How to End the Sales & Marketing Blame Game with Shared Intent Metrics

The age-old conflict is familiar: Sales says, "The leads from marketing are junk." Marketing retorts, "Sales doesn't follow up on our good leads!" This blame game is a costly drain on energy, alignment, and revenue. The root cause? A misalignment on what constitutes a "good lead." Marketing measures volume; sales measures conversion. It's time for a truce, forged not on opinions, but on shared, objective data.

Enter the Shared Metric: Intent-Powered Account Engagement.
The key to alignment is to shift the focus from lead quantity to account engagement quality. Both teams must rally around a single source of truth that shows which target accounts are actively showing buying interest.

Building the Shared Dashboard:
Create a real-time dashboard (in your CRM or a shared platform) that both teams can access. It should highlight:

1. Top Intent Accounts: A ranked list of companies (not just contacts) with the highest intent scores, based on website visits, content consumption, and product engagement.

2. Intent Triggers: Clear logs of what each account did (e.g., "Visited Pricing Page, Read Case Study X").

3. Status: Is the account already in sales' pipeline? Assigned to an AE? In a nurture flow?

How This Ends the Blame Game:

• For Marketing: Success is no longer just MQLs. It's about filling the top of the funnel with engaged, target accounts and delivering actionable intelligence to sales. Their role evolves from lead generator to demand generator and intelligence provider. They can see which campaigns drive the most engaged accounts, not just the most form fills.

• For Sales: They no longer receive "cold names." They receive prioritized, context-rich account alerts. They can trust that an account on the "Top Intent" list has demonstrated real interest, making them more confident to reach out. They can also provide feedback to marketing on which types of intent signals most often convert to pipeline, helping refine targeting.

The New, Healthier Conversation:
Instead of "Your leads are bad," the conversation becomes: "I see Acme Corp is #1 on our intent dashboard this week. Marketing, I see they came from your latest webinar—great targeting. Sales, they've looked at our implementation guide twice. Who's taking the first outreach, and how can we support?"

Implementing the Change:

1. Jointly Define ICP & Target Account List: Start with agreement on who you're selling to.

2. Co-create the "Ideal Intent Profile": What behaviors constitute a sales-ready account? Both teams must agree on the scoring model.

3. Review the Dashboard in Weekly Syncs: Make this data the centerpiece of your sales & marketing meetings.