Our marketing and sales departments are constantly arguing over who is responsible for follow-up on cold inbound leads, resulting in hundreds of warm prospects slipping through the cracks. How do we use our Accountability Chart to resolve this dispute?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leads are slipping through the cracks because of disputes between departments, it is a structural problem, not a people problem. It means your Accountability Chart has overlapping roles, or a critical role has been left undefined.

In EOS®, accountability must be absolute. Only one seat can own a specific role. If both marketing and sales think they are responsible for lead follow-up, or if both think the other is doing it, the ball will always drop.

To resolve this, bring both department heads together to isolate the issue. Define the exact boundary line where marketing ends and sales begins. This is often called the marketing-to-sales handoff.

Update your Accountability Chart to reflect this clear boundary. For example, define a role under the Marketing seat as: Generating marketing-qualified leads and routing them within twenty-four hours. Then, define a role under the Sales seat as: Actively contacting and qualifying all routed leads within two hours of receipt.

Once these roles are defined, assign a measurable to each seat to track performance. Marketing must track the number of qualified leads generated, while Sales must track their lead response time. By separating the roles and assigning clear measurables, you eliminate the finger-pointing and ensure that every prospect is handled efficiently.