Alignment between marketing and sales + template

December is a favorable time for startups to align their revenue-generating departments.

Among the many elements that need to be aligned well, such as the definition of the ICP, Customer Journey (link to the previous post + template I prepared), and more, there's something I call ‘Pipeline Stage Definitions’.

Defining each step in the pipeline and who is responsible for it is like an agreement between these two departments. The process will close gaps and prevent disagreements, especially during a challenging market when the board is directed to the company's business units.

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But wait a second.

Please note that this post is intended to normalize and simplify the methodology itself. There are many more parameters, three-letter English words, different ways of thinking and executing, sub-steps in the pipeline itself, specific jargon, and things I'm not getting into on purpose right now.

I want to keep it tight, simple, and zoomed out so each of us can do something "tomorrow morning".

I put my own interpretation and definition into it based on my experience and how I think things should be done.?

So the most effective thing is not to copy-paste it, but actually adapt this post and the template in the comments to your own startup.?

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When we come to define the stages of the pipeline, we’ll invite representatives from both marketing and sales and create a discussion around three axes:

1. What are the stages of our pipeline

2. What is the definition/description of each step?

3. Which department is responsible for each step

The CS, Product, and Finance departments should also be included in this discussion, but only after marketing and sales have reached an agreement and understanding.

Stages of a basic pipeline

- Lead?

- MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)?

- SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)?

- Opportunity - User has a high probability of converting?

- Won - User converted into a paying client?

- Expanded - Client purchased more or renewed their plan

Each of these stages reflects the needs of the department.

Marketing departments must strive for quick results that are indicative of their activities and move quickly.

Leads - these are users who have shown some interest in the product or materials that marketing produces.

It could be that they actually signed up for the demo/trial or that they only signed up for a webinar, downloaded a case study or gave details at a booth at a conference, etc.?

Now marketing needs to nurture those leads, elevate their buying intent and push them down the pipeline.

Regarding MQLs - in most places, MQL is defined as the main marketing KPI. Therefore, marketing does not need to wait until sales contacts a user, verifies their details, and pushes them down the pipeline before they can determine if their campaign is on target.

It is imperative to remember that with MQLs you cannot go to the bank. Marketing's core KPIs should be profits and customer acquisition efficiency.?

So MQL as a KPI is a helpful indication for marketing to know that the direction is right and that it is agreed upon by everyone in both departments.

Now, SQLs are often MQLs that someone from sales has spoken to, confirmed their details and demoed the product for them. If that sales representative also thinks that that potential customer has a buying intent, then this SQL can immediately be considered an Opportunity.

[Let’s pause for a second. You were just got bombarded by lots of abbreviations and flows, I know. Listen to this song for a moment on Spotify, take a deep breath, and come back in 2:43 minutes more relaxed. It always helps me - www.shorturl.at/aMUV2 ??]

The definitions of the two remaining stages in the pipeline (Won and Expanded) are clear.

Immediately following the definition of what each stage in the pipeline is called, we discuss the definition of each stage.

We've talked about Lead above.

Defining each stage should be as challenging and high-quality as possible. It very much depends on the startup and the stage the startup is at. For example, you shouldn't consider MQL to be a potential customer who has just filled out a form.?

It would be helpful to include verification points such as whether the phone they left is valid (there are tools that do this automatically), whether they are enrolled in the ICP, and whether they are aware of the problem we can solve for them.

If you define an MQL as someone who just left details but their phone number is wrong because they intentionally or unintentionally left an incorrect number, we don't want to define them as an MQL and we don't necessarily want to bring in dozens more like them who would create noise in our pipeline and waste the sales team's time.

On the other hand, we will define them as Leads and continue to nurture them with content and emails (for example), until they leave us their correct phone number.

If we want the line alignment between the two departments to be accurate, we will define SQL in such a way that all its parameters are the same as the parameters of MQL. However, we will add two elements here:

An initial step will be verification - A sales representative will ensure that the parameters entered by the potential customer are accurate. As I mentioned above, the sales representative will verify everything with them during the conversation since customers are not always accurate in the details they provide.

Second, the demo itself. If the sales representative completed the demo, and the prospective customer provided the right parameters, then ladies and gents, we have an SQL? :)

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What we'll do now is this - I'll stop writing because it is already getting long despite the heavy part being behind us. The simple template I created contains all the details I wrote above and those I stopped myself from writing.

I would love to hear feedback and other suggestions for streamlining, accuracy and explanation of this part of the Sales & Marketing Alignment process.