After 14 months our agency partnership finally netted a $12k retainer client last week

We used to just send leads back and forth with no structure, but since we set up a shared CRM and weekly referral check-ins in January, the conversion on cross-sells went from zero to actually paying off, has anyone else seen a lag like that before trust built?

2 comments

2 Comments

wrenh6510d ago

Call it a hunch but I think the lag is just correlation not causation. The economy finally started loosening up in January and budgets got freed up, so that retainer might have happened anyway without the CRM or check-ins. My own experience with structured cross-selling has mostly been wasted time on calls where people just confirm they still don't have anything to offer. Feels like a lot of setup for maybe one win a year.

the_wren10d ago

Having that happen too. 14 months feels brutal but it's about right for real trust to settle in. @wrenh65 might be onto something with the timing, but I'd argue the systems gave you something concrete to point at when that budget finally opened up. Without the CRM and check-ins you'd probably still be sending blind leads into the void while that client went elsewhere. The lag stings but it's the price of getting both sides comfortable enough to actually pick up the phone with real ideas.