It’s the industry’s dirty secret. The biggest problem marketing agencies face is the same problem they’re trying to solve for clients. Can you guess what it is?
It’s marketing. Agencies filled with exceptional marketers are struggling to generate leads for their own businesses.
If your marketing agencies also experience the same problems, stick around. This blog will tell you about the five lead-generation tools for marketing agencies, including the best agency CRM software and its robust sales automation tools. We’ll analyze each tool based on its top features, pricing, and reviews.
Why Do Marketing Agencies Need Lead Generation Tools?
Why do some marketing agencies struggle to keep their sales pipelines full of leads?
Agency Analytics found that modern agencies struggle to stand out in a saturated market, where larger agencies take the lion’s share of leads and new business.
“The biggest challenge we are facing as an agency is consistently attracting the volume of qualified leads for our own client acquisition that we want.”
– Larry Weideman, SEO Manager, Magnyfi
HubSpot’s Marketing Agency Growth report confirms this: 60% of agencies struggle to generate leads. They’re unable to generate the quantity or quality of leads they need.
And it gets worse. Most marketing agencies struggle to remove bad clients (28%) and keep existing clients (16%). This is an unpleasant reality.
5 Best Marketing Agency Tools for Generating Leads
Marketing agencies need a specific set of tools to generate a consistent volume of high-quality leads. Notice that the tools in this list are focused on lead generation, not on the other aspects of agency business (e.g., project management, design and development, etc.). Agencies tend to have one or two of these tools; it’s rare for them to have all of them.
- Pipeline CRM: The best agency CRM software for lead generation
- Bidsketch: Proposal software to easily create and manage proposals
- Copilot: Client portal software to streamline administration work
- Pitch: Presentation software to free up time for creating sales pitch decks from scratch
- Verk: AI digital workforce software to conveniently mine leads from trusted sources
1. Pipeline CRM: The Best CRM for Marketing Agencies
What’s the best CRM software for agencies? We may be biased, but we’ll say it’s Pipeline CRM.
At first, you may be tempted to assume that a CRM is a CRM—they’re all the same. That’s a mistake. The best CRM for agencies should help you generate leads, cultivate relationships, and win new clients.
If you want to solve your lead problem, you need an operational CRM, one that’s built to drive sales revenue. Agency CRM software can automate tasks, improve agency workflows, track deals from RFP to kick-off, and more. That’s where Pipeline CRM comes in. Pipeline’s Agency CRM software does all this, providing your team with the important reminders, tools, and support needed to close deals. It’s made by salespeople, for salespeople.
Why You Need Pipeline CRM for Lead Generation for a Marketing Agency
One thing marketing agencies struggle with is follow-up. It’s a difficult thing to maintain a consistent relationship with prospects over the course of three to nine months. Even if you know that you need to follow up, what do you say? These are details that need to be addressed ahead of time.
With agency CRM software from Pipeline CRM, you can create your own document library and provide your account executives with instructions on when and how to use the content and templates in it. This could include questionnaires, case studies, review profiles, samples, and references.
Not only that, Pipeline CRM empowers you to manage and nurture leads seamlessly. Capture prospects’ interests, needs, and behaviors through our customizable contact management. Then, leverage Pipeline’s Drip Email Campaign solution to send targeted messages that resonate. Automate and track the entire lead nurturing process—all within a single, powerful agency CRM software.
Here are some of the key features of Pipeline CRM:
- Multiple sales pipelines: this allows you to manage several pipelines simultaneously while tailoring each pipeline to match your client’s needs.
- AI email assistant: write and rewrite emails with a single click to save time and effort.
- Custom deals: attach multiple contacts to one deal, tailor each deal stage names, and establish user permissions.
- Automatic task assignment: automatically assign tasks and update leads as they move through the sales pipeline.
- Rich integration options: from email campaign integration with Mailchimp to accounting integration with QuickBooks and more, Pipeline has it all.
Pipeline CRM Pricing
- Start plan: $29 per user per month
- Develop plan: $39 per user per month
- Grow plan: $59 per user per month
Reviews
- 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (904 reviews total)
- 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (616 reviews total)
- 9.8/10 score via TrustRadius
- 4.2/5 star rating via Gartner (41 reviews total)
2. Bidsketch: Proposal Software for Marketing Agencies
Creating proposals can be discouraging and time-consuming. Your prospects reach out to you and ask you to bid for their projects. Most of the time, this is an unfair request. You know that your prospect probably already has a preferred candidate in mind. They’re simply looking for a price they can use as leverage to get more deliverables or lower the cost. It can be an exhausting experience to respond to RFP after RFP (request for proposal).
Why you need Bidsketch
Bidsketch makes the proposal creation process simple. Here are some of their top features:
- Real-time email notification: receive an instant email notification whenever the client opens the proposals, helping you close the sale as soon as possible or plan a follow-up action.
- Built-in electronic signatures: there is no need for third-party tools like DocuSign to get essential signatures.
- Customizable proposals: easily add content and fees and change the proposal designs to match your brand’s style.
- Capture revenue instantly: get deposits secured immediately upon client sign-off with approval messages.
- Welcome and guide new clients: these messages appear instantly after signing, providing clear instructions for the next steps.
Pricing
- Starter: $15 per month – single user, limited features
- Solo: $29 per month – single user
- Team: $79 per month – up to 3 users
- Business: $149 per month – up to 8 users
Reviews
- 3.6/5 star rating on G2 (11 reviews total)
- 4.3/5 star rating on Capterra (25 reviews total)
- 8/10 score via TrustRadius (11 reviews total)
- 4.1/5 star rating via SpotSaaS (56 reviews total)
3. Copilot: Client Portal Software
Handling the various facets of client administration can take a lot of work. Let’s say that your client, via someone in legal, requests a copy of version three of your statement of work. Can you find that specific file? Is this the file that you’ve sent, or is it the one with their signature? Is it the initial draft or the version with their requested changes?
Your client made several requests via email to Steven, your account manager. If Steven deletes the emails your client sent to him, do you have a record of the messages sent from your client? You should.
Why you need Copilot
Copilot provides marketing agencies with the tools to onboard clients, deliver services, and accept payments. It’s a client portal that integrates with the tools you’re already using. Some of Copilot’s top features are:
- Messaging portal: allows you to communicate privately and securely with clients.
- Easy billing: create invoices, subscriptions, and other payment options for clients.
- Contracts organization: manage all of your contracts in a centralized location.
- Create and record forms: streamline data collection and inbound communication from clients.
- Advanced file sharing: share, organize, and manage data securely with internal and external teams.
- Help desk: provide clients with ongoing support via your very own help desk/support portal
Pricing
- Starter: $29/mo. (Per user)
- Professional: $69/mo. (Per user)
- Advanced: $119/mo. (Per user)
- Supersonic: Contact for a quote
Reviews
- 4.8/5 star rating on G2 (139 reviews total)
- 4.9/5 star rating on Capterra (19 reviews total)
- 4.9/5 rating via GetApp (19 reviews total)
- 5/5 star rating via Software Advice (19 reviews total)
4. Pitch: Presentation Software
Marketing agency clients have a reasonable request. They want you to pitch them. Here’s the unreasonable part of their request: their expectations from the pitch tend to be fuzzy, implicit, or unrealistic.
You can flush out these poor expectations by making them explicit and discussing them with your prospects. Do some digging and take the time to find out why this specific objection is important to your prospect. This helps you identify (a.) which objections are flexible and which objections are rigid, (b.) why these objections are important to your prospects, and (c.) how to integrate their adjusted expectations into your pitch.
Why you need Pitch
Pitch comes pre-loaded templates perfect for with marketing agencies. This includes templates for presentations, pitch decks, sales decks, team meetings, and board decks.
With these fully customizable, pre-formatted templates, you can quickly create, format, and structure your pitch deck, slides, or presentation in a short period of time. Use their content library to find assets and creative content that’s agency-specific and ready to go.
Pricing
- Free: forever free
- Pro: $25 per month – up to 2 users
- Business: $100 per month – up to 5 users
Reviews
- 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (41 reviews total)
- 4.5/5 star rating on Product Hunt (160 reviews total)
- 9.6/10 score via TrustRadius
- 4.9/5 star rating via Capterra (30 reviews total)
5. Verk AI: Digital Workforce Software
What’s the biggest expense for agencies?
It’s people. When you win new clients, your headcount (and expenses) skyrocket—salaries, benefits, bonuses, licenses, accounts, taxes, etc. It’s a balancing act that’s difficult for many agencies to manage. When you hire new employees, you must undergo a lengthy onboarding process before they’re profitable.
Then there’s the cost of a mis-hire.
According to Bradford Smart, Ph.D., a mis-hire costs six to 27 times an employee’s salary. If they can’t perform, they’re using your agency as a stepping stone to a preferred opportunity, or they’re unable to maintain the pace you need, it will be expensive. It’s no surprise why AI is so appealing.
Why do you need Verk?
Verk provides marketing agencies with human-like, AI-powered digital workers. You can get an AI Sales Rep, AI Graphic Designer, AI Market Researcher, AI Marketer, etc. With Verk, you can get 24/7 support in a specific area of your agency at a fraction of the cost. Here are some of the use cases:
- AI Sales employees that prospect and mine leads from a database of 275M+ verified contacts. Your digital sales rep verifies and cleans up prospect data, sends outreach emails, and pitches for new businesses 24/7.
- AI Designers that create personalized and compelling graphics for your brand.
- AI Market Researchers to conduct market research on various topics for your agency.
- Combine Verk with Agency CRM Software like Pipeline to generate a steady flow of leads all year long.
Pricing
Verk AI Assistants start at $350 per month. It offers the following solutions:
- AI-Data Analyst
- AI-Influencer Marketer
- AI-SEO Analyst
- AI-Product Designer
- AI-Performance Marketer
Reviews
- 3.2/5 star rating on Google Play (30 reviews total)
Pipeline CRM Is the Best Lead-Generation CRM Software
Lead generation is one of the main issues faced by many marketing agencies. Smaller agencies struggle to stand out in a saturated market, while larger agencies take the lion’s share of leads and new business. With the right approach, you can attract new leads, nurture relationships, and win new clients.
But it starts with the right toolset. When you find one, your marketing agency can generate the quality and volume of leads you need to grow consistently year over year.
Adopt Pipeline CRM to help generate and nurture high-quality leads. Our seamless Gravity Forms integration, for instance, will automatically send user-submitted data from the form as leads in Pipeline CRM. Our robust sales pipeline allows you to monitor the status of each deal. This way, your salespeople have the information they need to prioritize their activity and reduce dry spells.
Sign up today and enjoy a 14-day free trial of Pipeline CRM!
