The Lead Gen Agency That Couldn't Fill Their Own Calendar

Solar Lift, a lead generation agency based in Austin, faced an ironic challenge: while they excelled at generating qualified leads for their clients, their own pipeline was inconsistent and unpredictable. They had the expertise, the case studies, and the proven methodology—but they were experiencing the classic "cobbler's children have no shoes" problem that plagues many agency owners.

About Solar Lift

Solar Lift is a B2B lead generation agency specializing in helping SaaS companies, professional services firms, and technology providers build predictable sales pipelines. Their team uses a combination of multi-channel outreach, conversion optimization, and lead nurturing to deliver qualified opportunities at scale. They've helped dozens of clients transform their go-to-market strategy and achieve consistent revenue growth.

Despite their success in client delivery, Solar Lift's own business development was reactive rather than proactive—relying heavily on referrals, inbound marketing, and opportunistic networking rather than the systematic outbound approach they recommended to clients.

The Challenge

Solar Lift's internal business development challenges were multifaceted:

• Feast-or-famine pipeline: Some quarters brought an abundance of opportunities through referrals and word-of-mouth; others left the team scrambling to fill capacity. There was no reliable system to generate opportunities on demand.
• Limited outbound execution: While the team knew how to run successful lead generation campaigns, they lacked the internal bandwidth to execute their own outreach consistently. Client work always took priority.
• Credibility gap: Potential clients would ask, "If you're so good at lead generation, how do you generate your own leads?" The lack of a strong outbound motion made it harder to demonstrate their expertise firsthand.
• No systematic follow-up: Leads that came through inbound channels or networking often fell through the cracks due to inconsistent follow-up processes.
• Difficulty scaling: Without predictable lead flow, it was challenging to plan hiring, resource allocation, or long-term growth.

"We knew exactly what we should be doing," said Marcus Chen, founder of Solar Lift. "We were telling our clients to build multi-channel outbound systems, nurture leads systematically, and track every step of the funnel. But when it came to our own business, we were too busy delivering client work to practice what we preached. It was frustrating—and frankly, a little embarrassing."

The Clearhaven Solution

Clearhaven worked with Solar Lift to implement the exact outbound system they had been recommending to their clients—but this time, tailored specifically to their agency's positioning and ideal customer profile.

Defining the Ideal Customer Profile

We started by clarifying Solar Lift's ideal client characteristics:

1. B2B SaaS companies with $2M-$20M in ARR looking to scale their sales pipeline
2. Professional services firms (consulting, legal, accounting) seeking to reduce reliance on referrals
3. Technology providers selling complex solutions with longer sales cycles
4. Companies with dedicated sales teams (3+ reps) who needed more qualified pipeline to hit targets

Message Framework Rooted in Credibility

Clearhaven developed messaging that addressed the unique challenge Solar Lift faced—how to demonstrate their expertise through their own outbound motion:

• We led with results from similar agencies and companies that had implemented systematic outbound
• We highlighted the "agency paradox"—acknowledging that many lead gen agencies struggle with their own pipeline
• We positioned Solar Lift's methodology as battle-tested across industries
• We used specific case examples and data points to build credibility

Multi-Channel Outbound System

Clearhaven built and executed an outbound campaign that included:

• Targeted email sequences to decision-makers in marketing and sales leadership
• LinkedIn outreach with personalized connection requests and value-driven messaging
• Follow-up sequences that included relevant case studies, frameworks, and insights
• CRM integration to ensure seamless handoff of qualified leads to Solar Lift's sales team
• Weekly performance tracking and optimization based on engagement data

The system ran consistently in the background—generating new opportunities every week without pulling the team away from client delivery.

The Results

Within 90 days of launching the campaign, Solar Lift experienced a complete transformation in their pipeline:

• 31 qualified discovery calls with companies that matched their ideal customer profile
• 6 new clients signed, adding significant recurring revenue to the agency
• Predictable pipeline: For the first time, Solar Lift could forecast new business opportunities with confidence
• Improved credibility: Prospects were impressed that the agency was using its own methodology to generate leads
• Scalable growth: With a reliable pipeline, Solar Lift could confidently plan team expansion and resource investment

Perhaps most importantly, Solar Lift no longer had to choose between client delivery and business development. The outbound system ran independently, freeing the team to focus on what they did best—helping clients grow.

"Clearhaven gave us exactly what we'd been missing: a predictable, repeatable system for filling our own pipeline. Now when prospects ask how we generate our own leads, we can point to the exact same multi-channel outbound system we'll build for them. It's not just marketing—it's proof. And it's completely changed how we approach growth. We're no longer reactive; we're in control of our pipeline."

— Marcus Chen

The partnership continues as Solar Lift scales their client base and refines their outbound approach to reach new market segments.