Case study
“The leads are bad” wasn't the problem: sales up to 200%
Up to 200%more sales with the new process
Same leadsno change in lead quality
The problem
The company was sure its sales were down because of too many unqualified leads. So it narrowed its marketing to attract only “perfect” leads. Lead volume dropped, and sales got worse.
What we found
I audited their lead management software to make sure leads, follow-ups and sales were being tracked right. The real issue showed up fast: the team kept following up with unqualified leads for months. Their days were full of tasks for people who were never going to buy, and the good leads waited.
What we did
- Changed the follow-up process so the team could spot unqualified leads quickly
- Moved those leads off sales' priority list
- Made other changes to close qualified leads faster
The results
Sales went up by as much as 200% with the new process, and lead quality never changed. Instead of cutting marketing, the company now spends more on it, because it can turn a high share of incoming leads into sales.
The takeaway: when sales blames the leads, look at the follow-up before you cut the marketing. Here, the fix was in how leads were worked, not where they came from.