Designing indirect demand generation when the originator is not the seller
A fictional case: marketing and field teams create demand for distributors who make the sale. One opportunity lifecycle could not say who owned what.
Independently created. Contains no employer or client implementation detail, internal names or figures.
The case in brief
Current reality
Demand created for distributors was logged as opportunities nobody accepted, fulfilled or closed—so the pipeline looked full and attribution was guesswork.
What must become true
Every demand signal has an originator, a qualifier and an explicit acceptance or rejection by the receiving seller; fulfilment is tracked to an outcome, and attribution credits both roles by agreed rules.
Design question
When the actor who creates the demand is not the actor who sells, where does responsibility transfer—and how do we know it did?
01Reality
What the organization actually did.
A fictional manufacturer creates demand for its products among workshops, fleets and end users, while distributors make the actual sale. Campaigns, field promoters and technical trainers all generate interest; the distributor decides whether to pursue it.
- Leads were “assigned” to distributors by email, with no confirmation that they arrived
- Assigned was reported as managed
- Distributors could not reject a lead, so unsuitable ones aged in the pipeline
- Marketing reported sourced pipeline that no seller had accepted
- Nobody knew which demand turned into sales, because the sale happened in the distributor’s system
- Field promoters and marketing claimed the same demand
02One process?
What made one process insufficient?
A direct opportunity has one owner from start to finish. Here, each of these questions had a different answer:
- 01OriginatorWho created the demand—a campaign, a promoter, a trainer?
- 02QualifierWho decides it is worth passing on?
- 03Receiving sellerWhich distributor should fulfil it—and by which rule?
- 04AcceptanceHas the receiver accepted it, or can it still be rejected?
- 05Handoff informationWhat must travel with it for the seller to act?
- 06Fulfilment visibilityCan we see the outcome if the sale happens elsewhere?
- 07AttributionWho gets credit—the originator, the seller, or both?
Demand creation and sales fulfilment are different responsibilities, and need to be modelled separately when different actors perform them.
03Segmentation
How the reality was segmented
One path, two responsibilities, and a contract between them.
A demand signal
- Demand creationOriginator—campaigns, promoters, trainers. Owns the signal until it is qualified.
- Qualification and assignmentDemand owner. Decides whether to pass it on, and to whom.
- Sales fulfilmentReceiving seller. Accepts or rejects, then owns the sale.
Design decision
Model demand creation and sales fulfilment as two responsibilities joined by an acceptance contract—instead of one opportunity passed between actors.
04Target model
Target operating model
Responsibility transfers at acceptance—not at assignment.
- 01Demand creation
- Owner
- Originator
- Exit criterion
- Signal recorded with its source and minimum information
- 02Qualification
- Owner
- Demand owner
- Exit criterion
- Worth pursuing; product interest and location known
- 03Assignment
- Owner
- Demand owner
- Exit criterion
- Receiving seller chosen by a territory and capability rule
- 04Acceptance or rejection
- Owner
- Receiving seller
- Exit criterion
- Accepted within the service level, or rejected with a reason
- 05Commercial fulfilment
- Owner
- Receiving seller
- Exit criterion
- Outcome reported: sold, lost or no response
- 06Outcome and attribution
- Owner
- Sales operations
- Exit criterion
- Credit assigned by the agreed rule
05What changes by path · Origination ≠ fulfilment
Who owns what, at each step
The matrix that was missing: for each step, who acts, who is accountable, what must be recorded—and whether it counts as pipeline.
| Dimension | Create | Qualify | Assign | Accept | Fulfil | Attribute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts | Originator | Demand owner | Demand owner | Receiving seller | Receiving seller | Sales operations |
| Accountable | Marketing or field lead | Demand owner | Demand owner | Seller’s manager | Seller | Sales operations |
| Must record | Source, contact, interest | Fit, product, location | Seller, rule applied | Accepted, or a reason | Outcome, value | Credit split |
| Clock | At capture | Within days | Same day | Within the service level | Partner cycle | Monthly |
| Pipeline? | No | No | No | Yes, once accepted | Yes | — |
Create
- Acts
- Originator
- Accountable
- Marketing or field lead
- Must record
- Source, contact, interest
- Clock
- At capture
- Pipeline?
- No
Qualify
- Acts
- Demand owner
- Accountable
- Demand owner
- Must record
- Fit, product, location
- Clock
- Within days
- Pipeline?
- No
Assign
- Acts
- Demand owner
- Accountable
- Demand owner
- Must record
- Seller, rule applied
- Clock
- Same day
- Pipeline?
- No
Accept
- Acts
- Receiving seller
- Accountable
- Seller’s manager
- Must record
- Accepted, or a reason
- Clock
- Within the service level
- Pipeline?
- Yes, once accepted
Fulfil
- Acts
- Receiving seller
- Accountable
- Seller
- Must record
- Outcome, value
- Clock
- Partner cycle
- Pipeline?
- Yes
Attribute
- Acts
- Sales operations
- Accountable
- Sales operations
- Must record
- Credit split
- Clock
- Monthly
- Pipeline?
- —
Assigned is not managed. Until the seller accepts, the demand belongs to its owner—and it is not pipeline.
06Exceptions and return paths
The happy path is never the whole process.
| When | Then | Owner | Returns to |
|---|---|---|---|
| The seller rejects | Reason recorded; the demand owner reassigns or closes | Demand owner | Assignment |
| No response within the service level | Escalated to the seller’s manager, then reassigned | Demand owner | Assignment |
| Two originators claim the same demand | The first recorded source keeps it; the other is linked, not duplicated | Sales operations | Qualification |
| The partner reports no outcome | Followed up at set intervals; after the limit, closed as unknown—never as won | Channel manager | Commercial fulfilment |
| The demand is actually a direct opportunity | Converted to the direct motion, with its own owner | Demand owner | Direct motion: qualify |
07Supporting capabilities and system encoding
Only now, the technology.
CRMPartner portalMarketing automationData platform
Supporting capabilities
- CRMDemand records, assignment rules and acceptance status
- Partner portalWhere sellers accept, reject and report outcomes
- Marketing automationCaptures campaign-sourced demand with its source
- Data platformJoins reported outcomes and partner sales for attribution
How the system encodes the model
Operating decision: Two responsibilities
System response: A demand record separate from the seller’s opportunity, linked at acceptance
Operating decision: An acceptance contract
System response: Accept or reject with a reason in the partner portal, under a service level
Operating decision: Assigned is not pipeline
System response: Pipeline counts accepted demand only
Operating decision: Attribution rules
System response: Credit calculated from source and outcome
08Measurement
What is measured—and what it triggers.
| Metric | Why | Owner | Cadence | Triggers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acceptance rate and time | Shows whether sellers trust the demand | Channel management | Weekly | Fix qualification or assignment rules |
| Rejection reasons | Tells marketing what not to generate | Marketing | Monthly | Adjust campaigns and criteria |
| Accepted demand converted | The outcome that justifies the effort | Sales operations | Monthly | Rebalance investment by source |
| Outcomes reported | Attribution is only as good as partner reporting | Channel managers | Monthly | Follow up with partners who do not report |
09The second layer
Questions that change the design.
Transfer
- When exactly does responsibility transfer?
- What happens when the seller neither accepts nor rejects?
Credit
- Who receives credit, and in what proportion?
- Is demand that ends in a sale elsewhere a success?
Information
- What must travel with the demand for the seller to act?
- What may the seller see about the originator’s contact?
10Decisions & outputs
What the work produces.
- 01Demand lifecycle
- 02Responsibility matrix
- 03Acceptance contract and service level
- 04Assignment rules
- 05Attribution rules
- 06Channel KPIs