Lead nurturing playbook

Agency Darlings x Copper CRM are teaming up to change the way creative agencies approach business development.

Agency founders are exceptional at their expertise, but struggle with lead generation… and more importantly, lead nurturing (and lead conversion). You’ve probably started to build your agency on referrals but eventually, you’ll outgrow those referrals or use them up.

This playbook is our solution! It’s a strategic approach that turns relationship-building from an overwhelming task into a natural, repeatable process. By combining Agency Darlings' deep expertise in business development with Copper's powerful CRM capabilities, we've created this playbook to help you feel empowered and in control.

Here’s what you can expect:

• Why lead generation is so important for the growth of your agency
• How and where to find leads for your agency
• How to track and nurture leads
• How to prioritize and organize your best-fit leads
  

The truth

• According to the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, about 5% of B2B buyers are in-market to purchase at any given time, leaving 95% out-of-market.
• Nurtured leads tend to make 47% larger purchases than leads that aren’t nurtured.
• 63% of prospects who inquire about a product or service won’t buy for at least three months, and 20% will take more than a year.

Building a strong brand and staying visible isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the backbone of effective lead nurturing and lead generation. It’s truly the key to being the first choice when buyers are ready to make a move. By keeping your brand in front of your audience, you ensure that when the majority shifts into buying mode, your name is the one they remember.

Why this matters

At the end of the day, sustainable agency growth is about patience, consistency, and strategic relationship building.

These stats show us that:

• Ice cold sales pitches (in any form) are almost guaranteed to fail
• Trust and credibility take time to develop
• Consistent, value-driven communication is key
• Success comes from viewing prospects as potential long-term partners, not quick transactions

By implementing our playbook, you can turn what seems like a daunting process into one that’s enjoyable, meaningful, and even fun!

One of the biggest challenges with lead generation or lead nurturing? Knowing where to start. And, yes, social media is a powerful networking tool. But, honestly, endlessly scrolling through Linkedin for names isn’t just tedious, it’s downright uninspiring.

Here are places where you can source high quality leads:


• Newsletters: Find niche newsletters that are highlighting brands you would want to work with. This gives you constant ideas, straight to your inbox.
• Podcasts: Find podcasts that interview leaders in your ideal client niche. Not only will you get great intel on their goals but you’ll also hear themes/trends happening across different businesses.
• Industry Conferences: Smaller is better! Find one that is workshop or breakout-based where you can have intimate conversations with your ideal clients.
• Specialized Slack Groups: Find a group with brand leaders in your ideal client niche, again, for insights on what they are struggling with but also for active relationship-building.
• Adjacent or Complimentary Service Providers: Find high quality service providers who also specialize in your client niche. For example, if you’re a brand agency that works with CPG brands, look for a social media or web design agency that also works with CPG brands of similar size or stage. Or even venture capital or legal firms that invest in CPG brands. Look at their roster of clients for inspiration on brands you could potentially connect with.

In Copper, you’ll want to set up a custom field for “Prospecting Source” and include all the sources you’re currently sourcing leads from (quality over quantity people!). Down the line, you’ll be able to report on the lead sources that led to your best clients.

For example:

• Newsletter: CPGD Roster
• Podcast: How I built this
• Conference: EXPO West
• Slack Group: Startup CPG
• Complementary: Mary Smith
  

To set this up:

Go to Settings > Customize > Sources > Create Source

The difference between agencies that consistently land new clients and those that struggle isn't just about how many connections they make—it's about how effectively they turn those connections into conversations.

Here are some Do’s and Don’ts:


DO:

• Reference something specific and personal in your message — we love common ground. Highlight a connection you have or something specific you love about their brand.
• Do your research — reference a recent article, post, launch, or podcast interview.
• Share a relevant insight or resource that's genuinely helpful to their situation.
• Suggest a specific, low-pressure next step related to something they've expressed interest in.
• Be patient and focus on building the relationship first.


DON'T:

• Pitch yourself or send your capabilities in the first message.
• Send your Calendly link asking them to book time with you before you’ve actually had a conversation.
• Stay in the DMs - move quickly to a face to face chat so you can make a personal connection.
• Talk about yourself or your agency in the first three messages (they can read your title).
• Follow up with "just checking in" messages that add no value.
• Try to rush the relationship or push for a meeting before you've established rapport.

The next hurdle is, you’re having all these great conversations, making solid connections — but the follow-through is slipping through the cracks. Leads that seemed promising started to fizzle out, not because they weren’t a good fit, but because there wasn’t a clear lead nurturing system in place to keep the momentum going.

Enter: your lead nurturing pipeline in Copper. By setting up a separate lead nurture pipeline away from your actual deals, it will be easier to track progress and stay engaged. Now, you can easily convert leads into your opportunities pipeline with the click of a button.
We recommend setting up your Lead Nurturing pipeline with the following key stages:


1. Dream Prospect

• You come across a brand that you’d LOVE to work with. You can add leads directly into Copper from Linkedin or any website using Copper’s Chrome extension

2. Marketing Engaged

• A prospect who has been engaging with your content

3. Personal Connection

• A prospect you initiate a 1:1 connection with via direct message, email or otherwise

4. Intro Chat Booked

• A prospect you schedule a casual conversation with

5. Interested Lead

• A prospect you determine is both a good fit and who’s shown interest in working with you.

6. Next Quarter Nurture

• A prospect you’d like to work with in the future but they do not currently need you
  
  

To set this up, go to Pipelines > click your existing pipeline name > then click “+ New Pipeline.” Click “Start from scratch”. You’ll call this pipeline “Agency Lead Nurture” and enter the stages listed above.

Pro Tip: Automate your emails for extra efficiency.


Remembering to follow up with leads as they move through your pipeline can be overwhelming. Instead, your pipeline can keep things moving for you with email automations. When you move a lead into the “Next Quarter Nurture” stage, you can have the lead signed-up for a series of 5 to 7 emails that get sent every few weeks to keep you top-of-mind.

If a lead converts into an opportunity, pick up the contact card and drag it to the bottom, into “Done”.

Then a window will pop up, scroll down to “Customer workflow” and select your “sales pipeline” and you can now take that lead through your opportunities pipeline.

Not every prospect is worth your time. Some are a perfect match, while others… not so much. They key? Organizing and prioritizing your best fit leads so you can focus on the right ones!

Start by adding custom fields on records that help you filter / strategize. For example:


• Industry (if you work across industries)
• Type (if you specialize in one industry like hospitality but your clients have variable products or services)
• Temperature Check (Cold - no relationship, Warm - some connections, Hot - a lot of connections)
  

Next, add Tags which allow you to see how many things you have in common with a prospect. The more you have in common, the more you increase your chance for a response:

• Shared Values
• Geographic Connection
• Community Members
• 50+ Mutual Connections

Of course, if you want to get even more technical, one of our favorite lead generation tips is building your own Client Fit Score directly in Copper!

As its name suggests, a Client Fit Score is like a built-in ranking system that helps you quickly see which leads are worth your time. Instead of sifting through every prospect manually, the score pulls together key factors — like budget, industry, and engagement level—to give you a clear snapshot of who’s the best fit for your business. It’s your shortcut to smarter decision-making, helping you focus on what leads are more likely to convert while filtering out the ones that aren’t the right match. This way you can really hone in on the ones that actually move the needle!

Here’s what we recommend adding to your Client Fit Score calculation:

1. Needs assessment

• (1 - brand is polished / 2 - unclear or see some opportunity for improvement / 3 - brand visibly needs help)

2. Values alignment

• (1 - fundamentally misaligned / 2 - partial alignment with potential for deeper connection / 3 - strong, immediate values resonance)

3. Size

• (1 - company size is not in our sweet spot / 2 - a little bigger or smaller than our typical client / 3 - perfect size for our agency)

4. Revenue

• (1 - company size is not in our sweet spot / 2 - a little bigger or smaller than our typical client / 3 - perfect size for our agency)

5. Signs of growth

• (1 - stagnant with no signs of growth / 2 - a few signs they are growing / 3 - they are clearly investing in growth)
  
  

When you add up your ranking of each individual attribute you get an overall Client Fit Score.

• 0-5 points: Not a match
• 6-10 points: Good lead
• 11-15 points: GREAT lead

Of course, you can tailor your Client Fit Score to your own business to help you identify who the best fit is for you. But use this template to get you started.

To set up a Client Fit Score in Copper:

Go to Settings > Customize > “Manage Fields on Records”Select “Add Section” and name it “Client Fit Score”Now you’re going to “Create Field” for each of our attributes and add them to the Client Fit Score section:

• Select, “Create Field”
• Choose # Number Field from the dropdown
• Label it according to the attribute (for example, Needs assessment is “needs,” Size is “size,” etc.)
• Check boxes to include Fields in: People + Leads + Pipeline Records + Filters
• Add a Workflow Automation Formula Key: needs 
(note: capitalization and exact phrasing is key to make the formula work later on)
  

Repeat this for each attribute and drag them all into your section labeled “Client Fit Score”, using the two gray lines on the left. Select “Required” for record creation rules and apply to all fields. 



Note: Your Client Fit Score placement determines where it appears on your lead contact card — so if you want it front and center, just head back to this page and drag it to the top.

Now, create a field called Client Fit Score” that sums up all the individual scores into one total. The settings are all the same for this and your workflow automation key will be “Client Fit Score”.

When completed, it should look like this:

Great! Your final step is setting up the workflow to calculate the totals.

To set up the workflow:


• Go to Automations (the lightning bolt) > Choose Workflow Automation > Add workflow
  • Name: Client Fit Score
  • Trigger: Select Lead and Anytime a lead is updated or created
  • Trigger conditions: We’re now going to add all of our attributes:
    • Needs
    • Values
    • Revenue
    • Size
    • Growth
  • For each, select “Greater” and “Standard” and 0 in the “add growth” field
  • Filter Conditions: Any of the conditions are met (OR)
  • Next we’re going to build out the action:
    • Add Field
    • Select “Client Fit Score”
    • Select “Use Formula”
    • Paste this formula: IF(ISBLANK(cf_values), 0, cf_values) +IF(ISBLANK(cf_needs), 0, cf_needs) +IF(ISBLANK(cf_size), 0, cf_size) +IF(ISBLANK(cf_revenue), 0, cf_revenue) +IF(ISBLANK(cf_growth), 0, cf_growth)

Note: Capitalization and the exact wording you used in your workflow automation formula keys earlier are critical here. If you change any of the names / capitalization, you will need to reflect those changes in the formula.

This is what it should look like:

If you’re having trouble you can review:
Automating Account with Workflow Automation guide for full details

Save and Enable the Automation

• First, save the Workflow Automation. If the automation fails to save you may have an error in your Action Formula.
• Second, use the Workflow Toggle and set to "ON"

Test the Workflow Automation

• Go to a lead profile and update attribute fields with number values
• Refresh your browser page and check if the Value field is calculated correctly

It should look like this:

To make sure all of this is visible in your pipeline, Go to Pipelines > “Configure” > “Edit card fields” to add the fields most important to you, like industry, Client Fit Score or tags.



We can also create lists of leads based on your ranges:


• Go to Leads > Select “Filter” on the top right > Select “Client Fit Score” > Range from 11-15
• Select “Save as a New Filter” and name it “GREAT lead”
• Do this for “Not a Match” and “Good lead” as well
• Go to the left side bar, where it says “Saved Filters” and you can easily toggle between lists
• You can also drag the column

Now you know who to focus on and when!

So what happens when you follow this playbook? Just ask Moonstone Marketing!

By switching from spreadsheets to Copper, Dana Farber didn’t just improve her workflow—she unlocked $90,000 in pipeline clarity and took her business to the next level. With a CRM built to support her agency’s growth, she now has a seamless way to track leads, automate follow-ups, and build her sales pipeline like never before.


Now, Moonstone Marketing is more organized, efficient, and ready for what’s next.


We’re so excited for you to try this out and see how it changes your approach to relationships-driven sales. Remember, lead generation doesn’t need to be painful or overwhelming. You just have to be consistent!


Because when your systems work with you, growth feels effortless. Try Copper for free today and see how it can transform your business, too.