Our marketing director claims she owns lead generation, but our sales director says he cannot hit his numbers unless he owns the outbound lead generation seat. How do we resolve this overlap?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic boundary dispute that causes massive friction and wasted budget. You must use your Accountability Chart to create a clear line of demarcation. Start by defining what lead generation actually means for your business model. In most healthy EOS® companies, Marketing is responsible for generating inbound interest and creating raw leads, while Sales is responsible for converting those leads into closed business.

If you have an outbound prospecting function, such as cold calling or cold emailing, you must decide which seat has ultimate accountability for its success. Do not let both directors own pieces of it without a clear reporting line.

If outbound prospecting is highly tactical and tightly coupled with your sales process, place that outbound lead generation seat directly under the VP of Sales. If it is highly brand dependent and relies on broad marketing campaigns, place it under Marketing. The key is that there can only be one owner for the outbound prospecting seat. Once you make the decision and document it on the Accountability Chart, both leaders must respect the boundary. Marketing delivers the qualified leads to the line of demarcation, and Sales takes complete ownership from that point forward. This eliminates finger pointing and ensures your pipeline runs smoothly.