Building a Sales Pipeline for Agencies: How to Generate Leads Without Relying on Word of Mouth
- matchstick
- Jul 1
- 4 min read
Many agency owners pride themselves on building their business through word of mouth and referrals. It feels organic, trusted, and low effort, and it’s often backed by a well-meaning but outdated idea: “If your work is good enough, you won’t need to sell.”
But it’s 2025, and the market’s never been more crowded with “good enough” agencies. Being great at what you do is just the entry ticket. The agencies that grow aren’t the ones doing great work, but the ones who are known for it — and it’s your responsibility to make sure the right people know about you.
The Hidden Risks of Relying on Word of Mouth
On the surface, referral-led growth feels safe. But underneath, it creates risks most agencies don’t notice until they hit a dry spell:
1. Feast or famine
Referrals come when they come. You can’t control timing, volume, or urgency — which leads to unpredictable revenue and pipeline gaps.
2. Reactive, not proactive
Instead of choosing who you work with, you wait for the next intro. That’s not a strategy. It’s a gamble.
3. Narrow, repetitive networks
Most referrals come from people similar to your current clients. You end up circling the same industries and project sizes, making it hard to evolve or grow beyond your current lane.
4. No control over positioning
People refer you based on how they perceive your work, not how you want to be seen. That can create messy expectations and make it harder to reposition or raise your rates.
5. Missed high-value opportunities
While you wait on intros, others are actively reaching the clients you’d love to work with. Referrals don’t stretch into new markets or get you in front of strategic accounts.
Yes, word-of-mouth leads are warm, trusting, often pre-sold. But they don’t give you control. They come when they come. They don't scale.
Relying on them is passive and reactive. Sooner or later it leads to stress, missed opportunities, and a shaky pipeline.
Being proactive means better planning, more control over your results, and ultimately, a more resilient, successful business.
If you’re ready to start choosing your opportunities instead of waiting for them, here’s how.
How to Build a Strong Sales Pipeline
1. Targeted, personalised outreach
❌ What this doesn’t mean: spamming people, spraying and praying, blindly relying on AI and automation.
✅ What it means: identifying the types of clients you want more of, learning what matters to them, and reaching out with relevance. That might be through thoughtful emails, LinkedIn messages, direct mail, warm calling, or ideally all of them, strategically combined.
Remember, the goal of your outreach should be to start a conversation, not to make a sale. Don’t pitch for marriage on the first date. 97% of your audience aren’t ready to buy now, but with consistent, relevant contact, you’ll be top of mind when they are. You can also use buying signals and triggers to find the 3% who are ready. Check our 15% Reply Rate Cold Email Playbook for more on this and other tips to design and execute successful outreach campaigns that generate high-value leads.
2. Share your expertise through self-hosted events
Host webinars or small in-person events around a niche topic your ideal clients care about. These could be practical workshops, roundtable discussions, breakfast briefings — anything that sparks conversation and adds value. The goal isn’t just visibility; it’s trust and relevance. Events let you position yourself as a guide, not a vendor.
Niche in-person events especially present terrific opportunities to connect with your audience in impactful ways, positioning you as the industry leader, and generating valuable data and leads. Meeting people in person can also help you significantly shorten your sales cycle. Research shows a face-to-face ask is 34x more effective than email.
3. Build partnerships
Look for other providers your ideal clients already work with and build mutually beneficial relationships. This might mean:
Co-hosting an event or webinar
Bundling services into a joint offer
Sharing insights and warm intros behind the scenes
Partnerships can be excellent low-cost ways to expand your reach, and give you instant credibility and access to new audiences — often ones that are further along in their decision-making journey. When done right, they can be one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to grow. Remember that partnerships thrive on collaboration and mutual value — you have to give to receive.
A Balanced, Proactive Funnel
Here’s how all the pieces fit together to build a sustainable sales pipeline. No one tactic does it all. The goal is a balanced mix so you’re never reliant on just one source.
In Summary
We love referrals (feel free to send as many as you like!), but relying on them is a gamble, not a growth plan.
If you want your agency to grow with intention and less stress, you need to take control of how you show up — through smart outreach, meaningful events, and strategic partnerships. Be proactive, intentional, and do it before you need it. Future you will be thankful.
With sufficient resources you can absolutely manage this yourself. Don't have the time or tools, or not sure where to start? Request a strategy call with our team.
