Prd V08 Marketing Ops Handoff

Marketing-Ops Handoff (Lead Lifecycle + Sales Routing)

Position in workflow: v0.8 Monitoring Setup → v0.8 Marketing-Ops Handoff → v0.9 Launch Channels (ORB), v0.9 Cold Outreach

Execution Mode

Default is standard. See .claude/rules/08-skill-execution-modes.md for selection logic.

What This Does

Defines the lifecycle stages a lead passes through from first touch to customer (or churn), plus the handoff rules at each transition. Without this, marketing-captured leads get dropped, double-worked, or never followed up. With this, you have an auditable definition of who owns what at each moment.

This skill applies primarily to B2B and prosumer products with a human-touch sales motion (founder-led sales, BDR/SDR teams, customer-success-led expansion). Pure self-serve products use a simpler version: lifecycle = Anonymous → Trial → Paid, with no human handoff.

How It Works

1. Pick the lifecycle shape — Match the product:
   • Self-serve: Anonymous → Signup → Activated → Paid → Expanded
   • Sales-assisted: Anonymous → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer
   • Hybrid (PLG + Sales): Anonymous → Signup → Activated → Paid → SQL → Opportunity → Expansion
2. Define entry criteria per stage — What event/behavior moves a lead into this stage? Examples:
   • MQL: filled out a high-intent form, downloaded gated content, hit usage threshold
   • SQL: explicit "talk to sales" or scoring threshold reached
   • Opportunity: discovery call held, budget + authority confirmed
3. Define exit criteria per stage — Two paths out: progress (to next stage) and disqualify (back to nurture or out). Disqualification rules matter as much as progression.
4. Map ownership — Who owns the lead at each stage:
   • Anonymous: marketing automation
   • MQL: BDR/SDR
   • SQL: AE / founder
   • Opportunity: AE / founder
   • Customer: CS / founder
5. Define handoff payload — When a lead moves between owners, what context goes with them? At minimum:
   • Source (which GTM-* channel produced this lead)
   • Touchpoint history (what they've engaged with)
   • Best-fit signals (firmographic match, behavioral fit)
   • Disqualifiers (anything that ruled out an earlier stage)
   • Open questions (what the next owner should clarify)
6. Set SLAs per stage — How fast must the new owner respond after handoff? MQL → BDR typically <1 business hour for high-signal, <1 business day for low-signal. SQL → AE typically <30 minutes.
7. Plan rejection routing — When SQL → AE handoff is rejected ("not a fit"), where does the lead go? Back to nurture, disqualified, requeued? Without this rule, leads die in limbo.

Example

B2B SaaS, $200/month entry price, sales-assisted motion.

Handoff payload at MQL → SQL (BDR → AE):

• Source: GTM-002 (Product Hunt) + retargeting
• Touchpoints: 3 blog posts, demo video, pricing page (3×)
• Best-fit signals: 50-person SaaS (matches PER-001), VP Eng signed up
• Disqualifiers: none
• Open questions: confirm budget owner; confirm timeline

Rejection routing at SQL → AE rejection ("too small"): lead returns to MQL queue with "small-team" tag; BDR can re-engage in 90 days if size signal changes.

What You Get Back

• BR-MOPS-* lifecycle rule entries — One per stage with entry/exit/owner/SLA
• GTM-MOPS-* handoff flow entries — One per transition (MQL→SQL, SQL→OPP, etc.) with payload spec
• Rejection-routing rules — Disqualifier-aware routing back to nurture
• SLA monitoring plan — Hooks into MON-DRIFT-* for SLA drift watching

When to Use It

Consumes

• PER-* best-fit characteristics (sharpened by v0.9 Positioning when available) — Defines what fit-signal scoring looks like
• GTM-* channel mix (from v0.9 Launch Channels ORB, when available) — Lead sources feed into Anonymous stage
• GTM-* offer card (from v0.9 Offer Construction) — Determines what "qualified" means (price tier sets bar)
• BR-PRICING-* (from v0.3 + v0.9) — Sets stage thresholds (above $X/year → SQL; below → self-serve)
• KPI-* baseline targets — Stage conversion targets feed into KPI- entries

When this skill runs before v0.9, channel and offer references use placeholders that get reconciled when v0.9 finalizes.

Produces

• BR-MOPS-* entries (lifecycle stage rules) in SoT/SoT.BUSINESS_RULES.md
• GTM-MOPS-* entries (handoff flow specs) — One per stage transition
• CFD-* gaps surfaced — When stage criteria can't be cleanly defined, log as research gap

Output Template

BR-MOPS-XXX: Lifecycle Stage — [Stage name]
Type: Lifecycle-Stage
Order: [#]
Status: Active

Stage: [Anonymous | Signup | Activated | MQL | SQL | Opportunity | Customer | Expansion]

Entry criteria:
  - [Criterion 1 — e.g., "Filled out demo request form"]
  - [Criterion 2 — e.g., "Reached usage threshold X"]

Exit criteria (progression):
  - To [next stage]: [Criterion]

Exit criteria (disqualification):
  - [Criterion that routes back to earlier stage or out]

Owner: [Marketing automation | BDR/SDR | AE | CS | Founder]

SLA:
  Response time after entering this stage: [duration]
  Escalation: [What happens if SLA missed]

Linked IDs: PER-XXX (fit signals), GTM-YYY (source channels), BR-PRICING-ZZZ (tier threshold), KPI-AAA (conversion rate)

GTM-MOPS-XXX: Handoff — [Stage A] → [Stage B]
Type: Handoff
Status: Active

From: [Stage A] (owner: ...)
To: [Stage B] (owner: ...)

Trigger: [Specific event — e.g., "BDR marks lead as Qualified in CRM"]

Payload (what context transfers):
  - Source: [GTM-* channel]
  - Touchpoint history: [What they engaged with]
  - Best-fit signals: [Firmographic + behavioral match]
  - Disqualifiers: [Anything that ruled out earlier stages]
  - Open questions: [What new owner should clarify]

Rejection rule:
  Condition: [When does the new owner reject this handoff?]
  Routing: [Where does the rejected lead go? Nurture / disqualified / requeue]
  Re-engagement: [Conditions under which this lead can return]

SLA: [Response time required from new owner]

Linked IDs: BR-MOPS-AAA (Stage A rule), BR-MOPS-BBB (Stage B rule)

Anti-Patterns

Quality Gates

Before activating handoff:

• Lifecycle shape matches product motion (self-serve / sales-assisted / hybrid)
• Every stage has entry, exit-progression, and exit-disqualification criteria
• Every stage has a named owner (role minimum)
• Every stage has an SLA with escalation path
• Every transition has a handoff payload spec
• Rejection routing defined for every owner-changing handoff
• SLA drift monitoring set up via MON-DRIFT-

Downstream Connections

Detailed References

• alirezarezvani's marketing-ops and revenue-operations skills (claude-skills)
• Predictable Revenue (Aaron Ross) — sales handoff structure
• From Impossible to Inevitable (Aaron Ross + Jason Lemkin) — stage discipline
• SiriusDecisions lead-lifecycle framework (the canonical B2B reference)
• (No bundled references/ — lifecycle shapes vary; this skill encodes the discipline, not a specific shape)