Lead generation process
The agency lead generation process: five stages and a leak test
Last updated: November 2026Published by Tim Kilroy
What are the stages of the lead generation process?
The agency lead generation process has five stages: Aware, Interested, Qualified, Proposed, and Closed, and a prospect only counts in a stage when they do something observable.
Agency Pipeline Guides uses the funnel Tim Kilroy teaches in his agency sales work. Its job is not to look good on a slide. It is a measurement device that shows which stage loses the most people, so you fix that one thing instead of buying more leads.
When does a prospect count at each stage?
| Stage | What it means | Counts when | Does not count when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aware | They know you exist. | They could name you unprompted. | You posted something they might have seen. |
| Interested | They raised a hand. | They took an action, like a reply with an actual date. | You sent an email. |
| Qualified | There is a real problem, worth money, and they decide. | You can name the problem in their words. | They were friendly and nodded a lot. |
| Proposed | Scope, price, and outcome are in writing. | They opened it. | You hit send. |
| Closed | The deal is done. | There is a signature. | Verbally agreed, waiting on legal. |
Notice that most rules say the stage counts when they did something, not when you did. Tim Kilroy's point in The Agency Sales Funnel is that much of the funnel inflation in agencies comes from counting your own activity as their intent.
Procedure
How do you find where your lead generation process leaks?
Pull the last 90 days
Not last year. Ninety days reflects the agency you have now.Count prospects at each stage
Be honest. Rounding up is the reason the funnel is broken.Calculate stage-to-stage conversion
Aware to Interested, Interested to Qualified, Qualified to Proposed, Proposed to Closed.Fix the worst conversion first
One constraint per quarter. Then measure again.
Tim Kilroy estimates the whole test takes about twenty minutes and a spreadsheet.
By the numbers
Why B2B funnels take patience
- Of deals take over a year to completeSource: Sopro, 2026
- 20%
- Of companies involve more than one person in purchase decisionsSource: Sopro, 2026
- 84%
- Of modern buying committees include six or more peopleSource: Sopro
- 20%
- The window Tim Kilroy recommends for the leak test
- 90 days
Diagnosis
What does each leak usually mean?
Few Interested from many Aware: your message is generic or aimed at the wrong buyer. Go back to sales prospecting and narrow the target.
Few Qualified from many Interested: calls are friendly but you cannot name the problem in their words. Work on qualifying the prospect and on your discovery calls.
Few Closed from many Proposed: follow-up is weak or the proposal does not reflect what they told you. Recap their words, then show relevance to their situation.
Healthy conversion, low volume: now, and only now, more top-of-funnel activity is the right fix. Use the pipeline calculator to size it.
Common questions
Short answers here. The full agency lead generation FAQ has 46.
- How does lead gen work?
- Lead gen works by moving a business from not knowing you, to raising a hand, to a qualified conversation. In the five-stage funnel used on this site, prospects move from Aware to Interested to Qualified to Proposed to Closed. Each stage only counts when the prospect does something observable, such as replying with a date, not when you send something.See it in the FAQ
- What is the difference between an MQL and an SQL?
- A marketing-qualified lead (MQL) has shown interest, such as downloading a guide or replying to content. A sales-qualified lead (SQL) has been confirmed as a real opportunity. In this site's funnel, an SQL maps to the Qualified stage: you and the prospect have agreed out loud that the problem is real, worth money, and theirs to decide.See it in the FAQ
- What is the biggest mistake in lead generation?
- The biggest mistake is trying to fix the top of the funnel before measuring where deals actually leak. Many agency owners decide they need more leads when the real loss is between a call and a proposal. Tim Kilroy's leak test pulls the last 90 days, counts prospects at each of five stages, and fixes the single worst conversion first.See it in the FAQ
- Where should an agency owner start with lead generation?
- Start by measuring. Pull the last 90 days of prospects, count how many reached each of the five funnel stages, and calculate stage-to-stage conversion. The stage with the worst conversion is your first fix. Tim Kilroy says this takes about twenty minutes and a spreadsheet, and it stops you from pouring more leads into a leaky process.See it in the FAQ
- Why does my agency pipeline swing between feast and famine?
- Usually because prospecting stops when delivery gets busy. When the founder is the only salesperson, client work wins every time, so new conversations dry up and show up as a revenue gap months later. A weekly conversation number, owned and tracked, keeps pipeline activity steady no matter how busy delivery gets.See it in the FAQ
- How many people are involved in a B2B buying decision?
- Often more than one, and sometimes many. Sopro reports that 20% of modern buying committees now include six or more people, and a further 7% include more than ten stakeholders. For agencies, that means your champion needs material that helps them sell you internally, not just a good feeling from the first call.See it in the FAQ