Marketing Agencies Are Taking Blame For Sales Failures

I watched a London plumbing company fire their marketing agency after generating 50 leads in one month. The owner claimed the lead quality was terrible.

I called 10 of those "terrible" leads back.

Five said they went elsewhere because nobody bothered calling them. Three actually bought new boilers from the company. Only two were genuinely dead leads.

That's a 30% conversion rate sitting in their CRM while they blamed their marketing agency.

Where Leads Actually Die

After 20 years bridging the gap between marketing and sales, I've seen this story repeat endlessly. Marketing agencies generate solid leads, then watch helplessly as those leads die slow deaths in client inboxes.

Here's what actually happens: A customer fills out a contact form requesting a boiler quote. They expect someone to call within minutes or send pricing quickly.

Instead, the email sits there. People are too busy to deal with leads until the following day, sometimes longer.

By then, the customer has moved on. The interest dies, and the marketing agency gets blamed for "poor quality leads."

The data backs this up. Research shows that 78% of customers buy from the first responder, yet only 0.1% of inbound leads are engaged within 5 minutes.

The Breakdown Nobody Talks About

Most marketing agencies and their clients never communicate about what happens after the lead arrives. The agency sees campaigns performing well but no conversions. The client sees money spent with no return.

Both sides get frustrated. The agency thinks they're doing great work. The client thinks they're getting ripped off.

Meanwhile, 30% of leads are never contacted at all.

That London plumbing company story sparked The Sales Squad because I realized most growing businesses see hiring a dedicated salesperson as too expensive. So leads just sit there, falling through the cracks.

The Math That Changes Everything

I recently reviewed a company planning to increase website traffic by 25% for a potential 15% revenue boost over six months.

But increasing their conversion rate by just 2% would boost revenue by 50%.

Business owners are under so much pressure they don't step back to see these numbers. They chase more leads when they should focus on converting what they already have.

How To Stop The Blame Game

Marketing agencies: If you're generating more than 10 leads monthly and getting radio silence on conversions, something's broken. Start asking what happens when leads hit your client's inbox.

Business owners: Before firing your marketing agency, track where leads actually die. Set up systems to respond within minutes, not hours.

The solution isn't better marketing or more leads. It's making sure every lead gets the follow-up it deserves before the interest dies and customers go elsewhere.

Because that 30% conversion rate is sitting there waiting. You just have to stop letting it fall through the cracks.