If you’re like many business leaders, you may think your company’s biggest growth challenge is lead generation. "We don’t have enough leads" is one of the most common problems we hear from new clients. But in many cases, it’s not the real issue.
As an agency with over 40 years of experience, we could jump straight into lead generation for clients like these. Many agencies would, and historically, we might have done the same. But we have learned that scalable growth comes from greater efficiency in your end-to-end revenue generation process.
That’s why, before recommending more lead generation, we start by asking questions about your business and your customer data:
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What’s the real goal behind the goal? Do you need more leads, or more revenue?
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What do you define as a lead? Are your sales and marketing teams aligned on this?
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What happens to leads once they enter your business? How are they converted? How successfully, and how fast?
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Where do your best leads come from?
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How many leads are enough?
- What is your customer retention rate, and lifetime value?
These questions matter because more leads won’t necessarily drive more growth. In fact, if your business is not structured to convert and maximise the leads you already have, you may simply be wasting them.
The Real Problem: You Might Be Wasting Leads
It’s easy to assume that more leads mean more revenue. But if those leads aren’t converting—or if they get lost in inefficient processes—then generating more of them only increases costs.
Instead of focusing purely on lead volume, ask: Are we making the most of the leads we already have?
If your sales team is struggling to keep up with follow-ups, if marketing is handing over leads that don’t convert, or if customer data is incomplete and disorganised, then simply generating more leads won’t fix the problem.
Zooming Out: Leads in the Bigger Picture of Revenue Growth
A lead is just the beginning of a much longer journey. Every stage of that journey—from first interaction to a customer that comes back—needs to be working efficiently to grow revenue. If it isn’t, you may be losing opportunities at every turn.
Instead of more leads, you may need:
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Clearer processes aligned to your revenue pipeline – ensuring every lead moves smoothly from marketing to sales to customer success.
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Connected technologies – avoiding the common problem of disjointed systems that don’t communicate, causing lost data and inefficiencies.
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More organised, complete, and accurate customer data – so that forecasting, reporting, and decision-making are based on real insights, not guesswork.
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Shared goals and greater collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer success – reducing internal competition for resources and ensuring teams work towards the same revenue objectives.
The Smarter Approach to Growth
What we’re really talking about here is Revenue Operations (RevOps)—although you may not have heard it called that before.
RevOps is a strategic approach that ensures your revenue-generating teams—marketing, sales, and customer success—are fully aligned. It brings together your processes, customer data, and technology so that every lead, every sale, and every customer interaction contributes to measurable growth.
It’s the difference between hoping for growth and building a system that delivers it, consistently.
Yes, It’s Harder. But It’s Worth It. And There Are Quick Wins.
Fixing revenue inefficiencies isn’t as simple as launching a lead generation campaign. But the businesses that take this approach see higher conversion rates, better forecasting accuracy, and greater revenue predictability.
That said, you don’t have to fix everything overnight. There are quick wins you can start with:
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Identify your best-converting leads and double down on them. Where does your highest-value business come from? Are you focusing enough effort there?
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Improve data tracking and attribution. If you don’t have full visibility on what happens to leads, it’s time to close that gap.
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Align your teams around revenue, not just individual metrics. A single shared goal, rather than separate targets for marketing and sales, ensures focus on actual business outcomes.
What’s Next? Find Out If Leads Really Are Your Problem
If you’re unsure whether lead generation or conversion is your real challenge, we can help.
A quick assessment of your revenue pipeline could show you where the biggest opportunities lie—whether that’s improving conversion, fixing inefficiencies, or generating better-quality leads in the first place.
Let’s take a look together. Get in touch for a short diagnostic conversation, and we’ll help you uncover the most effective path to scalable growth for your business.
