Is your B2B lead generation agency helping sales or creating more work?
Grab a pen. Answer honestly. This quick checklist will show whether your agency is sales ready or quietly creating friction.
1. Does your B2B lead generation agency start with revenue or with lead volume?
Sales ready programs start with revenue alignment, not activity plans.
Before campaigns launch, there should be shared clarity on ICP, buying group roles, and what real buying intent looks like. Agencies that lead with CPL targets or channel recommendations often optimize for what is easy to report, not what sales can convert.
Many B2B lead generation companies still focus on volume because volume looks productive.
Sales-ready agencies tie every recommendation back to pipeline contribution and expected revenue impact. This often means prioritizing high-value content like proprietary research and thought leadership that demonstrates expertise and attracts senior buyers actively exploring solutions, rather than generic assets designed purely for volume.
Checklist:
- Is your ICP and buying group clearly defined before any tactics are chosen?
- Are intent signals used to prioritize accounts rather than inflate lead counts?
- Can your agency explain how this activity supports pipeline, not just lead delivery?
2. Where do your leads come from?
If you cannot trace a lead to its source, you cannot trust it.
Sales teams want to know how a lead entered the funnel, what triggered engagement, and how recent that activity was. First-party audiences, verified opt in, and clear content interaction create confidence. Opaque syndication paths and rented lists do the opposite.
Lead quality depends on traceability, verification, and timing. Without those, follow up becomes slower and less effective.
Checklist:
- Can every lead be traced to a specific source and content interaction?
- Is contact data verified and refreshed close to the point of engagement?
- Can you see when and why this lead became active, not just that they exist?
3. What happens after the lead is delivered?
Delivery is the start of sales work, not the end of marketing work.
A poor handoff looks like this: leads are pushed into CRM, labeled MQL, and sales is asked to follow up with no context. No engagement history. No clarity on why this lead matters now.
A sales-ready handoff includes an agreed MQL to SQL definition, shared scoring logic, and visibility into what the buyer has already engaged with. Sales should know what problem the lead is exploring before the first conversation.
When this is missing, sales lose trust fast.
Checklist:
- Is there a shared and documented MQL to SQL definition?
- Do sales see engagement context before first outreach?
- Is there a feedback loop when leads stall or are rejected?
4. Can you explain performance without guessing?
If performance needs explanation, confidence is already gone.
Sales-ready reporting shows account level engagement, clear timelines, and pipeline attribution that stands up in revenue discussions. Sales should be able to see what content was consumed, when engagement happened, and how interest progressed, directly inside CRM.
Checklist:
- Can sales see engagement history for each lead inside CRM?
- Is reporting tied to accounts and opportunities, not just campaigns?
- Can you defend performance in front of sales without interpretation?
Your score: Are you working with a sales-ready B2B lead generation agency?
Count your yes answers across the checklist.
- 8–10 = Sales ready
- 5–7 = Needs improvement. Ask for data samples and SLAs.
- 0–4 = High risk. Consider a vendor audit.
If this assessment exposed gaps, it’s time to think more seriously about your choice of B2B lead generation agency.
TI Marketing Solutions helps B2B teams’ sanity-check lead quality, data sources, and sales handoffs using the same criteria buyers care about.
