Every B2B company has this fight. Marketing walks into the Monday meeting with a chart: “We generated 500 leads last month!” Sales rolls their eyes: “Those leads are garbage. Nobody answers the phone.” Marketing says sales doesn’t follow up. Sales says marketing doesn’t get it. The CEO wonders why they’re paying for both.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: they’re both right.
This isn’t just my opinion from too many Monday meetings. In research from Integrate and Demand Metric, 53% of US B2B marketers said at least 10% of their leads get thrown out by sales for poor quality. And on the other side, every marketer has a story about a great lead that sat in the CRM for two weeks before anyone called.
Why your leads are “garbage”
Most of the time, the leads aren’t garbage. They’re just not what sales thought they were getting. A few classic reasons:
- Nobody agreed on what a “lead” is. To marketing, it’s anyone who filled out a form. To sales, it’s someone with budget, a problem and a deadline. Those are wildly different people.
- You’re counting downloads, not interest. Somebody grabbed your ebook to write a school paper. Congrats, that’s a lead now.
- Marketing is graded on volume. If the scoreboard says “leads,” you’ll get lots of leads. Not lots of customers. Lots of leads.
- Follow-up is slow. A buyer who reached out on Tuesday and got a call the next Friday has already talked to two of your competitors.
The fix: one page, one meeting
You don’t need new software. You need one meeting with sales and marketing in the same room (snacks help), and you leave with one page that answers these questions:
- Who is a good lead? Write it down. Company size, industry, job title, the problem they have. Be specific. “Ops directors at manufacturers with 50 to 500 employees” not “decision makers.”
- What has to happen before a lead goes to sales? Asked for a demo? Visited the pricing page twice? Replied to an email? Pick the signals that actually mean “ready to talk.”
- How fast does sales follow up? Pick a number, like one business day, and put it in writing. This is your service level agreement (SLA). Yes, it applies to sales too.
- What happens to leads that aren’t ready? They go back to marketing for nurturing (helpful emails, content, invites), not into the void.
- What’s the shared scoreboard? Stop counting leads. Count qualified opportunities and revenue (here is the math), and give both teams the same number.
Then get better leads, not more leads
Once you know who a good lead is, B2B lead generation gets a lot simpler. A few things that consistently bring in people who actually want to buy:
- Content that answers buying questions. Pricing, comparisons, “how long does it take to set up.” People reading those are shopping, not browsing. Here is how to build that kind of content.
- Being findable in AI search. Buyers are building shortlists in ChatGPT now. If you’re on the shortlist, the lead shows up pre-qualified. (More on that here.)
- Referrals and reviews. Ask happy customers. It’s the highest-quality lead source there is and most companies never ask.
- Fewer forms on low-intent stuff. Let people read your blog and guides without a form. Save the form for “talk to us.” You’ll get fewer leads and sales will love you for it.
Sales and marketing aren’t enemies. They’re two halves of the same deal, and right now they’re dropping the ball in the handoff. Agree on who you’re chasing, catch the ball fast, and stop keeping score on the wrong thing.
