CRM, lead flow and sales techniques · Sales enablement and the marketing-sales agreement
Name the stages a lead moves through and who owns each one, in writing.
A lead handoff agreement is a signed page that defines each lifecycle stage a lead passes through, who owns the lead at each stage, and what details must travel with it. This page covers the stage list, the six rules, the CRM fields and a monthly spot check of ten handoffs.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A lead handoff agreement is a signed page that defines each lifecycle stage a lead passes through, who owns the lead at each stage, and what details must travel with it. This page covers the stage list, the six rules, the CRM fields and a monthly spot check of ten handoffs.
A lead from a Jaipur jewellery fair is passed to a rep with a name and a number. The rep rings, the lead says they already told the other girl what they wanted, and the call ends badly. The conversation lived in a WhatsApp thread that stayed with the first person.
The agreement fixes that. You choose the stages you use, perhaps new enquiry, nurturing, marketing-qualified, sales-accepted, quoted and customer, and skip any that add nothing. Each stage gets a written entry behaviour, such as asked for a quotation or a site visit, and an owner team. Then answer six questions in writing: who nurtures, what triggers qualification, who is notified, where a rejected lead goes back to, what details travel, and which data is mandatory.
The sales head and the marketing lead sign, with the owner above them. When the handoff is by WhatsApp, the rule is to forward the full chat, not a summary and not a screenshot of the last message.
It builds on the shared lead definitions, and it is what the response promise in the lead target depends on.
Where this sits
Topic 1 of 13 in crm, lead flow and sales techniques: sales enablement and the marketing-sales agreement. What sales and marketing agree on so leads move cleanly between them.
- The topic after
- Personas and positioning
If you want this done for you
Send the Chennai enquiry to the rep who covers Chennai, not whoever replies first.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Unqualified is a destination, not a dead end”
A lead sales rejects needs somewhere to go: back to marketing with a reason code, into a nurture list, or closed. If rejected leads vanish, marketing never learns what sales dislikes and keeps sending the same ones.
“The chat travels with the lead”
A forwarded export of the full WhatsApp conversation saves the lead from repeating their requirement. Write it into the rule: the sender attaches the thread or the notes, and the receiver records that they read it.
“Mandatory fields beat polite requests”
Asking reps to please fill details fails. Make five fields mandatory before a lead can move to sales: name, phone, requirement in the lead's own words, source, and the date of last contact.
“Free users are a stage of their own”
If you give samples, trial access or a free consultation, say where those people sit. A free-sample requester is not marketing-qualified by default, and treating them as sales-ready fills the rep's day with people not buying.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
Stage definition sheet
One row per stage: name, the behaviour that puts a lead there, the owner team, and the next stage. Keep only the stages you use.
Result: Finished when twenty live contacts have each been tagged with a stage and an owner.
Six-answer rulebook
Written answers on nurturing, qualification trigger, notifications, return of unqualified leads, details that must pass, and mandatory data. Signed by both leads and the owner.
Result: Finished when a new telecaller can follow it without asking anyone.
CRM field list
Fields both teams fill, with allowed values and a mandatory flag. Include reason-for-return as a pick list so it can be counted.
Result: Finished when the CRM refuses to move a lead without the mandatory fields.
Monthly handoff audit
Ten recent handoffs picked at random: were the details complete, was sales told as the rule says, did the rep call within the agreed window.
Result: Finished when each of the ten has a tick or a cross and each cross has an owner.
Fix log
For every failed handoff, whether the rule or the behaviour changes, who changes it, and by when.
Result: Finished when the next audit shows no repeat of last month's failures.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Do we need all eight stages some CRMs offer?
What is the difference between marketing-qualified and sales-accepted?
Who owns a lead after we win the customer?
Our reps keep leads off the system. What do we do?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
Services
The rest of sales enablement and the marketing-sales agreement
Or read all of crm, lead flow and sales techniques.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.