Business Analysis Case Study 2: Aligning Sales & Marketing Around Lead Lifecycle Strategy
Industry:
B2B SaaS – The client had strong demand generation performance and a growing inbound lead volume, but lacked a shared strategy between marketing and sales for managing the lead lifecycle. As a result, leads were falling through the cracks, MQLs were not converting to SQLs, and reporting was inconsistent across teams.
Problem:
There was no unified lead lifecycle framework, leading to:
- Misalignment on what constituted an MQL, SQL, or SAL.
- Inconsistent lead qualification and follow-up processes.
- Fragmented reporting and attribution between marketing and sales.
- Confusion over ownership at different funnel stages, leading to slow response times and dropped leads.
Solution:
We led a cross-functional lead lifecycle strategy engagement to align marketing, sales, and RevOps around shared definitions, handoff rules, and reporting structures. This foundational business analysis work set the stage for future CRM automation, lead routing, and performance tracking.
Execution:
- Stakeholder Discovery – Conducted workshops with marketing, sales, and RevOps to surface pain points and current-state processes.
- Lifecycle Stage Definitions – Collaboratively defined what qualifies a lead as MQL, SQL, SAL, and Opportunity—with objective, observable criteria.
- Lead Qualification Criteria – Developed a standardized framework for scoring leads based on firmographics, engagement, and behavior.
- Process Mapping – Created detailed handoff flows and SLAs between marketing and sales, defining ownership at each stage.
- Reporting Alignment – Recommended key lifecycle metrics for both teams, ensuring consistent source-of-truth across CRM and marketing platforms.
- Enablement & Governance – Built documentation, training, and a governance model for ongoing lifecycle management and iteration.
Challenges & Roadblocks:
- Competing Definitions – Marketing and sales had historically operated under different assumptions around lead readiness.
- CRM Constraints – Salesforce had existing workflows that needed reconfiguration to match new lifecycle logic.
- Trust Issues – There was skepticism between teams about lead quality and handoff accountability.
- Change Management – Aligning multiple teams required stakeholder buy-in and iterative rollout to avoid resistance.
Results:
- Achieved full alignment on lead lifecycle definitions across departments.
- Reduced lead handoff delays by 50% through clearer ownership and process SLAs.
- Increased MQL to SQL conversion rate by 28% after alignment and downstream automation.
- Created a scalable foundation for future automation, lead scoring, and funnel analytics.
Dashboard:
Key Takeaways & Learnings:
- Strategic alignment on lifecycle definitions is a precondition for automation and attribution.
- Business analysts play a critical role in bridging team silos, surfacing assumptions, and aligning workflows to shared goals.
- A clear lead framework boosts accountability, speed, and conversion across the funnel.
- Lifecycle strategy isn’t just a RevOps task—it’s a business alignment exercise.
Related Case Studies:
RevOps Case Study 2: Automating Lead Qualification in Salesforce
CRM Case Study 3: Building a Scalable Lead Management System