At the start of their business journey, every agency owner starts out trying to sign as many clients as possible. This appears to be a great move considering 84% of agency owners attribute revenue growth in 2025 to new clients and new business development wins according to SoDA’s Q1 2025 Sales Pipeline and Outlook Report. After all, a creative agency can’t function without cash, and how does a new agency owner get cash? From clients. The more, the merrier.
However, as an agency grows, owners become aware that there might be a “magic” number of clients. An ideal pipeline size is needed to cover operational expenses and achieve growth objectives rather than “as many clients as possible.” Your employees only have so much capacity and agency resources can’t sustain an unlimited number of clients. Yet, many agency owners don’t know how to clearly define an ideal client number.
Most marketing agencies need 3–5× pipeline coverage to reliably hit revenue targets. That means if your agency wants to close $2 million in new business, your pipeline should typically contain $6–10 million in qualified opportunities depending on your close rate and sales cycle.
Finding the ideal pipeline size for your agency hinges on your specific agency goals. Luckily, we have a formula that can help you define the right pipeline size for your agency’s needs and ambitions. Keep reading to learn more about calculating your ideal pipeline size.
Key Metrics That Determine Your Agency’s Pipeline Size
Core Sales Metrics You Need
Calculating your marketing agency’s pipeline size requires understanding several key sales metrics:
• Average deal size – the typical value of a signed client engagement
• Win rate (close rate) – the percentage of qualified opportunities that become clients
• Sales cycle length – the average time it takes to convert an opportunity into a signed engagement
• Revenue target – the amount of new revenue your agency plans to close during a given period
The first step to calculate your agency’s ideal pipeline size is to determine your average sales cycle length. An average sales cycle is the duration of time it takes for a deal to enter the sales funnel to the time work begins.
If you haven’t historically tracked your average sales cycle, now is the time. Otherwise, you may find that making plans for agency growth is very difficult, if not impossible. Start by identifying a dedicated software that determines your average sales cycle. Our agency clients have experienced great results from applications like HubSpot and Pipe Drive, however, there are nearly endless CRM systems that calculate this metric for you.
Your next step is to calculate average contract length, or the average number of days that client contracts last. This metric is essential for telling you how quickly you turn revenue out for a specific period of time.
Next, it’s time to determine close percentage. To calculate close percentage, you divide the number of closed qualified opportunities by the number of qualified opportunities.
Agencies that want a more detailed forecasting model can also calculate pipeline requirements using sales cycle timing and contract length.
Pipeline Coverage Formula for Marketing Agencies
The most common way to calculate the required pipeline for a marketing agency is using the pipeline coverage ratio.
Required Pipeline = Revenue Target ÷ Win Rate
[Revenue capacity x (average sales cycle/days remaining in the period) x (average contract length/days in the period)] / number of qualified opportunities
You’ve just calculated your ideal pipeline size, at least for your current situation. We have many agency owners that want to calculate their ideal pipeline size for future revenue goals. To do so, all you need to do is add this future revenue goal to the revenue capacity slot in the above formula. Also, adjust the days in period for the time in which you would like to make that goal revenue.
[Future revenue goal x (average sales cycle/days you’d like to make goal revenue) x (average contract length/days in the period)] / number of qualified opportunities
Example Pipeline Calculation for a Marketing Agency
Consider a marketing agency with the following sales metrics:
Revenue goal: $1,500,000
Average project value: $50,000
Win rate: 25%
To reach this revenue goal, the agency must close 30 deals during the year.
Because the agency closes roughly 1 out of every 4 qualified opportunities, it would need approximately 120 qualified opportunities in the pipeline to hit its target.
This means the agency’s pipeline value should be around $6,000,000.
Planning Your Business Goals
Growing a creative agency requires setting agency performance KPIs to track progress. Having your eyes on business metrics and KPIs allows you to determine when business strategies should be adjusted to stay on track with agency goals. Your ideal pipeline size is not the only metric you should be tracking, especially if your goal is increasing your marketing agency valuation over time. There are many other growth metrics to have on your radar, including tracking agency profit margins and overall financial performance. Scenario planning with a cash flow forecast, cash flow management strategies and maintaining healthy agency cash reserves are essential tools your agency needs for sustainable growth.
If you aren’t sure how to translate these sales metrics into actionable growth plans, working with our virtual CFOs can help agency owners build revenue forecasts, monitor pipeline performance and align financial strategy with growth goals.