Our marketing and sales departments constantly argue over who is responsible for the lead to opportunity conversion rate. How do we assign single ownership on the scorecard when a metric spans multiple seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In the EOS framework, shared ownership is a concept to avoid. If two people own a scorecard number, the reality is that nobody owns it. When a metric like lead to opportunity conversion rate spans both marketing and sales, you must consult your [Accountability Chart](/qa/resolving-accountability-chart-seat-overlaps) to pinpoint where the handoff occurs and who possesses the ultimate authority to rectify the process when it falters.

Defining Ownership for Cross-Functional Metrics

Typically, the division of responsibility for lead conversion breaks down as follows:

• Marketing is accountable for delivering marketing qualified leads (MQLs) that adhere to strict, agreed-upon criteria.
• Sales is responsible for accepting those MQLs and converting them into sales qualified opportunities (SQOs).

To resolve ownership disputes on your leadership team's [scorecard](/qa/how-to-choose-five-fifteen-scorecard-metrics), you should disaggregate this compound metric into two distinct weekly numbers:

1. The marketing seat must own the number of marketing qualified leads delivered. This provides a clear, measurable outcome for their efforts.
2. The sales seat must own the conversion rate of those accepted leads into active opportunities. This holds sales accountable for their part of the funnel.

This approach aligns with the principle of ensuring [weekly measurables](/qa/leading-vs-lagging-scorecard-metrics) are assigned to specific seats.

Assigning Ultimate Accountability

If your organization insists on maintaining a single, high-level conversion metric on the leadership scorecard, it must be assigned to the seat with ultimate authority over the entire funnel.

• This seat is usually the Sales and Marketing Director.
• If your organization separates these roles, the Integrator must hold the single point of accountability. The Integrator is responsible for ensuring all departments are working together to achieve the company's goals, and for [holding the team accountable](/qa/promoting-internal-operations-manager-integrator).

The owner of the number does not have to perform all the work themselves, but they are the sole individual who must report in the [Level 10 Meeting](/qa/handling-defensiveness-around-red-scorecard-metrics) and own the plan to fix it when the number falls into the red. This clear ownership is crucial for effective problem-solving and maintaining [scorecard consistency](/qa/when-to-change-weekly-scorecard-metrics).