Our VP of Marketing and VP of Sales are constantly arguing over who owns our customer acquisition pipeline and lead generation numbers. How do we cleanly define their roles and resolve this overlap on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Friction between sales and marketing is almost always a structural problem caused by blurred lines on the Accountability Chart. If your VP of Marketing and VP of Sales are constantly arguing over who owns lead generation and customer acquisition, your seat roles are not defined clearly enough.

To resolve this, you must run an IDS® session with your Integrator and both leaders. Look at the seats objectively. In a classic EOS® structure, sales and marketing are often separate seats reporting to the Integrator, but their roles must be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.

Redefine the five major roles for each seat so there is zero overlap. For example, the VP of Marketing seat should be accountable for brand awareness, generating marketing qualified leads, and managing marketing budgets. The VP of Sales seat should be accountable for converting those leads into closed deals, managing the sales pipeline, and achieving revenue targets.

Once the roles are clearly separated, define the handoff point between the two seats. Use your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to review the numbers and address any friction immediately. By establishing clear boundaries and accountability for each step of the customer journey, you eliminate the finger-pointing and build a highly predictable, repeatable revenue engine.