The sales and marketing SLA is the most important document in a revenue marketing function, and it is almost never written correctly. Most SLAs are either too vague to be enforceable or too political to be honest. They get signed, filed, and ignored within 90 days.

Here is how to write one that both teams will actually operate against.

What the SLA Must Contain

A functional sales and marketing SLA has five components. If any of them are missing, the document is incomplete.

Step 1: Define the MQL

The Marketing Qualified Lead definition must be written, specific, and agreed by both sales leadership and marketing leadership. It should include: the firmographic criteria (company size, industry, geography) that qualify an account, the behavioral criteria (actions taken that indicate intent), the scoring threshold if you use lead scoring, and any explicit disqualifiers.

Vague MQL definitions produce constant disagreement. "A lead who has shown interest" is not a definition. "A contact at a company with 500+ employees in financial services who has requested a demo or downloaded two or more bottom-of-funnel assets and has a lead score above 85" is a definition.

Write the MQL criteria in a table with specific values. Get both VP of Marketing and VP of Sales to sign off on the specific criteria, not the concept of criteria.

Step 2: Define the SLA Timeframes

The SLA must specify: how quickly sales must follow up on an MQL (24 hours is the standard for B2B; 4 hours for high-intent actions like demo requests), how many contact attempts sales must make before returning the lead to marketing, and what constitutes "worked" vs. "not worked."

Include the consequence for non-compliance on both sides. If sales misses the follow-up window, marketing is not held accountable for conversion. If marketing sends leads below the agreed criteria, sales has no follow-up obligation.

Step 3: Define the SAL

A Sales Accepted Lead is a lead that sales has reviewed and confirmed meets the MQL criteria and warrants follow-up. The SAL definition clarifies what sales agrees to when they accept a lead: a discovery call, a qualification call, or a full opportunity creation.

The MQL-to-SAL workflow protects both teams. Marketing gets confirmation that leads are being worked. Sales gets clarity on what they are committing to when they accept a lead.

Step 4: Build the Feedback Loop

The SLA must specify what happens when sales rejects an MQL. At minimum: the rejection reason (wrong persona, no budget, competitor in evaluation, already a customer, did not meet criteria), the timeframe for rejection (within 48 hours of assignment), and what marketing does with that data.

The feedback loop is where most SLAs fail. Marketing sends leads. Sales rejects them silently by not following up. Marketing sees the unconverted leads and assumes the problem is volume, not quality. The rejection feedback loop converts this silent failure into an explicit improvement signal.

In TPG's experience, companies that implement structured rejection feedback improve MQL quality within two quarters, because marketing can see exactly which criteria are failing and adjust program targeting accordingly.

Step 5: Set the Mutual Commitments

The SLA is not a one-sided document. Sales makes commitments to marketing too. Include: the pipeline data marketing will have access to (deal stage, close date, key contacts), the win/loss information sales will share, the account intelligence marketing needs to build account-based programs, and the regular alignment meeting sales will attend.

Marketing commits to MQL quality, follow-up readiness (reps trained on the content assets associated with each lead), and program transparency. Sales commits to timely follow-up, honest rejection feedback, and pipeline visibility. Write both sides of the commitment table explicitly.

Common Mistakes

Writing the SLA without sales involvement: If sales does not help define the MQL criteria, they will not respect the resulting leads. Build it together.

Making it too complex to execute: A 20-page SLA is not better than a 3-page SLA. Write what you will actually use. Start with the five components above and add complexity only when operationally necessary.

Skipping the consequence structure: An SLA without consequences is a wish list. Both teams need to know what happens when commitments are missed.

Not reviewing it: The SLA should be reviewed quarterly in the alignment meeting and updated when lead criteria change, segment priorities shift, or either team misses commitments repeatedly.

FAQ

Q: How often should a sales and marketing SLA be updated? A: Review the SLA quarterly and update it when MQL criteria change, when there are sustained misses on either side, or when new product lines or market segments are added. An SLA that has not been updated in 12 months is probably operating on stale criteria.

Q: What is the typical MQL follow-up timeframe in B2B? A: 24 hours is the standard for most MQL types. For high-intent actions like demo requests or pricing page visits, 4 hours is the benchmark. After 24 hours, B2B lead conversion rates drop significantly. Some research suggests a 7-day delayed follow-up has a response rate 10x lower than a same-day follow-up.

Q: Should the SLA cover inbound and outbound leads separately? A: Yes, if your motion includes both. Inbound leads (demo requests, content downloads, event registrations) typically warrant different scoring and follow-up criteria than outbound leads generated by SDR prospecting or paid programs. Define the criteria and timeframes separately for each.

Q: What if sales refuses to sign the SLA? A: The refusal is usually about accountability, not the document itself. Sales leadership may not want a documented follow-up commitment that can be measured. Frame the SLA as protection for sales: it gives them the right to reject unqualified leads formally, and it provides cover when pipeline targets are missed due to marketing lead quality issues. A VP of Sales who understands this framing will typically engage constructively.

Q: How do you measure SLA compliance? A: Track three metrics in your CRM: average follow-up time on MQLs, MQL rejection rate and reason breakdown, and percentage of MQLs not touched within the agreed timeframe. Run these weekly in the alignment meeting.

Q: Does every B2B company need an SLA? A: Every B2B company with a separate marketing and sales function needs some version of an SLA. For very small companies (under 10 salespeople), a formal written SLA may be unnecessary. A clear verbal agreement on MQL criteria and follow-up expectations gets you most of the way there. For companies above 20 salespeople, a written, signed SLA is essential.

Jeff Pedowitz | President and CEO, The Pedowitz Group | Revenue Marketing Transformation | Complete Guide to Revenue Marketing