I have written about why the MQL to SQL handoff breaks and what a good handoff looks like. This article is the working document that comes after that conversation: the SLA itself, clause by clause, with blanks in square brackets for you to fill in. Each clause is paired with the CRM mechanism that enforces it, because an SLA that lives only in a Google Doc stops being followed within a quarter.
Section 1: Parties, scope and review date
Template text: "This agreement is between [Marketing owner, name and title] and [Sales owner, name and title]. It covers all inbound leads created in [CRM name] from [sources in scope, e.g. website forms, webinars, paid campaigns]. Outbound prospects sourced by sales are out of scope. The agreement is effective from [date] and will be reviewed on [date, ideally 90 days later] by both owners and [RevOps owner]." Fill in real names, not departments. When an SLA is signed by "Marketing" and "Sales", no one is accountable when it slips. Keep the review date short for the first version. Your first set of numbers will be guesses, and the 90 day review is where you replace guesses with what your CRM data actually shows.
Section 2: What counts as a sales-ready lead
Template text: "A lead is sales-ready (MQL) when ALL of the following are true: (a) Fit: [company size range], [target industries or regions], [job function or seniority]. (b) Intent: [qualifying action, e.g. demo request, pricing page plus form fill, or lead score of at least X]. (c) Data completeness: First name, Last name, Business email, Company, Country, Phone [if required], Lead Source and Lead Source Detail are populated. A lead missing any required field is returned to marketing, not passed to sales." The data completeness clause is the one most teams skip, and it is the one that causes the most arguments later. If you have not decided which fields matter, start with the list in my article on CRM fields that predict revenue, then lock them into this clause.
Section 3: Marketing commitments
Template text: "Marketing commits to deliver [number] MQLs per [month or quarter], split by [segment or region if relevant]. Every MQL will be assigned to an owner within [minutes] of qualifying, through [round robin, territory or account-based] routing. Marketing will report MQL volume, MQL to SQL conversion and source mix in [dashboard name] every [week]. If volume falls below [percentage of target you choose] for two consecutive weeks, marketing will notify sales leadership and present a recovery plan." Notice that volume is the only number marketing controls outright. Do not let marketing commit to closed revenue in this document. That belongs in a shared pipeline target, not a departmental SLA.
Section 4: Sales commitments
Template text: "Sales commits to make first contact with every MQL within [hours] during business hours, defined as [days, hours, time zone]. Sales will make at least [number] contact attempts over [number] business days using [channels, e.g. call, email, LinkedIn]. Within [days] of first contact, every MQL will be given one disposition: Accepted (SQL), Recycled (with a reason from the picklist) or Disqualified (with a reason from the picklist). Free-text reasons are not accepted." The disposition clause is the feedback loop. Without it, marketing never learns why leads were rejected. Write your picklist values directly into the SLA as an appendix, for example: Not decision maker, No budget this cycle, Wrong geography, Competitor, Student or job seeker, Duplicate, Not reachable.
Section 5: Enforcing the SLA in HubSpot
Each clause maps to a HubSpot feature. Required fields in Section 2: use required properties on forms, and in Sales Hub Professional and above you can set conditional stage properties so a record cannot move stage without specific values. Routing in Section 3: a contact-based workflow with the "Rotate record to owner" action, or Lead routing if you use the HubSpot Leads object. Response time in Section 4: a workflow that creates a task for the owner on assignment, plus a delay and if/then branch that notifies the sales manager when the lead status is still New after your SLA window. Disposition: make Lead Status (or a custom disposition property) a dropdown with only your appendix values. Workflows require Professional or Enterprise tiers, so confirm your subscription supports them before promising automated enforcement. Report on it all in one dashboard so both owners look at the same numbers.
Section 6: Enforcing the SLA in Zoho CRM
In Zoho CRM, Section 2 maps to mandatory fields set in the layout, and validation rules where a field must follow a format. Section 3 maps to assignment rules on the Leads module, which can distribute by round robin or criteria. Section 4 is where Zoho is strong: Blueprint lets you model the lead process as states and transitions, make specific fields mandatory during a transition, and set an SLA on a state with escalation actions when it is breached. A typical Blueprint for this SLA has the states New, Attempting Contact, Accepted, Recycled and Disqualified, with the disposition reason mandatory on the last three transitions. Workflow rules and escalation features vary by edition, so check your edition on the Zoho CRM features page before you design around them.
Section 7: Measurement, escalation and sign-off
Template text: "Compliance will be measured weekly using: (1) median time from MQL to first activity, (2) percentage of MQLs dispositioned within the agreed window, (3) percentage of MQLs returned for incomplete data, (4) MQL to SQL conversion by source. Breaches are escalated first to the owning manager, then raised at the monthly revenue meeting. Changes to this agreement require sign-off from both owners. Signed: [Marketing owner] [date], [Sales owner] [date]." Keep the metric list short. Four metrics that both teams look at every week do more than a dashboard of twenty that nobody opens. At the 90 day review, change the numbers in Sections 3 and 4 to what the data supports, and re-sign.
FAQ
Named owners, a written definition of a sales-ready lead including required fields, marketing volume and routing commitments, sales response time and follow-up commitments, a mandatory disposition picklist, the metrics used to measure compliance, an escalation path and a review date.
The playbook explains why handoffs fail and how the process should work. The SLA is the signed document that turns that process into specific, measurable commitments with blanks for your numbers, and the CRM settings that enforce them.
Partly. Required form fields and dropdown properties are available, but workflow automation for routing, task creation and breach alerts requires paid Professional or Enterprise tiers. Check the current HubSpot pricing and feature pages for your hub.