Revenue is lost at the hand‑offs
Ask a marketing team how the quarter went and they will show you leads. Ask sales and they will show you bookings. The revenue that went missing sits in neither report. It was lost in between.
Where the leaks are
A typical B2B revenue line has six hand-offs:
- Prospect to marketing-qualified lead
- Marketing to business development
- Business development to sales
- Sales to customer success
- Customer success back to sales for expansion
- Partners to sales
Each one is a place where a lead can wait too long, be rejected without a reason, or simply disappear.
Give every hand-off an agreement
For each hand-off, write down three things:
- Entry criteria. What has to be true before it moves.
- Pick-up time. How fast the receiving team acts.
- The return path. What happens if it is rejected, and who records why.
Then measure two numbers at each one: conversion and time. Review them weekly in the same meeting.
Why it works
Teams stop arguing about lead quality, because the definition is written down. Rejected leads go back to nurture with a reason instead of vanishing. And leadership can see exactly where revenue is lost.
Questions
What is a go-to-market hand-off?
The point where a lead, deal or customer passes from one team to another, such as marketing to business development, or sales to customer success.
How do you fix leaks between marketing and sales?
Agree on one definition for each stage, a response time for picking up a lead, and a rule for what happens to rejected leads. Then review conversion between the two teams every week.
Where is your growth stuck?
Ten questions, three minutes. See which part of your go-to-market needs attention first.