How to get more revenue from the leads you already have

Why your existing pipeline is the cheapest place to grow

When revenue stalls, the reflex is to buy more leads. But the leads you already have are further along. They know you, they've heard your pitch, and they've told you what they need.

They also tend to have already chosen. In 6sense's 2025 research, 94% of B2B buying groups had ranked their preferred vendors before first contact, and bought from their favourite 77% of the time. If someone is talking to you, there's a real chance you're already near the top of their list.

What stops those deals closing is rarely a lost pitch. Research for The JOLT Effect, based on 2.5 million sales calls, found 40-60% of qualified deals end with the buyer doing nothing. The deal didn't go to a competitor. It just stopped moving. That's a follow-through problem, and follow-through is fixable.

The five places revenue leaks

Leak 1: after the call

Speed matters more than most people think. A Harvard Business Review study of 1.25 million leads found companies that responded within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify the lead than those that waited even one more hour. The same research found 23% of companies never responded at all. That study is from 2011 and was about inbound leads, but the principle carries over to the moment after a call: the conversation is fresh, and every hour it cools.

What to do: send the follow-up the same day. Recap what they said in their words, confirm the next step, and attach anything you promised. Our follow-up email templates cover the common situations.

For the full routine, read how to stop losing deals after the first sales call.

Leak 2: after the proposal

A proposal with no agreed next step is one of the most common places deals stall.

What to do: before you send it, ask on the call "When are you hoping to make a decision?" and "Who else needs to see this?". Then follow up on that date with something that helps them decide, such as an answer to a question they raised or an example from a similar client.

Leak 3: "not now"

A lead who says "come back in Q3" has given you a warm opportunity with a date on it. Many of those dates pass unnoticed.

What to do: save the timing and the reason, keep the deal open, and follow up on their date using what they told you. Full method: How to follow up with a lead who said "not now".

Leak 4: deals that went quiet

Every business has a pile of deals that stalled. Many of them stalled for reasons that have since changed: budgets reset, champions get promoted, priorities shift.

What to do: once a quarter, sort old deals by why they stalled and reopen the few where that reason has probably changed. Full method: How to reactivate old leads and win back lost deals.

Leak 5: after the win

Referred clients are often your best clients. A Journal of Marketing study found referred customers were about 16% more valuable and 18% less likely to leave. Yet many businesses that depend on referrals have no system for asking.

What to do: ask right after a client gets a clear result, be specific about who you'd like to meet, and give them a short introduction to forward. Full method: How to ask clients for referrals.

Work out what each leak is worth

You don't need perfect data. Rough numbers are enough to see where to start.

1. Calls a month: how many sales conversations do you have?
2. Stall rate: roughly what share go quiet after the first call?
3. Average deal value: what's a typical deal worth?

Multiply them. For example: 40 calls a month, 20% stall after the call, $8,000 average deal. That's $64,000 a month in deals that went quiet. Even winning back a quarter of them is $16,000 a month you didn't have to find a new lead for.

These are example numbers. Use your own.

Fix them in this order

1. After the call. It touches every deal, every week, and it's the fastest to fix.
2. Deals that went quiet. It's the quickest win: there's already a pile to work through.
3. "Not now". It pays off over months but costs little once it's set up.
4. After the proposal. It needs a small change to how you run calls.
5. Referrals. It's highest value per deal, but needs happy clients first.

Mistakes to avoid

• Buying more leads before fixing the leaks. More leads through a leaky process means more leaks.
• Automating with generic templates. Buyers can tell, and generic outreach makes them pull away: 73% of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant messages.
• Trying to fix all five at once. Start with the one costing you most.
• Measuring activity instead of revenue. Count deals reopened and closed, not emails sent.

Where Viro fits

None of these fixes is hard on its own. Keeping all five going every week, alongside actually selling, is the hard part.

Viro is a revenue execution platform that does the work around every deal, from the follow-up and proposal when a call ends to the check-in months later, so you close more of the deals you already have. It handles all five leaks: the follow-up and proposal are ready when your call ends, "not now" dates come back with the check-in already written, old deals are found and drafted in your first week, and referral asks are drafted at the right moment. You approve everything before it goes out.

Related: 5 sales call follow-up email templates · How to reactivate old leads · How Viro follows up · Viro vs HubSpot