Last month, I got on a call with an advertising agency owner who was ready to throw her laptop across the room. Her ads were performing. Her funnel was polished. Her calendar looked full.

And yet, every week ended the same: a handful of ghosted calls, a few “thinking about it” emails, and one new client if she was lucky.

“I think something’s wrong with my funnel,” she told me. “People are booking, but they’re not converting.”

I’ve heard that sentence more times than I’ve heard my own voicemail greeting.

Most agencies don’t have a funnel problem. What they’re seeing is a filter problem. They’re collecting contacts, not qualifying clients. Every form submission feels like progress, but under the hood, the system’s running without a diagnostic.

Her setup looked like this: paid ads → landing page → contact form → calendar link. Clean. Simple. Linear. But it missed the most important checkpoint in the journey: context.

Who were these people? What did they need? How ready were they to buy? The system didn’t ask, so she had to figure it out on the call. That meant every call became a gamble.

By the time we finished her audit, we realized she didn’t need “more traffic.” She needed a smarter capture process that did some of the pre-qualification for her. Because more traffic on a broken capture flow just means more wasted time.

Lead capture isn’t about collecting names. It’s about building a pre-conversation system that helps your best-fit clients recognize themselves in your process.

Old way: “Give me your info, and I’ll follow up.”
Pro way: “Here’s a simple path that helps you decide if we’re a good match before we talk.”

When you do it right, your form becomes a filter. The right people flow through with ease; the wrong ones self-select out. Suddenly, your pipeline stops feeling like a guessing game and starts feeling like a conversation that’s already halfway warmed up.

I call this the Triple-C Framework, and it’s the core of every lead system we build for agency clients.

Capture is your magnet. Instead of “get a quote,” offer something that starts a relevant dialogue: a quick-fit quiz, a budget calculator, or a short training that reveals what they’re missing. The goal isn’t volume; it’s alignment.

Clarify is your automation layer. This is where your CRM earns its keep. When a lead submits, tag and segment them instantly: by budget, service type, or readiness to buy. Follow up with an email or SMS that acknowledges where they are in the process. Someone just browsing? Nurture sequence. Someone ready to talk? Send a brief pre-call survey that saves you fifteen minutes on discovery.

Connect is where the human comes back in. Every “ready now” lead gets routed straight to your calendar, but this time, with preloaded context. Your automations trigger reminders, confirmations, and even reschedule links. That’s how you protect your time while preserving the human touch.

This client’s agency ran Google Ads for home service companies. She was pulling 50 leads a month but only closing five. We re-engineered her intake using the Triple-C model:

✅ Replaced her “Book a Call” form with a Quick Fit Quiz: three questions about budget, goals, and timeline.
✅ Added an automation in GoHighLevel to tag leads as “exploring,” “ready,” or “urgent.”
✅ Sent “ready” leads a short pre-call video explaining pricing and process.
✅ Integrated a missed-call text-back and automated reminder system.

Within 30 days, she was closing one out of every three leads. Same ad spend. Same calendar load. But this time, she was talking to qualified humans instead of just curious browsers.

If your agency’s pipeline still feels like roulette, it’s time for a diagnostic. I’ll help you map out a Lead Capture System that filters for fit and feeds your team with real opportunities instead of random names.

Send me a note with “Lead Diagnostic” in the subject line, and I’ll share a template you can wire into your CRM this week. It’s the same one Marisa used to cut her lead churn in half—and reclaim her Fridays.