Too much leads? Is that even a thing?

Yes it is. Albeit a luxury problem, it still needs solving.

When I started freelancing, I specifically chose to become a Google Ads specialist. There was little competition, plenty demand and the work suits me.

Almost instantly I was fully booked by clients. Which was awesome. On the other hand, I had to turn away a lot of new business. My entrepreneurial heart wasn’t pleased with this.

I came up with three solutions. Use these to your own advantage.

1. Raise prices

One of the most obvious and simple solutions is to raise your prices. If you now land 7 our of 10 leads for $120 per hour, you’ll probably land 4 our of 10 leads for $150 per hour.

It’s basic supply and demand. If you have more demand, raise the price of your supply.

You’ll still haven’t really solved the ‘too much leads’ problem, but at least you’re turning this lead surplus into financial gain.

2. Refer leads for commission

There’s probably plenty of freelancers and agencies in your niche that don’t have a surplus of leads. Lots of people don’t even work actively on their own marketing or personal branding.

However, they still need leads.

I suggest you actively start networking with talent in your branche. Your goal should be to find partners you can refer leads to and ask for commission. I’ve done this since 2014. I even have shared an office with 3 other Google Ads specialists who I first referred my surplus of leads, who later started doing the same.

A fair commission to ask is 10% of the amount that is billed to the client. It’s also not unreasable for the other party to limit the duration of commissions to 1 or 3 years.

3. Start an agency

So I started by raising my prices, followed by referring leads to other parties. Still, often I felt I wasn’t fully monetizing my personal brand. Or my inflow of leads, for that matter.

Raising prices still causes leads to go elsewhere.

Freelancers also lose clients (and I lose commission)

Wanting more control and to really build on my personal brand, I decided to found an agency. After two failed tries (more on that in future e-mails), I came up with the winning concept in 2022. I found a couple of co-founders and recruited a CEO. In 2023 we formally launched Adverge, a fully remote, high-quality, international marketing agency.

Now I still get paid a commission by Adverge when I refer clients. However in this case I know the clients are in good hands. More importantly, referring clients allows Adverge to grow, which positively impacts the companies value, and by that the value of my shares.

In this case I chose to recruit a CEO and not lead the agency myself. That’s because I’m not a leader, nor a manager. Maybe it’s different for you. If you see yourself leading a team, growing a business and building out an agency, this might be a path right for you.