By the numbers
Published research shows sales leaders tailor and measure their sales processes, and that lead quality remains the most common challenge. Agency Sales Routines collected the statistics most useful to agency founders, each with its source and conditions, and paired every number with what to do about it.
Published by Tim KilroyLast updated: November 2026
The published research points that way: The Sales Collective reports that 50% of high-performing teams measure sales process efficiency by conversion rates, and 66% of US sales leaders tailor their processes for B2B sales. Those figures come from AI-driven audience profiling that synthesized insights from 123,197 professionals over 12 months, up to April 28, 2025.
66%
of US sales leaders tailor sales processes for B2B sales.
Source: The Sales Collective, Sales Process Statistics: US 2026
A generic template is a starting point. Tailor stages and questions to how your buyers decide.
50%
of high-performing teams measure sales process efficiency by conversion rates.
Source: The Sales Collective, Sales Process Statistics: US 2026
Stage-to-stage conversion is exactly what the 90-day leak test measures.
60%
of sales leaders use customer segmentation AI to boost efficiency.
Source: The Sales Collective, Sales Process Statistics: US 2026
Segmentation only helps once you know which segment your agency serves best.
94%
of sales leaders with agents say they are essential for meeting business demands.
Source: Salesforce, 40 Sales Statistics to Watch for in 2026
AI tools are becoming normal in sales. They still need a defined process to run inside.
84%
of data and analytics leaders agree AI's outputs are only as good as its data inputs.
Source: Salesforce, 40 Sales Statistics to Watch for in 2026
Consistent stage definitions and call notes are the inputs. Without them, AI summaries mislead.
70%
of data and analytics leaders believe the most valuable insights are trapped in unstructured data such as emails, call transcripts, and contracts.
Source: Salesforce, 40 Sales Statistics to Watch for in 2026
Your discovery calls are that unstructured data. Recapping them in writing makes them usable.
61%
of marketers say generating quality leads is their top challenge.
Source: Martal Group, Lead Generation Statistics 2026
Quality beats volume. Qualification rules protect your time from leads that will not close.
50% and up to 60%
Businesses using AI for lead generation report a 50% increase in sales-ready leads and up to 60% lower customer acquisition costs.
Source: Martal Group, Lead Generation Statistics 2026
These are reported results from businesses using AI, not guarantees. Measure your own before and after.
Tim Kilroy's Agency Research Hub summarizes the 2026 Promethean Research Digital Agency Industry Report, which surveyed 1,452 agencies.
| Figure | Value | Why it matters for sales |
|---|---|---|
| Digital agencies in North America | 71,000 | Buyers have many options, so sounding like everyone else turns deals into price contests |
| Agencies under 50 employees | 87% | Most agencies are founder-led, so founder-dependent selling is the norm |
| Agencies with AI fully implemented | 33% | AI tools are spreading, and they work better on top of a documented process |
Sales consulting firms publish their own client results. memoryBlue, in its page What is Sales Consulting?, reports that a custom inside sales solution lifted Salsa Labs' year-over-year bookings per rep by 48%. Korn Ferry's sales effectiveness page reports helping clients find $800m of additional revenue, and win rates up to 20% higher at Hexagon Mining. These are those firms' own figures about their own clients. They are not Tim Kilroy's results and not independent studies.
For how to use these numbers, see the agency sales process guide.
We included statistics that help an agency founder decide what to fix in a sales process, quoted each exactly as published with its source, and kept conditions such as sample size and date range. Statistics from Tim Kilroy's own pages are labeled as his citations. No number here is Agency Sales Routines research.
Written and published by Tim Kilroy. Read the full methodology.
Short answers here. All 44 questions live in the full FAQ.
Measure conversion between stages over the last 90 days. Count prospects who became interested, qualified, proposed, and closed, then calculate each step's rate. In Tim Kilroy's view, half of all funnel inflation comes from counting your own activity as the prospect's intent, so only count a stage when the prospect did something observable.
Open in the FAQ: What should I measure first?Referrals are a great source until the month they do not show up. Tim Kilroy cites RSW/US research showing 75 percent of agencies name referrals as their top new-business source, while 93 percent say their growth engine is not strong enough. A documented sales process plus a steady prospecting routine reduces dependence on a single channel.
Open in the FAQ: What if all my clients come from referrals?Outsourced SDR firms add prospecting volume and book meetings, which helps once your later stages convert. If discovery, follow-up, or proposals leak, more meetings mean more leaks. Run the leak test first. If the top of the funnel is the only weak stage, outsourcing prospecting can make sense. If not, fix the process before paying for volume.
Open in the FAQ: Should I outsource sales to an SDR firm instead?Run the leak test. Pull the last 90 days, count how many prospects entered each stage (aware, interested, qualified, proposed, closed), then calculate the conversion from each stage to the next. The stage with the steepest drop is your leak. Fix that one stage before buying more leads, because more volume poured into a leaky stage just leaks faster.
Open in the FAQ: How do I find where my sales funnel leaks?Some people do, typically in senior roles with large deal sizes and commission-heavy pay, but it is far from typical. For agency founders, the more useful question is how much revenue the agency can close without the founder on every call. A documented sales process is what lets that number grow past one person's calendar.
Open in the FAQ: Can you make $500,000 a year in sales?Back to the sales process consulting guide for agency founders
