The single outcome you need this quarter

• Tell me about the single marketing outcome that must move this quarter, and why missing it matters to your leadership
• Across your pipeline today, which three metrics would you show the CFO to prove marketing is contributing Options: MQL to SQL conversion rate, Marketing influenced pipeline, Opportunity creation per month, Average deal size, Pipeline velocity, Customer acquisition cost, Other
• Walk me through a typical campaign from first capture to sales handoff, naming the main tools used at each step
• Select the primary timeline you must hit to show value this quarter Options: Within 2 weeks, Within 4 weeks, By the end of the quarter (8–12 weeks), By next quarter, Timing is flexible
• If the initial deployment does not improve lead quality within your target window, what is the most likely business action you will take Options: Pause the rollout, Request scope changes and retest, Continue while collecting more data, Stop the project, Unsure

Where your current systems let leads slip through

• If 30 percent of your contact database shows no engagement score today, how often does that cause sales to ignore inbound leads Options: Almost always, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, Never
• Share a recent example when sales rejected a campaign-sourced lead, what specifically failed in that handoff
• Who on the commercial team raises lead quality issues first, and how do they typically describe the problem Options: Account executives, Sales managers, Business ops / RevOps, VP Sales, Other
• Name the single data or integration gap that would make you delay a rollout
• When routing or scoring breaks, which downstream process is hit hardest (forecasting, rep follow-up, attribution, other) Options: Forecasting accuracy, Rep follow-up cadence, Closed-loop attribution, Lead nurturing sequences, Other

Who's in the room when the contract is signed

• Who ultimately signs the contract and which three criteria will matter most to them
• List any internal champions who will own building the first workflow or who already understand automations
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how aligned are marketing, sales, and revenue ops on a shared lead scoring definition Options: 1 - Not aligned, 2, 3 - Somewhat aligned, 4, 5 - Fully aligned
• Indicate who will approve the acceptance criteria after the pilot, and whether that person has final decision authority Options: CMO/Head of Marketing, VP Demand Gen, Director Marketing Operations, Revenue Operations, Sales leadership, Procurement/legal also required
• If your primary champion left mid-project, do you have a named backup who can keep the timeline Options: Yes, named backup exists, Yes, informal backup, No backup identified, Unsure

Technical gates, owners, and data you cannot start without

• Which systems must we integrate with to make the pilot meaningful, and who controls the credentials for each
• Select the CRM access level you can provide for mapping and testing Options: Full admin access, App user with necessary APIs, Read/write API only, Read-only for testing, No API access currently
• Describe the cleanliness and accessibility of the data sets we will use for scoring and attribution
• Do you have a dedicated engineer, marketing technologist, or admin who will be available for field mappings and validation during the implementation Options: Dedicated engineer (50%+ time), Part-time resource (10–49% time), Ad hoc support only, No internal technical support
• Are there legal, security, or compliance reviews that typically add more than two weeks to integration timelines Options: Yes, always, Sometimes, Rarely, Not applicable
• What single access or compliance blocker would prevent us from starting within six weeks

Risks that will shift the timeline or stop adoption

• What risk in your current process most often breaks go-live dates or kills adoption after launch
• Share an example of a previous marketing automation project that missed expectations, and the top three causes
• Which internal capability gaps worry you most, for example scoring, campaign engineering, or analytics Options: Lead scoring configuration, Campaign workflow engineering, Behavioral tracking and data capture, Attribution and reporting, Change management and training
• When change fails, who in your organization bears the consequences first Options: Marketing operations, Demand generation leadership, Sales leadership, Revenue operations, CRO/CMO
• If the pilot proves the target uplift, what internal or external approvals would still be required before signing a larger contract

The other options you are weighing

• Which alternative solutions or approaches have you evaluated so far, including rebuilds or internal projects Options: Another vendor platform, Internal build/project, Do nothing and optimize existing tools, Consulting partner, Other
• Describe what would have to be true about your current approach for you to keep it instead of switching
• Indicate whether anyone internally has proposed solving this without an outside vendor and the resource ask they estimated Options: Yes, with dedicated full-time hires, Yes, with part-time support, No internal proposal, Unsure
• Which risks or hidden costs are you most concerned about when comparing an external platform to an internal build Options: Integration complexity, Ongoing maintenance headcount, Data ownership and portability, Time to value, License and infrastructure cost, Other
• If the incumbents could guarantee zero data loss and full API access, would that change your decision Options: Yes, likely stay with incumbent, Maybe, would need other evidence, No, still open to change, Unsure

Pilot success, acceptance criteria, and decision triggers

• Describe the concrete acceptance criteria for the pilot that would allow your team to sign a larger engagement
• Select the primary success signal you will use to judge lead quality during the pilot Options: Increase in MQL to SQL conversion, Higher meeting set rate from marketing leads, Improved deal progression velocity, Positive sales feedback on lead relevance, Statistically significant attribution uplift
• Provide the time window you require to calibrate scoring before you can evaluate pilot results Options: 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 1 quarter, Multiple quarters
• If the pilot hits the agreed metric, what would be the fastest internal path to approve a full rollout Options: Sign the SOW that week, One executive approval needed, Requires committee review, Procurement and legal review required
• Finally, indicate the next practical step that would accelerate this project from conversation to execution Options: Technical kickoff and access provisioning, Pilot scoping and SOW, Reference calls and due diligence, Internal budget approval

• Platform Experience Session

• You confirm the demonstrated campaign produces leads that meet your written qualification definition.
• Confirm the current state and its cost
• Run the same campaign scenario on the provided dataset and deliver an anonymized result with scoring distribution, routing logs, and attribution within 5 business days.
• You confirm the CRM routing approach prevents dropped records and satisfies the access and timeline needs for deployment.
• Review the representative campaign and dataset
• Provide a 1,000-contact sample, current CRM field mapping sheet, and a written sales definition of a qualified lead before the session.
• Agree on measurable acceptance criteria for pilot readiness, including acceptable record drop rate, scoring alignment thresholds, and target timeline.
• Run the campaign scenario, scoring, and routing
• You agree on the scoring adjustments and sales acceptance criteria to be applied during calibration.
• Show attribution and pipeline mapping
• Compare scored leads to sales acceptance
• Validate the future state
• Agree next evidence and acceptance criteria

• Platform Experience Session
• Platform Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Provision platform instance and tenant
• Integrate with source CRM and sync contacts
• Import, deduplicate, and clean lead data
• Activate behavioral tracking across web properties
• Configure lead scoring model (demographic + behavioral)
• Calibrate scoring thresholds with sales alignment
• Build and launch first nurture workflow
• Design and deploy dynamic email templates
• Create landing pages and lead capture forms
• Implement deliverability, sending domain, and authentication
• Configure multi-touch attribution and revenue reporting
• Migrate historical campaign assets and content
• Deliver operator training and operational runbook

Provision platform instance and tenant

• How many environment instances do you require (for example production, staging, sandbox)? Options: Production only, Production + Staging, Production + Staging + Sandbox, Other
• Which cloud region or data residency requirement must the platform instance meet (for example US, EU, APAC)? Options: US, EU, APAC, Other / Specific region
• What user roles and initial admin accounts should be provisioned at tenant creation (list role names and minimum counts)?
• Who will provide domain and DNS records for the platform sending and tracking subdomains and who controls that DNS account?
• Specify any compliance frameworks the tenant must satisfy and attach locations of supporting documents (for example GDPR data handling, SOC 2 evidence). Options: GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, Other / Custom
• Are there pre-existing branding assets the tenant should inherit for templates and UI (email templates, CSS, logos)? Options: Yes, No

Integrate with source CRM and sync contacts

• Which platform is the canonical contact store for this project (cloud CRM, on-prem CRM, custom database)? Options: Cloud CRM, On-prem CRM, Custom database / API, Other
• How many contact and company records must synchronize initially and on an ongoing cadence? Options: Less than 10,000, 10,000-100,000, 100,000-500,000, More than 500,000
• List the CRM fields that must be synced bidirectionally versus one-way (for example owner, lifecycle stage, score).
• Who will provide API credentials or an integration service account with the required CRM admin consent and how will those credentials be delivered? Options: Secure file transfer, Vault entry, Admin will create during kickoff, Other
• Specify acceptable sync latency for contact changes (for example near-real-time, every 15 minutes, hourly batch, nightly). Options: Near real-time, Every 15 minutes, Hourly, Nightly, Other
• Are there CRM data retention or archival rules we must honor when syncing records (for example archived contacts not to be reactivated)? Options: Yes, No

Import, deduplicate, and clean lead data

• Provide the current record counts for contacts, leads, and accounts slated for import (separate counts for active and archived records).
• Identify the unique identifier used to deduplicate contacts (for example email, external_id, CRM record id, composite key). Options: Email, CRM record ID, External ID, Composite rule
• Define the minimum data quality threshold required for import acceptance (for example 95% valid email addresses, required fields populated). Options: 90%+, 95%+, 99%+, Custom
• List the fields that require normalization or transformation during import (for example company name canonicalization, phone formatting, country codes).
• Assign an owner for remediation of invalid or duplicate records that cannot be auto-corrected and provide their contact email or group.
• How will failed import batches be retried and where should failure logs and error reports be delivered? Options: Automated retries + email logs, Manual retry after remediation, Webhook to error queue, Other

Activate behavioral tracking across web properties

• List the web properties and domains that should receive behavioral tracking tags and scripts (include staging and production hostnames).
• Identify the specific events or page types to track (for example page views, form submissions, pricing page views, demo-request clicks).
• Where is your tag management container hosted or which container will host our tracking scripts (for example your Google Tag Manager container ID)?
• Confirm which user consent or cookie consent framework must be honored (for example CMP vendor or custom consent cookie name).
• How will anonymous browsing sessions be linked to known contacts once identity is captured (for example cookie stitch, form capture with email, CRM match on submission)? Options: Cookie stitch, Form capture match, CRM server-side match, Other
• Are there restricted pages where tracking must be disabled (for example login pages, payment pages) and how should those be detected? Options: Disable by path, Disable via meta tag, Disable by cookie, Other

Configure lead scoring model (demographic + behavioral)

• Describe the demographic attributes to include in scoring and their relative priority (for example industry, company size, job title).
• Provide the behavioral signals to include and an initial suggested weight for each (for example email opens, link clicks, demo request, product page views).
• State the baseline score threshold that will define a marketing-qualified lead for sales handoff (provide numeric value and rationale).
• Name the sales stakeholders who will validate early scoring results and participate in calibration sessions (include role and email).
• Define the acceptance criteria that will confirm the scoring model is producing sales-aligned MQLs (for example MQL-to-opportunity conversion >= 8% over a 30-day window).
• State the cadence for scheduled scoring reviews and recalibration during the first quarter after launch. Options: Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly, Quarterly

Calibrate scoring thresholds with sales alignment

• Enumerate the sales stages in your CRM that constitute acceptance of an MQL for follow-up (provide exact CRM stage names).
• Name sales participants required for threshold sign-off and indicate their availability window for calibration workshops.
• Give the sample size of leads (count and time window) that you will accept for the calibration pilot. Options: 50 leads over 2 weeks, 200 leads over 1 month, Custom sample size
• Describe the escalation path when sales rejects model MQLs (for example weekly review, weight adjustments, executive mediation).
• Document the evidence required to validate sales sign-off on calibrated thresholds (for example 30-day MQL-to-opportunity conversion target and five audited call reviews).
• When should the calibration pilot commence relative to campaign launch (for example before first send, parallel during launch, after two campaigns)? Options: Before first send, Parallel during launch, After two campaigns, Custom schedule

Build and launch first nurture workflow

• Define the campaign objective for the first nurture workflow (for example convert MQLs to SQLs, onboarding, product education). Options: MQL -> SQL conversion, Onboarding, Product education, Other
• Indicate the entry conditions that should place a contact into the workflow (for example form fill, score threshold, tag) and provide example trigger rules.
• Assign ownership for copy and creative for each node of the workflow and list approvers for each send.
• Determine the email frequency cap for contacts in the workflow to avoid deliverability impact (for example 1 email per 48 hours). Options: 1 per 24 hours, 1 per 48 hours, 1 per week, Custom cap
• Outline the success metrics that will determine conversion of nurtured contacts (for example click-to-conversion rate, demo booked, SQL creation).
• Document the deliverability validation steps before the first send (for example seed lists, inbox tests, spam filter checks). Options: Seed list tests, Inbox placement monitoring, Third-party deliverability tool, All of the above

Design and deploy dynamic email templates

• Name the content modules that must be dynamic in templates (for example product recommendations, regional offers, personalized greetings).
• Indicate which personalization fields from your contact records should be merged into templates (for example first name, company, role).
• Outline email client and rendering constraints templates must support (for example mobile-first, dark mode, AMP compatibility).
• Assign approvers for final template HTML and state who has final sign-off on responsive testing.
• Establish variable fallback rules required when personalization data is missing (for example use company name, generic salutation).
• Confirm any legal or compliance copy required in templates (for example privacy notice phrasing, required unsubscribe language). Options: Yes, No

Create landing pages and lead capture forms

• Enumerate landing pages required for the initial campaign and the specific conversion actions each page targets (for example gated asset download, demo request).
• Detail the form fields required on each capture form and indicate which are mandatory versus optional.
• Outline the mapping of form submissions to CRM objects and indicate which fields map to lead versus contact records.
• Select the form anti-spam and bot protection mechanisms to enable (for example CAPTCHA, honeypot, rate limits). Options: CAPTCHA, Honeypot, Rate limits, All of the above
• Designate the owner for content updates and A/B testing on landing pages after launch and provide their contact information.
• Declare the performance and uptime requirements for landing pages during campaign peaks (for example page load < 2s, 99.9% uptime).

Implement deliverability, sending domain, and authentication

• Declare the sending domains and subdomains to be used for marketing sends and tracking (include intended from-address domains).
• Indicate the authoritative DNS contact and list the required DNS records to configure for authentication (for example SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
• Establish the process for managing unsubscribe suppression lists and suppression sync with the CRM (for example real-time webhook, nightly batch). Options: Real-time webhook, Near-real-time sync, Nightly batch, Other
• Identify permitted seed list approaches and inbox monitoring methods for deliverability testing (for example internal seeds, third-party monitors). Options: Internal seed lists, Third-party monitoring, Both, Other
• Assign ownership for bounce handling rules and define soft versus hard bounce policies and automated actions.
• Specify reporting cadence and deliverability KPIs that will trigger remediation (for example bounce rate > X%, complaints per thousand).

• Subscription Order Form
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Data Access & Permissions Agreement
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Change Order Agreement
• Payment Schedule Agreement

• Go-live Health Check
• First Measurement Review
• Acceptance Gate Review
• Quarterly Realization Review

• Schedule targeted training sessions for users with low proficiency indicators to raise weekly active user engagement.
• Open integration fixes for any sync errors and set the next full sync verification date.
• Run a focused A/B nurture on underperforming cohorts and report results within two weeks.
• Restate numeric acceptance criteria
• Produce a documented acceptance decision for each numeric criterion recorded in Implementation Scope.
• Confirm the incumbent system is decommissioned or retained read-only and that data retention actions are complete.
• If any criteria failed, agree a remediation plan with clear deadlines and a follow-up verification method.
• Record the acceptance decision and distribute the acceptance summary with attached metric evidence.
• Execute the incumbent wind-down tasks including contract/renewal handling, data archive, and shutdown confirmation.
• Create remediation tickets for any failed acceptance criteria with target completion dates and verification steps.
• Trend review for lead score precision
• Confirm ongoing realization by validating lead score precision and CRM integration error rate against Implementation Scope targets.
• Ensure open issues are progressing toward closure and escalate any that block metric realization.
• Prioritize enhancement requests for the next quarter and agree timelines for high-priority items.
• Publish the quarterly realization dashboard with lead score precision and integration error-rate trend lines.
• Create prioritized enhancement backlog entries with estimated effort and target delivery quarter.
• Re-confirm acceptance criteria and owners
• Confirm the deployment completed against the tasks recorded in Implementation Scope and surface any discrepancies.
• Document the top open issues with agreed resolution dates and owners.
• Agree a short-term remediation plan to resolve critical blockers within the next 14 days.
• Publish the deployment validation report including integration logs and data sync results.
• Create tickets for each critical blocker with reproduction steps and target resolution dates.
• Schedule a follow-up check-in in two weeks to verify remediation completion.
• Present first-run outcome data
• Determine whether MQL to SQL conversion rate is trending toward the Implementation Scope target and identify barriers if not.
• Confirm whether marketing-sourced pipeline value is tracking to the acceptance timeline in Implementation Scope and name corrective steps for any shortfall.
• Agree on a time-bound set of corrective actions that will be completed before the acceptance gate.
• Adjust lead scoring thresholds and publish the change log with expected impact on MQL counts.
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• CRM integration uptime and error rate review
• Deployment and data migration validation
• Root-cause diagnosis for gaps
• Pass/fail determination and signatory decision
• Early adoption and usage signals
• Open issues burn-down and SLA adherence
• Scoring calibration and threshold adjustments
• Enhancement request prioritization
• Incumbent system wind-down confirmation
• Open blockers and defect triage
• CRM data integrity and sync check
• Agree corrective actions and timeline
• Remediation plan for failed criteria
• Adoption and enablement check
• Immediate remediation plan