Service-level agreements (SLAs) between marketing and sales are sometimes perceived by sales as one-sided.

...Marketing should use an SLA to make a commitment to sales, including a timeframe for newly generated leads (e.g. from an event) to be entered into the lead management process. Marketing should also specify the treatment these leads will receive (e.g. placement into a nurturing program). In addition to committing to a timeframe and engagement strategy for new leads, many marketing organizations commit to the cumulative number of marketing qualified leads (MQLs) they will deliver to sales. Note: The definition of an MQL should be agreed upon by marketing and sales and should be automated through a lead-scoring model.

This cumulative-MQL SLA component does not deal with the timeframe for MQL engagement, but with how many MQLs the marketing organization commits to send to sales during a specified time period. It can be made more precise by specifying the number of MQLs that will be delivered for different types of contacts (e.g. from a specific industry or for a particular solution). This can be valuable for organizations with several different product lines or business units.