Contrary to what most people think, business development isn’t just sales. It’s a triangle: marketing, sales, and partnerships. And if you’re missing one side, your agency’s pipeline will suffer.
Many agencies experience feast or famine in their sales pipeline. It’s rarely stable and never quite predictable. When leads slow down, the default reaction is usually the same: “We need to sell harder.” At that point, prospective clients can sense the desperation.
But here’s the thing: sales alone won’t fix a broken pipeline. Sales is hard enough when they’re doing cold-only outreach, instead of responding to inbound hand-raises. Don’t jump to hire another salesperson. Salespeople are a very expensive way to generate leads, especially if they’re talking to people who’ve never heard of your agency before.
Business development isn’t just sales. It’s actually a triangle—with Marketing, Sales, and Partnerships as the three sides. When you understand how the three work together, you can structure your team and systems for sustainable growth.
Let’s break down the BizDev Triangle so you can spot where your agency might lag… and what to do about it.
Business development has three sides—are you missing one?
Agency BizDev has three parts: Marketing, Sales, and Partnerships (click for larger version)
Think of the BizDev Triangle like a three-legged stool. If one leg is weak or missing, the whole thing wobbles—and eventually collapses. Here’s how the sides work together:
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Marketing generates awareness and attracts interest (one-to-many).
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Sales converts interest into revenue (one-to-one).
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Partnerships amplify your reach and create warm introductions (many-to-many).
Each side needs to be intentional. If you ignore one, the others won’t be able to compensate for long.
Let’s look at each in more detail.
Marketing: The pipeline primer (and often done poorly)
Marketing is your “one-to-many” bizdev activity. As you’d tell your clients, it’s how you get in front of the right people at the right time—before they’re ready to buy. Most importantly, it starts with positioning. If your positioning is too broad (or unclear), no amount of content, ads, or outreach will reliably work.
Strong agency marketing does three things:
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Attracts new prospects through thought leadership and outreach.
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Nurtures relationships over time until someone’s ready to talk.
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Differentiates your agency from competitors in a way that makes prospects say, “This is the firm I’ve been looking for.”
But here’s the problem: most agency owners neglect marketing until something breaks. They rely too long on referrals—then scramble when the pipeline slow or stops. See my advice for when referrals dry up.
- Got time to be strategic? Consider self-marketing priorities, if you were to hire a new head of marketing. And read about my benchmarks for the Cost of Marketing.
- Need a quick-start on generating more leads? Check out my on-demand lead-gen training for agencies.
Are you investing enough in self-marketing in the first place? Check out my benchmarks on Cost of Marketing at agencies.
Now, let’s look at sales—what people traditionally think of when they talk about “bizdev.”
Sales: The middle of the funnel, not the whole funnel
Sales is your “one-to-one” bizdev activity. It’s where you qualify leads, scope opportunities, and move buyers toward a confident “yes” (or else a quick “no”). It’s important… but it’s not the only part of bizdev. And it’s one that agency owners often jump to when they see a slowdown in sales.
If your marketing isn’t doing its job, you end up with poor-fit leads—or none at all. Then Sales has to work overtime to fill the gap. That’s exhausting and inefficient.
Most agencies also rely too heavily on the founder (maybe you?) to lead every sales conversation. That’s not scalable.
In parallel to fixing your self-marketing, here’s what a better sales setup looks like:
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Clear sales process with defined stages, from lead to close. And your CRM helps “enforce” those steps.
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Delegated roles—because there are actually 10 distinct sales sub-roles, from prospecting to qualification to consultation to retention.
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Sales metrics tied to revenue—but also to track the activities that lead to revenue (e.g., lead flow, exploratory calls, proposals, etc.). Sales activities don’t guarantee revenue… but if your team doesn’t do any sales activities, you definitely won’t get revenue.
Considering a new sales hire? Let’s do an ActionPath call first to talk through your decision; it’s a lot cheaper (and faster) than hiring the wrong person. You and your head of sales can both join the call.
Are you investing enough for sales in the first place? Check out my benchmarks on Cost of Sales at agencies.
Partnerships: The pipeline multiplier too many agencies ignore
Partnerships are your “many-to-many” bizdev activity. They help you reach audiences that already trust someone else. And they help you reach people without cold pitches or [as many] paid ads.
There are two key types of agency partnerships:
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Service partnerships with other agencies or consultants that serve your audience.
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Platform or product partnerships with software companies and tool providers.
When you do it right, partnerships will:
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Bring in higher-trust leads who convert faster.
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Create shared visibility through co-marketing, events, and referrals.
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Grow your network without growing payroll.
But most agencies treat partnerships passively—or assign the work to someone already stretched thin.
To scale partnerships, treat them like a real business development function:
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Define your ideal partners.
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Split the work: initiate new partnerships and maintain current ones.
As you grow, you may hire someone dedicated to partnerships. For instance, a current team member—or you as the owner—might initiate partnerships. But then you might hire someone to be the Partnerships Manager, responsible for fulfilling your commitments and staying top of mind with partners. This capitalizes on the Starter vs. Finisher approach, letting people focus on what they do best.
Diagnose your BizDev Triangle: What’s strong? What’s underperforming?
If any side of your triangle is weak, your pipeline will feel unpredictable… and growth will remain reactive.
To help you troubleshoot, review your current sales pipeline:
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Are you generating consistent leads—without chasing?
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Are your sales conversations efficient and delegated?
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Do you have trusted partnerships sending warm introductions?
Follow the advice in this article to break out of the Feast or Famine cycle.
Final thought: Business development isn’t a solo act
You don’t need to do all of this yourself. But as the agency owner, you do need to make sure it’s happening.
When your BizDev Triangle is strong—Marketing, Sales, and Partnerships all working together—you stop worrying about “where the next client will come from.” You can finally shift from surviving to thriving, as you scale your agency intentionally.
QUESTION: What’s the weakest side of your BizDev Triangle today—and what will you do about it?
