cause of failed alignment initiatives.

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CRM as Single Source of Truth

All leads, opportunities, and deal records must exist in one CRM system — not in email inboxes, WhatsApp conversations, spreadsheets, or individual sales reps' notebooks. Before implementing any lead scoring or attribution model, ensure the CRM meets three conditions:

1. 100% adoption — every sales team member logs every lead and activity. No exceptions.
2. Daily updates — activity records (calls made, messages sent, meetings held) must be logged same-day.
3. Marketing access — marketing must have read access to opportunity and deal data to report on marketing-sourced revenue.

For EA clients without a CRM: Recommend Zoho CRM (free tier supports up to 3 users) or HubSpot CRM (free tier, unlimited users). Do not implement lead scoring or attribution analysis until the CRM is adopted. A spreadsheet-based CRM is acceptable as a transitional tool if the client cannot commit to a software platform within the next 30 days.

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Lead Handover SLA

Apply Kahan's (2022) lead handover SLA as the operational standard:

Stage	Owner	Timeline
MQL generated	Marketing	Real-time (automated delivery to CRM)
First contact attempt	Sales	Within 4 hours of MQL delivery during business hours
If no contact within 4 hours	Marketing (re-nurture)	Lead reverts to marketing nurture — not lost
Follow-up attempts	Sales	Days 2, 4, 7 after initial contact
MQL rejection (sales disputes quality)	Joint review	Within 48 hours — resolve with data

The 4-hour rule (Kahan, 2022): Leads go cold within 24 hours of initial contact. Research across B2B markets consistently shows response time is the single biggest predictor of lead conversion. Document the 4-hour SLA in writing, share with both teams, and review compliance monthly.

Escalation protocol: If a sales rep fails to contact an MQL within 4 hours three times in a month, the marketing team escalates to the sales manager. If the pattern continues, review whether the lead scoring model is correctly identifying qualified leads.

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Lead Scoring Foundation

Before implementing lead scoring, confirm the CRM is fully adopted (see above). Then build a simple scoring model:

Demographic score (fit):

• Correct industry: +10
• Correct company size: +10
• Decision-maker title: +15
• Located in target geography: +5

Behavioural score (intent):

• Visited pricing page: +20
• Downloaded lead magnet: +10
• Attended webinar: +15
• Opened 3+ emails in past 30 days: +10
• Requested a demo or quote: +25

MQL threshold: A lead reaching 50+ points is classified as an MQL and handed to sales. Adjust thresholds quarterly based on conversion data — if MQLs are converting at below 20%, lower the threshold or revise the scoring criteria.

For EA clients, include WhatsApp engagement in behavioural scoring: responding to a WhatsApp broadcast with a question (+15) or requesting a price list (+20) are strong intent signals.

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Monthly Joint Review Meeting

Marketing and sales must meet for 60 minutes each month. Structure:

1. Lead volume and quality (marketing presents): MQL volume, cost per MQL, top-performing channels
2. Funnel conversion rates (joint review): MQL → opportunity → deal at each stage
3. Revenue by channel (joint review): Which marketing channels produced closed revenue this month?
4. Attribution disputes: Resolve any disagreements about lead source with CRM data, not opinion
5. Scoring model review: Are the leads marketing delivers genuinely qualified? Adjust scoring if conversion rate is below 20%
6. Next month targets: Agree lead volume targets and channel allocation for the next period

Document meeting outcomes in writing and share with both teams within 24 hours.

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EA-Specific Context: Owner-Managed Businesses

Many EA businesses do not have a formal sales team — the business owner or one account manager handles all sales enquiries. Apply the same principles:

• The "alignment" is between marketing activity and the owner's follow-up behaviour
• The 4-hour SLA applies to the owner's response to WhatsApp, email, and phone enquiries
• Design marketing content to reduce the barrier to first contact: WhatsApp CTA buttons, pre-answered FAQs, pricing visible online
• Use WhatsApp Business automated replies to acknowledge enquiries instantly, even when the owner cannot respond immediately
• Track all enquiries in a simple CRM or Google Sheet — minimum fields: name, contact, source, date, status (contacted / pending / converted / lost)

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Quality Criteria

Output meets the standard for this skill if:

• KPI ownership is clearly mapped — marketing-owned, sales-owned, and jointly-owned metrics are distinguished
• The 4-hour lead response SLA is documented with an escalation protocol for non-compliance
• CRM adoption is treated as a prerequisite — no lead scoring or attribution work proceeds without it
• The monthly joint review meeting has a documented agenda and output format
• WhatsApp is addressed as both an acquisition channel and a lead follow-up channel for EA clients
• The EA owner-managed business context is addressed as a distinct scenario with adapted recommendations
• The ROI formula (Bodnar and Cohen, 2012) is applied to marketing KPI reporting
• Language is British English throughout; imperative in all instructional sections