Agency deliverables and SLAs

Use the SLA as the working contract for the agency relationship. It should say what gets delivered, how requests move, what the client must provide, and what happens when a commitment slips. Separate agency-controlled inputs from client-controlled outcomes: lead volume and lead quality sit with the agency, while closed deals and revenue depend on the client. They need different owners and different review conversations.¹ Put the first group in the service standard and use the second to assess the wider commercial motion.

Start with the boundary

Separate measurable service commitments from the wider commercial agreement. This gives scope questions a place to go and keeps the SLA usable during weekly delivery.

An SLA focuses on measurable delivery thresholds and the conditions for meeting or escalating them. A general service contract covers scope and terms more broadly.² An agency SLA governs an external vendor relationship.³ It should state what the agency must deliver, what the client must enable, and what happens when either party falls short.⁴

Service level agreements usually come from always-on services such as web and email hosting, where downtime disrupts service.⁵ Ongoing marketing services use them less often.⁶ When agencies use them, they tend to be informal and focus on response times and deliverables at particular stages.⁷ For an SDR agency, define the work, handoffs, timing, quality test, and escalation path.

Define the result before the activity

Name the commercial result the agency is expected to support, then choose activities that make that result visible in the operating record.

Use qualified pipeline as the main program measure, with meetings booked and emails sent as activity measures.⁸ Define qualified pipeline, the evidence needed to support that status, and the parts of the result outside the agency's control.

Write the outcome into the opening section of the SLA before listing call volume, email volume, or other work counts. This lets both sides assess whether activity is producing the intended result without assigning the agency ownership of every later stage of the deal.

List deliverables and ownership

Turn the proposal into a delivery list that someone can check without asking what a phrase means. Put an owner and a completion condition beside every item.

The proposal should state the assigned people and capacity, channels, data and software, sender accounts, list research, messaging, reply handling, qualification, reporting, setup work, contract term, and ownership of campaign assets.⁹ Make completed account research an explicit deliverable.¹⁰

The deliverables section should set expectations for both the company and the agency.¹¹ It should identify responsibility for inputs and outputs, materials, reporting, reviewing, and further research requirements.¹²

Use questions such as:

• What will be delivered, in what format, and at which stage?
• Who supplies the inputs needed to start the work?
• Who reviews messaging, research, replies, and reports?
• What does completion mean for each deliverable?
• Who owns the campaign assets when the engagement ends?

A response such as "campaign support" leaves too much room for disagreement. Name the artifact, handoff, reviewer, and point at which the item is accepted.

Set response times

Make the request type, intake route, owner, and clock visible for each response commitment. Separate acknowledgement from resolution because a request can be received promptly and still require more work.

Specify response times for different request types and clarify what internal stakeholders are expected to do.¹³ An agency standard seeks to acknowledge new client requests within two business days when they arrive through a project-management platform, while resolution can take longer depending on scope and budget.¹⁴ Use that distinction in the SLA: acknowledgement confirms receipt, and resolution confirms what will happen next.

Set a post-meeting recap commitment. An agency contact may be required to send the recap within one business day.¹⁵ State which channel counts for a guaranteed response, because response time cannot be guaranteed when requests arrive through email, voicemail, or text message.¹⁶

Require early notice when a deadline is at risk. The operating standard is to meet or exceed customer or colleague deadlines, or communicate early about a roadblock.¹⁷ State what notice the client receives, who receives it, and what decision is needed to clear the blockage.

Define lead quality and measurement

Give each lead deliverable a test that can be applied in the CRM. Write the acceptance rule before production starts so both sides have a shared reference for rejection.

Lead generation agency SLAs work best when they use lead quality, rejection rates, and CRM-based definitions.¹⁸ Define the required account conditions, contact conditions, reason for qualification, evidence of interest, and status that the agency must apply.

High-performing SLAs include precise lead definitions, volume and quality quotas, revenue-focused KPIs, structured reporting, and enforceable remedies.¹⁹ Put each measure beside its source, review owner, reporting location, and action when performance misses the agreed threshold.

Keep the quality test separate from the activity report. The report shows that work happened; the acceptance rule shows whether the resulting lead belongs in the next stage. That gives the client a basis for accepting, rejecting, or correcting a delivery.

Set ownership and escalation

Make the agency's commitment visible before delivery begins, along with the client's enabling work. That makes it possible to trace missed performance to a specific gap.

Ask, "What are they going to be dedicating as well?"²⁰ Record the capacity, access, review time, and other resources the agency commits to the work. Keep the client's inputs beside those commitments rather than in a separate document.

Make the agreement fair to both parties.²¹ State what happens when a deliverable, response, quality threshold, or client dependency is missed. The response can be a correction, an escalation, a scope decision, or a commercial remedy, as long as the trigger and decision owner are written down.

What not to do

These failures can make an SLA look precise while leaving delivery disputes unresolved.

• Do not measure response time without pairing it with an outcome measure, because operationally effective SLAs include outcome metrics alongside time metrics.²²
• Do not leave lead definitions vague or omit the rejection window, since both weaken accountability.²³
• Do not treat chronic conflicting requests as a single missed deadline. Collect examples of requested outputs, available hours or resources, changed dates, skipped reviews, and escalation results.²⁴

Before signing, run a live request through the document and ask who acts, what gets delivered, how quality is judged, and what happens after a miss. Use the SLA in the next review to decide whether the problem sits in agency delivery, client enablement, or the boundary between them.