Assigning MQL's in Marketo

[Anonymous]

I'm having an issue automatically assigning MQL's to my sales team. In the flow steps of the processing campaign, I used to have the following step:

Change Owner: Owner Name is {{Our only ISR}}

We've had some turnover and are expanding our ISR team, so I no longer want to assign MQL's based on one ISR's name. I'm not sure of the specifics of how leads will be routed, but essentially we want our SFDC Lead Auto-Assignment rules to trigger every time a lead becomes an MQL.

Community articles say that if I change this from "Change Owner" to "Sync to SFDC: Use Auto-Assignment Rules," leads will only be reassigned if they are a new lead or the criteria for assignment changes (in this case geographic information) - http://community.marketo.com/MarketoArticle?id=kA050000000Kyr1CAC

But, we assign unqualified leads to our sales ops team before it becomes MQL, so it doesn't crowd our sales team's queue.

We want all rules to live in SFDC, not mimicked in Marketo.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Before a lead hits MQL, do leads live exclusively in Marketo and then get pushed to SFDC? Or do they exist in both places before they hit MQL?

tm

[Anonymous]

Hey Kim,

If the lead already exists in SFDC when this MQL transition occurs, you're correct that the built in SFDC assign rules will not fire. That said, it's totally possible to build triggers on either the Marketo or SFDC end that DO fire when this situation arises. I've tried it from both angles, and generally prefer to keep assignment rules in the SFDC arena, to your point. 

I'm not an SFDC admin, but to do this on the SFDC-end, you simply need some data value on the lead to change to indicate they're now an MQL. Then a trigger can be built that will update owner information accordingly. It does technically mean two sets of assignment rules to maintain (those for new leads, and those for leads who later become MQLs). 

[Anonymous]

Hey Kim,

It sounds like you assign all Leads to the Sales Ops team, then when get to a certain criteria (point accumulation I'm guessing), then they become an MQL and need to be switched from the Sales Ops team to the appropriate ISR based on region. Am I understanding your process correctly?

If so, I would recommend the following (you will need to collaborate with your SFDC Admin):
- Modify the initial rule (that assigns the Lead to Sales Ops) to include Lead Status does not equal MQL
- Modify the auto-assignment rules to assign to the ISR per region and have the criteria include Lead Status equals MQL
Ex. (State equals CA,NV,UT,OR,WA) AND (Lead Status equals MQL)

Then...
- Once they become an MQL (however you decide that to be the case), have a trigger campaign that does the following flow steps:

- Switch the Lead's status to "MQL"
- Delete the Lead from SFDC ONLY,
- Sync the Lead back to SFDC using the auto-assignment rules

The Lead will then run through the auto-assignment rules again, skip over the rule that assigns them to the Sales Ops team because of the Lead Status of MQL, and be assigned to the appropriate ISR based on region.

This is all based on when you delete the Lead from SFDC and assign again, it goes through the same rules and updates accordingly. I have seen it happen a few times in my own instance, but TEST for your own piece of mind. This should work, but as well know, testing is the best policy.

[Josh_Hill13]

So without knowing more of the details, I'll give this a shot. Generally I agree with Jeff Shearer, although Jeff S's idea is interesting. The only worry there is if there were SFDC unique data that might get deleted, say if an ISR was calling them and had notes in there.

What I would tend to do is:

1. New lead enters marketo
2. Sync to SFDC only when MQL status achieved.
3. Use SFDC Auto Assignment Rules, which live in SFDC.

Another option is

1. All Leads enter Marketo
2. All leads Sync to SFDC, and assigned to ISR Queue. 
3. When MQL achieved, Sync to SFDC, Auto Assignment Rules (This should work, but you might have to adjust a field to get SFDC to trigger. A hidden flag does well).

[Anonymous]

Josh is absolutely right about my suggestion, I overlooked that part. Definitely would not recommend deleting from SFDC. 

Great catch, Josh!