WhatConverts

You do not need to be top 1% at everything. When I was deep into cycling, I learned this the hard way. With 6 to 8 hours of training a week, I could get into the top 10 percent. I was fit, competitive and still enjoyed it. To reach the top 1 percent I would have needed 20 hours a week, strict diet, constant recovery. That is not a hobby. That is a job. I became a “happy 10 percenter”. Good enough to be proud. Not obsessed enough to burn out. Agencies have the same choice. In lead gen today: Bottom 50% Run Google Ads, set up basic tracking, send reports. Top 10% Track every lead. Qualify on quality and value. Send values back to Google and move budget based on measured ROI. Top 1% Go deeper. Specialize in an industry. Understand sales process, average order value, long term value and capacity. Build systems that tie marketing, operations and revenue together. Most agencies are not bad. They are just stuck in the middle, doing work without understanding value. Getting into the top 10 percent is more doable than people think. If you want the simple checklist I use to think about 10 percent and 1 percent agencies, comment PLAYBOOK and I will send it to you.

If I could restart my 20s as an agency owner, I would change three things. First, I would accept that it takes longer than you think. I wanted quick wins. Fast results, fast growth. In reality, good clients, good systems, and good proof all take time. Once I made peace with that, it got easier to stay with the right problems. Second, I would get closer to the business behind the marketing. Back then, I focused a lot on traffic, keywords, and conversions. It worked, but the big unlock came when I started asking: “How much is each lead worth?” “What is your close rate?” “What is a customer worth over a few years?” Everything got clearer once I knew those numbers. Third, I would track every lead from day one. Calls, forms, chats. Where they came from and what happened after. A lot of the frustration that led me to build WhatConverts came from this gap. We had wins, but the client could not always see them. If you are in your 20s running an agency, which of these do you want to get right this year? If you are not, what would you tell your 20-year-old self? PS: Check out the chunky computer in the back 👀 Throwback to 1995!

What separates the top 10% of agencies? Process. Consistent platforms. Predictable outcomes. Where does your lead gen agency sit in the pyramid? (This is lead gen, not eComm.) The tiers aren’t decided by ad spend — they’re decided by process. Bottom 70% → Tracks visitors, clicks, and conversions. → Reports visitor and conversion metrics by channel. → Looks busy, but can’t prove revenue. Top 30% → Robust attribution with channel, keyword & landing page insights. → Knows what marketing generated phone calls, appointments, and forms. → Better lead visibility, still no dollar value. Top 10% → Qualifies every lead for quality and dollar value. → Sends that value data back to Google so bidding learns revenue. → Reallocates budget by measured ROI — scale winners, pause waste, repeat weekly. Top 1% An elevated playbook transcending only marketing. They tie marketing directly to business outcomes — not leads, but dollars. Want the framework? Comment PLAYBOOK and I’ll DM you the system the top 1% of lead-gen agencies use. Because moving up doesn’t take more spend — just better process and smarter ROI decisions. Spend follows proof.

Most ROI leaks don’t happen in campaigns. They happen after the click. Agencies track ads down to the dollar. But what happens after the lead comes in? Calls go unanswered. Forms get ignored. Leads never followed up. That’s where ROI disappears. You can build the perfect campaign, but if no one answers the phone, the results never make it to revenue. When I ran my agency, I learned this the hard way. We optimized every ad, but we weren’t tracking what happened next. Then we started connecting the dots. Which calls got answered. Which leads got quotes. Which quotes turned into sales. That’s when we stopped guessing where ROI was leaking and started proving where it was protected. At WhatConverts, that’s what we help agencies do. Track every lead, every call, every sale, so no ROI slips through the cracks. 👉 How do you track what happens after the lead comes in? (Link in comments if you want to see how agencies find and fix hidden ROI leaks inside WhatConverts.)

One missed call can cost more than $1,000 in revenue. With rising ad costs, every lead matters. But most agencies stop tracking at the conversion. The ad drives the call. The call goes unanswered. The opportunity disappears. That’s where ROI dies, not in the campaign, but in the follow-up. When I ran my agency, I saw it firsthand. Great campaigns wasted because no one picked up the phone. That’s when I started tracking everything. ▪ Which calls were answered. ▪ Which went to voicemail. ▪ Which turned into quotes and revenue. Once we could prove what happened after the click, we could protect every dollar before it was lost. That’s what we built WhatConverts to do. Track every lead from ad to sale and prove the value of every conversion. Because one missed call isn’t just a small mistake. It’s a hidden ROI leak. 👉 What’s your process for making sure leads don’t die at the first missed call? (Link in comments if you want to see how agencies protect ROI and track every lead inside WhatConverts.)

Everyone wants value. No one wants problems. But there’s no value without a problem being solved. When agencies tell me, “Clients are asking tougher questions,” I see it as a good sign. It means they care about results. It means there’s an opportunity to prove value. Every feature we’ve ever built at WhatConverts came from a problem someone couldn’t solve. The harder the problem, the higher the value. That’s true in business, in marketing, and in client relationships. If it’s difficult, it’s probably worth doing.