More Leads Won't Solve Your Sales Problem; Here's What Will with Amy Traugh
- Amy Traugh
- Apr 9
- 11 min read
🎧 The Metrics Maven: Data Driven Business Growth Strategy for Solopreneurs is streaming on all platforms. Listen here. Also streaming on YouTube.
You Don’t Need More Leads—You Need a Better Sales Process
If your funnel isn’t converting, more leads won’t solve the problem. Here’s how to fix the real issue by tracking the right data and making strategic tweaks.
The Bucket Analogy: Why More Leads Won’t Save a Leaky Funnel
When business feels slow, the default reaction is often, “I just need more leads.” But if your funnel is full of holes, pouring more people into it won’t magically generate more clients. Think of it like a bucket with holes—no matter how much water you pour in, most of it leaks out before the bucket fills up.
This is exactly what happens when lead generation becomes the sole focus while neglecting the sales process. Before chasing more visibility, it’s critical to figure out where you're losing the leads you already have.
Start by Mapping Your Funnel
Begin with a visual map of your funnel. Write down each stage: from lead generation, to email opens, to calls booked, to sales made. Then take it a step further—what’s actually happening at each stage?
Are people opening your emails but not clicking?
Are they booking calls but not showing up?
Are they engaging with your content but disappearing when it’s time to buy?
Each of these is a clue. If someone books a call and doesn’t show, it may be that they’re not seeing enough value. If they’re ghosting after a call, it could be the offer wasn’t presented clearly, or there was no structured follow-up. When someone engages with your content but doesn’t convert, unclear messaging may be to blame.
Use Conversion Rates to Pinpoint the Problem
One of the most effective ways to spot leaks is by tracking conversion rates. If 100 people opt into your freebie and only 5 become clients, where did the other 95 go? Track how many people move from one stage to the next. When you see where the biggest drop-off happens, you’ll know exactly where the disconnect is—and where to focus your energy.
In one case, a business owner had no problem booking discovery calls, but conversions were low. After reviewing the data, it became clear the calls were overwhelming—too much info, no clear offer, and no follow-up. Once that was refined, her conversion rate doubled.
Overcome Objections Before They’re Spoken
Most people don’t say no because they don’t want what you’re offering—they say no because they’re uncertain. Will it work for them? Is it worth the investment? Do they have time?
That’s why it’s so important to proactively address objections in your content. Share why now is the right time to invest. Highlight the long-term return, not just the features. Break down how your process saves time instead of adding more to their plate.
If price is a frequent objection, show the cost of staying stuck. If time is the issue, emphasize efficiency and ease. And when in doubt, use testimonials that speak directly to these doubts—especially the non-monetary ones like confidence, clarity, or peace of mind.
Track the Objections You Hear Most
Tracking isn’t just for metrics like clicks and open rates. It’s also powerful to track the objections you hear during sales conversations. Start documenting the top three you hear repeatedly and create intentional responses for each one. Then, integrate those responses into your content—emails, social media, webinars, podcasts—so potential clients feel seen, understood, and supported before they even hop on a call.
One client thought her price was too high based on what she was hearing, but the data told a different story. Once her messaging focused on the ROI and long-term value, sales increased without a price change.
Run Small Experiments and Track the Data
Running a business is a series of experiments. If something’s not working, it doesn’t mean you’re failing—it just means you haven’t found the right combination yet. Instead of guessing, start testing.
Try changing your call to action. Instead of “book a call,” offer something like “Let’s map out your next 90 days together.” Test different email subject lines that add curiosity, urgency, or personalization. Each of these small tweaks can lead to big improvements—when you track what’s working.
And don’t make changes based on a few days of data. Give it a few weeks or even a quarter to see patterns emerge before drawing conclusions.
Final Thoughts: The Answers Are in Your Data
You don’t need to be a numbers person to benefit from your data. All it takes is the willingness to get curious. Review each stage of your funnel, track your conversion rates, monitor objections, and make small, intentional shifts.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s clarity—so you can stop second-guessing and start making confident, strategic decisions. If you want help doing this step-by-step, download the free Grow Framework Workbook at amyktraugh.com/grow. It breaks everything down so you can turn more leads into clients with confidence and ease.
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Transcript for Episode 408. More Leads Won't Solve Your Sales Problem; Here's What Will
Amy Traugh (Amy Traugh)
Let's see how many times I can screw up this beginning, right? What if I told you that getting more leads isn't actually the solution to your sales problem?
You've probably been told that more leads equal more sales, that it's purely a numbers game. But at the end of the day, if your funnel isn't converting, throwing more people into it won't magically fix the issue.
You need a plan. So today, let's dig into what actually will move the needle forward when it comes to turning leads into paying clients.
My favorite analogy is the bucket. With holes in it. And I'm sure you may have heard this before. So just imagine this bucket.
And it has all these holes in the bottom of the bucket. But no matter how... How much water you're pouring in, most of it is leaking right back out before it fills up.
This is exactly what happens when you focus on lead generation but neglect your sales process. You don't actually need more leads.
You need to figure out where you're losing the ones that you actually have. And this is where data is your business bestie.
I want you to write out your funnel. And I created a new resource and it is beautiful. actually has the funnel written out for you.
So take a minute and download my new workbook. There is a link in the show notes. And I want you to look at your funnel and ask yourself, are your people opening your emails but not actually clicking?
If so... Your email content or subject lines may need a little adjusting. You can do some things like A to B testing or trying different subject lines and really seeing what we can do, those small little adjustments at the start of our emails to create more interest.
Another thing to ask yourself, are people booking with you but not actually showing up? And this could be a sign that they're not seeking enough value on the call.
So sending those pre-call emails that tells what they can expect during this conversation because let's face it, we've all gotten on those sales calls that are just so cringy and icky feeling and awkward.
So really make sure that you're setting the expectations. And then are they engaging with your content but actually ghosting you when it's time to buy?
Maybe you need to be clear in your messaging about the transformation that your offer provides and why now is the right time for them to invest.
And one of the best ways to pinpoint leaks at each stage is to track your conversion rates. So, for example, if you have 100 leads and only five of those leads are converting to sales, the first step is actually figuring out, well, where are the other 95 going?
And once we have clarity, you can make targeted improvements instead of blindly guessing. I had a client recently who was booking lots of discovery calls, but she could not, for the life of her, increase her conversion rate.
And when we looked at her data, we saw, okay, she was getting all these calls, but they were dropping off after the call.
Well, the problem... Why is when we looked at how her calls were structured, she wasn't actually making a clear offer.
She was over-explaining and almost giving her prospects too much information, leaving them overwhelmed. And then to top it off, she didn't have any type of follow-up strategy in place after the call.
So they had this call, they felt overwhelmed, and then they just kind of fizzled out. But once we really refined her pitch, how she was presenting her offer, and added a simple structured close, her conversion rate doubled.
So how can you apply this to your business? Start tracking your numbers. Analyze your sales funnel. Write down exactly how many people are entering each stage and how are they moving, how many of them are moving forward.
And when you can see that biggest drop-off point, you notice exactly where they The disconnect is another way that I really see business owners struggling when they've got all these leads, but they're just not converting is, you know, most people don't say no because they don't want what you have to offer.
They say no because they're just not sure. Your job is to eliminate the uncertainty that they have to really build that trust before they even think about saying no.
I want you to think about the last time you hesitated before making a big purchase. Maybe you wondered, you know, will this work for me?
Is it worth the price? What if I don't have the time? Your leads are thinking the same thing, and what you can do is start to proactively address these concerns in your content.
Things like email, social media, podcasts. Address these concerns before they ever voice them. And we've talked about this in prior episodes that we want them to feel like we understand their problem.
They want to feel deeply understood because when they feel as though we understand exactly what they are going through, that builds that trust.
Now they have the belief that you are the solution and they can believe that they will take the actions to get there.
So if price is an objection that you're getting, showcase the return on investment. What's the cost of them staying stuck and not solving their problem?
You know, a lot of times we look at, okay, what can they gain? But what happens if they don't solve it?
That right there is such valuable information to share. Or if they're saying time is a concern. I like how your process is efficient and it doesn't add extra work.
Break it down in a way that is simple and show them then how your solution will save them time in the long run.
And if you're still wondering, you know, hey, they just don't believe in it yet. They don't believe in me.
Well, you know, talk about what you're doing. You don't have to share testimonials that are always money wins. Use testimonials that are addressing these common doubts.
And that's why one of the metrics I love tracking is what objections am I hearing when I'm having conversations about my products and services with potential clients?
I had a client recently that thought she actually needed to lower the price of her offer because she kept hearing over and over and over, I can't afford it.
It's money. That's too much. But when we really took the time to shift her message to focus on that.
Okay. Three, Long-term value and the ROI, those same leads started to see it as an investment now instead of an expense, and her sales went up without changing the price.
So the way you can implement this is by writing down three of the most common objections you're hearing over and over and over, and start coming up with a response for each one, and then integrate these responses into your content.
So that you're addressing concerns before they even erupt. And then lastly, testing and iterating. Oh my gosh, this right here is so key to solving any sales problem.
Running a business is nothing more than doing experiments over and over and over. If something's not working, it doesn't mean you're...
It just means you haven't found the right formula yet. And this is where tracking and testing comes in. Because what we do as humans, we assume.
We assume why people aren't buying. Oh, it's my price. It's my offer. Maybe I need to do what that person's doing.
And all of these changes we're making all the time, all of this chasing of shiny objects, it's maddening. But when you are testing one small change at a time and tracking what happens, you get that objective view as to what's actually working and what's not.
So something we can do is run a simple experiment with just changing our call to action to see if people are taking action.
So instead of just a generic book a call, what if you tried something that highlights the value? You're like, let's map out your next 90 days together.
Play around with it. And then look at the data. Not just for a week, not just for a month, look at it for about three months and really see, okay, is there any difference now?
What's happening? When we get curious, it opens so many opportunities. Another way I love to test is by adjusting email subject lines to see if this is improving our open rates.
A way to look at it is we want to add curiosity, urgency, or personalization. And what I always like to do is I put myself into the shoes of my ideal client, someone that's in my audience.
And I ask myself, okay, if I were them, if I were receiving this email, would I open it? And a lot of times, if you're answering no, again, it doesn't mean anything about you.
It just means, hey, this is an opportunity to improve. And it's these small little adjustments that give us the big results.
So I want you to choose one area of your funnel, your emails, your call to action, or your sales pitch, and run a small task.
Make one small change and track the data and see what starts happening. And keep iterating until you find what works.
So if you are taking one thing from today's episode, let it be this. You do not need more leads.
You need to refine your process of how you're turning the leads you already have into clients. Think about it.
It's like going to a party and you get this invitation to the party. So you're like, yeah, I want to go.
So you RSVP and you show up to the party. And while you're at the party, the host of the party is completely ignoring you.
They are saying, you know what? I have to go find more people. Hang on here and I'll be back.
But then they never come back and you're just sitting there by yourself and it's a horrible party. So take the time to really look at your funnel.
Where is the biggest gap in the process? Where are people dropping off? The answers are in your data. You just need to know where to look.
And to make this easier, I've put together a brand new workbook that walks you through step-by-step using my Grow Framework.
And this will help you optimize your sales process by leveraging your data. So grab your copy now. Head on over to amytrod.com slash grow.
It's also linked in the show notes. And download it. Implement what you learn because I want to see you thrive.
And this is what your data is helping you do. We will turn those leads into clients with clarity, confidence, and ease.
I am here cheering for you. And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
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