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Agency sales process guide

The agency sales process for agencies that outgrew referrals

Last updated: November 2026

An agency sales process is the repeatable path a marketing, PR, or creative agency uses to turn an interested prospect into a signed client without relying on the founder's instinct.

This guide, published by Tim Kilroy, breaks the agency sales process into five measurable stages: Aware, Interested, Qualified, Proposed, and Closed. Tim reports coaching more than 300 agencies over 25+ years, and his advice stays consistent: understand the prospect before you pitch, qualify before you propose, and measure exactly where deals leak.

Portrait of Tim Kilroy, agency coach and consultant
Tim Kilroy has launched three agencies (two exits, one crash) and has worked in marketing and agencies since 1997.

What is the agency sales process, step by step?

The agency sales process moves a prospect from knowing your name to signing a contract through five stages, and each stage only counts when the prospect does something you can see. That rule is what turns a series of hopeful conversations into a system you can measure and improve, and eventually hand to someone other than the founder.

Definition: the agency sales process

In Tim Kilroy's framework, an agency sales process is the documented set of stages, questions, and handoffs an agency uses to win clients repeatably. It covers a discovery call to understand the problem, a qualifying step to confirm the problem is real and worth money, a separate sales call to present an approach, a written proposal, and structured follow-up. The point is that good-fit deals can close whether or not the founder is on the call. Without it, what you know about selling stays trapped in your head, your team waits for you to show up, and growth stops whenever you get busy with delivery.

Tim Kilroy by the numbers

  • 300+ agencies coached, as Tim Kilroy reports.
  • 25+ years of agency and marketing experience, working in the field since 1997.
  • 3 agency launches: 2 exits and 1 crash.
  • 5 stages in his agency sales funnel.
  • 90 days of data in his funnel leak test, so the numbers reflect the agency you run now.
  • $399 a month for Agency Studio group coaching, as listed on timkilroy.com.

The five stages of a marketing agency sales process

Stage names matter less than the discipline behind them. Tim Kilroy's rule is that somebody only counts in a stage when a specific, observable thing has happened. Half of all funnel inflation comes from counting your own activity as the prospect's intent.

Tim Kilroy's five-stage agency sales funnel: when each stage counts, where it leaks, and the fix
StageCounts whenCommon leakFix
AwareThey could name you unprompted.Assuming people know you because you posted once.Show up consistently for one clear buyer.
InterestedThey took an action, like a reply or a form fill with a date attached.Counting your own outreach as their intent.Only count what the prospect did.
QualifiedYou both agreed out loud the problem is real, worth money, and they decide.Pitching before you understand the problem.Run a real discovery call first.
ProposedThey have opened a written scope, price, and outcome.A generic proposal followed by "just checking in."Recap their words and tie the offer to their situation.
ClosedThere is a signature.Treating "verbally agreed" as done.Keep following up until it is signed.

How do I build a repeatable digital agency sales process?

Build it in seven steps, starting with positioning and ending with measurement. The same sequence works for a digital marketing agency sales process, a creative agency sales process, a design agency sales process, or an advertising agency sales process, because each one sells expertise and trust rather than a boxed product.

  1. Pick who you are for

    Define your ideal client and position the agency so a buyer can describe you in one sentence. Every later stage gets easier when the right people show up.

  2. Run discovery calls that discover

    Learn what is broken, how big it is, what they tried, how they decide, and whether you can help. Do not pitch yet.

  3. Qualify out loud

    Agree together that the problem is real, worth money, and that you are speaking to the decision maker. Name the problem in their words.

  4. Hold a separate sales call

    Now present your approach, tied directly to what you heard, and talk through scope and price before anything goes in writing.

  5. Send a proposal that reflects them

    Scope, price, and outcome, written around the prospect’s problem rather than your standard service list.

  6. Follow up with recap, relevance, and a next step

    Remind them what they told you, show why your approach fits their situation, and guide them past the friction between interested and yes.

  7. Measure the leak every 90 days

    Count prospects in each stage over the last 90 days, calculate stage-to-stage conversion, and fix the single worst stage first.

Why does founder-led selling stall after referrals slow?

Founder-led selling stalls because it only scales as far as one person's calendar. Tim Kilroy calls the founder's instinct for reading a deal "Founder Magic": you sense an objection coming and adjust mid-sentence, and you know which deals are real long before you could explain why. It is a genuine strength. The problem is that it lives in one head.

While referrals flow, nobody notices. Agencies grow on delivery excellence and referrals, so positioning, offer design, and sales process never have to become systems. When referrals slow, Tim's agency FAQ notes that every one of those gaps tends to surface in the same quarter. That is the moment this guide is written for: small marketing and PR agency owners who have outgrown referrals and want a repeatable way to win clients.

The fix is not a better closer or a sharper script. It is dragging what you already know out of your head and turning it into stages, questions, and handoffs your team can run. Tim lays this out at length in his agency sales playbook.

How many sales conversations does my agency need each week?

Divide your revenue goal down through deal size, close rate, and proposal rate, then spread the result across the 13 weeks of a quarter. Tim Kilroy uses this pipeline math in his planning workshops so the weekly target is a number, not a vibe. Try it with your own figures below.

For example $150,000
For example $25,000
Percent, for example 30
Percent, for example 40

Your estimate

Fill in all four figures and select calculate. Results appear here only when every figure is valid.

Assumptions

  • Revenue goal divided by average deal size equals deals needed.
  • Deals divided by close rate equals proposals required.
  • Proposals divided by proposal rate equals conversations needed.
  • Conversations divided by 13 weeks in a quarter equals your weekly number.
  • Each count is rounded up to a whole number; the weekly number to one decimal.

This is an estimate based on the figures you enter, not a forecast or financial advice.

Go deeper on each part of the process

Agency sales process questions

What is an agency sales process?
An agency sales process is the repeatable set of stages an agency uses to turn an interested prospect into a signed client. In Tim Kilroy's funnel there are five: Aware, Interested, Qualified, Proposed, and Closed. Each stage only counts when the prospect does something observable, so the agency can measure where deals leak instead of guessing. See this in the full FAQ
What are the steps involved in the sales process for a business?
Most business sales processes move from finding prospects, to understanding their problem, to presenting a solution, to asking for a decision, to following up. For agencies, Tim Kilroy splits that into a discovery call to understand the problem, a sales call to present an approach, a written proposal, and structured follow-up, all measured through a five-stage funnel. See this in the full FAQ
What are the 8 steps of the selling process?
There is no single official list, but common eight-step versions run: prospecting, preparing, approaching, discovering needs, presenting, handling objections, closing, and following up. Sales textbooks and trainers order and name them differently. For an agency, the steps that most often break are discovery and follow-up, which is why this guide spends the most time on them. See this in the full FAQ
How is a digital marketing agency sales process different from other sales?
A digital marketing agency sales process sells expertise and a working relationship, not a boxed product. The buyer has to trust that the agency understands their business before any scope makes sense. That makes discovery, qualifying, and positioning more important than closing technique, and it is why founders often become the only person who can sell. See this in the full FAQ
How do I know if my sales funnel is leaking?
Run Tim Kilroy's leak test: pull the last 90 days, count how many prospects entered each of the five stages honestly, then calculate the conversion from each stage to the next. The stage with the steepest drop is your leak. It takes about twenty minutes and a spreadsheet, and it tells you what to fix first. See this in the full FAQ
What is the 3 3 3 rule in sales?
The 3 3 3 rule has no single standard meaning; different sales trainers use the label for different habits, such as short structured outreach routines or brief message formats. If someone recommends it, ask them to define it. The more durable principle for agencies is simpler: understand the prospect's problem before you talk about your services. See this in the full FAQ

Read all 45 agency sales questions and answers

Outgrown referrals? Talk with Tim Kilroy about your sales process.

Tim coaches marketing and creative agency owners on positioning, lead generation, and a repeatable way to win clients.

Contact Tim Kilroy