Our leadership team is fighting over who owns our customer acquisition cost scorecard metric since both sales and marketing drive it. How do we assign single ownership?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Customer Acquisition Cost is a vital business health metric, but because it combines marketing spend and sales conversions, leadership teams often fight over who actually owns it. The Sales seat blames Marketing for high lead costs, while the Marketing seat blames Sales for failing to close leads. On your EOS® Accountability Chart, you must establish clear, single point accountability. You cannot have shared ownership of a scorecard metric. The primary driver of Customer Acquisition Cost is the efficiency of your marketing spend. Therefore, the Marketing seat must own the blended Customer Acquisition Cost metric on your leadership team scorecard. The Marketing leader is responsible for sourcing qualified leads at a predictable cost. However, the Sales seat owns the close rate, which directly impacts the final cost of acquisition. To keep both seats accountable without muddying the scorecard, break the metric down into its component parts. The Marketing seat tracks cost per qualified lead. The Sales seat tracks proposal to close conversion rate. By tracking these distinct leading indicators, you can instantly see which department is underperforming when the overall acquisition cost spikes. The Integrator can then lead an objective discussion during the weekly Level 10 Meeting™ instead of refereeing a finger pointing match between Sales and Marketing.