Sales-Marketing SLA Template: ABM Edition

Sales and marketing hate each other because they don't have clear expectations.

Marketing thinks: "We generate 1,000 leads per month. Sales should close 20%."

Sales thinks: "Those 1,000 leads are trash. We need 100 qualified ones."

Neither side has a contract. So they blame each other. Nothing changes.

The fix is an SLA. A simple document that says: "Marketing does X. Sales responds Y. We measure Z."

Here's the template. Customize it. Sign it. Live by it.

Sales-Marketing SLA Template (ABM Version)

For more context, see our ABM fundamentals guide to learn more.

1. Definitions

Lead: A prospect from a target account who has engaged (email open, website visit, demo request)

Sales-Qualified Lead (SQL): A prospect with confirmed budget, timeline, and need

Target Account List (TAL): Agreed-upon list of 50-300 accounts sales and marketing will jointly pursue

Account Engagement: 1+ contact from the account has engaged in marketing program

Qualified Opportunity: Account has moved to "Active Opportunity" stage in CRM with estimated close date

2. Marketing Responsibilities

Marketing commits to:

Lead Generation from TAL: - Generate 500+ engaged leads from 300 TAL accounts per quarter - Define "engaged" as: email open + website visit, or form submission, or webinar attendance

Lead Quality Metrics: - 30%+ of generated leads are from target personas (relevant job titles) - 25%+ of generated leads are from target geographies - <5% of leads have invalid/unverifiable email addresses

Account Engagement: - Achieve 40%+ account engagement rate (40% of TAL accounts have 1+ contact engagement per quarter) - Execute 3+ touches per engaged account per quarter (email, ad, content)

Response Time: - Respond to Sales requests for materials within 2 business days - Update CRM with engaged lead data within 24 hours of engagement - Refresh lead scoring monthly

Reporting: - Weekly: Engaged leads by account, engagement rate - Monthly: Account engagement trends, top performers by segment - Quarterly: Pipeline influenced, revenue attributed to marketing

3. Sales Responsibilities

Sales commits to:

Lead Follow-Up: - Contact SQL within 4 business hours of receiving - Contact non-SQL leads within 2 business days of receiving - Update CRM with outcome (met, no-show, unqualified, etc.)

Account Prioritization: - Agree on TAL list monthly (revisit top 50 accounts every 60 days) - Provide feedback on lead quality monthly - Rank accounts by priority (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3)

Account Engagement: - Personally outreach top 50 TAL accounts at least monthly (not just waiting for marketing leads) - Coordinate 1:1 outreach with marketing campaigns (no duplicate/conflicting messages) - Update CRM with account activity weekly

Response Time: - Respond to marketing requests for account info within 1 business day - Log all meetings/calls in CRM within 24 hours - Flag hot accounts immediately (so marketing can coordinate)

Reporting: - Weekly: Meetings booked, opportunities created, status of Tier 1 accounts - Monthly: Closed deals, closed deal pipeline, accounts stalled - Quarterly: Pipeline influence of marketing programs

4. Conversion Benchmarks

Target metrics (by quarter):

If either side misses benchmarks for 2 consecutive quarters, the SLA is renegotiated.

5. Campaign Execution

Quarterly Campaign Calendar: - Marketing and sales jointly plan campaigns each quarter - Campaigns are assigned to account tiers (Tier 1: 1:1 + ads; Tier 2: Campaign + outreach; Tier 3: Campaign only) - Campaigns target specific personas by account (ops, finance, marketing, etc.)

Campaign Tempo: - Tier 1: 2-4 touches per month (coordinated between sales and marketing) - Tier 2: 1-2 touches per month (marketing-led with sales escalation triggers) - Tier 3: 1 touch per quarter (marketing only, auto-escalate on response)

Campaign Performance Review: - Weekly: Engagement metrics (opens, clicks, website visits) - Monthly: Leads generated, sales follow-up rate, meetings booked - Quarterly: Pipeline and revenue influenced

6. Account Escalation Process

Tier 3 to Tier 2: Account shows 2+ buying signals (job opening + website visit, or email open + competitor mention) -> Sales reviews -> Move to Tier 2 if qualified

Tier 2 to Tier 1: Opportunity created OR buying committee engaged (2+ stakeholders) -> Sales decides -> Move to Tier 1, assign AE, daily alignment with marketing

Back to Tier 2: No activity for 60 days (no sales outreach, no engagement) -> Marketing escalates -> Account goes back to Tier 2 cadence, not 1:1

To Dead List: No activity for 120 days AND no pipeline -> Both agree -> Remove from TAL, focus budget elsewhere

7. Lead Scoring & Handoff

Scoring System:

Marketing scores leads on: - Engagement (opens, clicks, form fills) - Firmographic (company size, industry, fit to ICP) - Behavioral (website pages visited, content consumed)

Handoff Trigger:

Marketing hands off to sales when score is 50+ (out of 100): - Engaged (15+ points: email open + form submit, or 2+ website visits) - Firmographic fit (20+ points: company size/industry match) - Behavioral intent (15+ points: pricing page or demo page visited)

Sales commits to: - Review all 50+ scored leads within 48 hours - Contact qualified leads within 4 business hours - Provide feedback on lead quality within 5 business days

8. Tools and Data Sharing

CRM as Source of Truth: - Marketing logs all engaged leads in CRM within 24 hours - Sales logs all meetings, calls, and outcomes in CRM within 24 hours - Weekly sync: Both sides review CRM data, align on account status

Data Sharing: - Marketing has view-only access to Salesforce (can see opportunities, but can't edit) - Sales has view of marketing platform (can see engagement history) - Weekly export: Marketing pulls engagement data; Sales pulls opportunity data

Reporting Dashboard: - Shared Slack channel or dashboard with real-time metrics - Weekly: Leads generated, meetings booked, pipeline created - Monthly: Trend analysis and wins/losses

9. Disagreement Resolution

If sales says "Your leads are bad" or marketing says "Sales isn't following up":

Step 1 (Week 1): Sales and marketing leads have a 1:1. Review specific examples.

Step 2 (Week 2): If unresolved, bring in sales manager and marketing manager. Review data. Make a call.

Step 3 (Month 2): If still unresolved, renegotiate SLA. Maybe lead quality standard changes. Maybe sales follow-up timeline changes.

Step 4 (Quarterly): Annual SLA reset. Update based on learnings.

Don't let disagreements fester. Address them in real time.

10. Success Sharing

When things work, celebrate it.

If marketing generates a lead that closes: - Marketing gets credit in weekly standup - If lead turns into a $200K customer, marketing gets a bonus allocation

If sales closes a deal fast: - Sales gets credit for speed - Marketing sees what worked and does more of it

Align incentives. Both sides win when pipeline closes.

Rolling Out the SLA

Week 1: Draft the SLA with your sales and marketing leaders. Customize to your company.

Week 2: Present to both teams. Get feedback. Adjust.

Week 3: Both sides sign. Commit to it for 1 quarter.

Month 2-3: Weekly check-ins. Are we on track?

Quarter-end: Review results. Did we hit benchmarks? What do we keep? What do we change?

Next quarter: Renegotiate if needed. But keep the structure.

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Why This Works

Most sales-marketing relationships fail because there's no clear contract.

With an SLA: - Marketing knows what they're accountable for (engagement, lead quality, response time) - Sales knows what they're accountable for (follow-up, account prioritization, feedback) - Both sides have metrics they can measure - When someone misses, it's not personal, it's data

You're not blaming each other. You're holding each other to a standard.

That's how you build trust.

Build this. Sign it. Review it monthly. Adjust quarterly. That's your sales-marketing partnership.

Want to see SLA best practices in action? Book a demo at abmatic.ai/demo to learn how account-based marketing drives alignment between sales and marketing teams.

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