If your enquiry levels swing between too busy and uncomfortably quiet, you’re not alone.
We see this pattern repeatedly in professional services firms that have built strong reputations, loyal clients, and steady growth through referrals. For a long time, that model works. Until it doesn’t.
Feast-or-famine lead flow isn’t a sign that your business is failing. It’s usually a sign that it has reached a new stage of maturity – one where informal, reactive marketing can no longer keep up.
The referral comfort zone
Referrals feel safe. They’re warm, familiar, and usually convert well. When they’re flowing, marketing barely needs attention at all.
The problem is that referrals are outside your control. They depend on other people’s timing, priorities, and memory – not on a system you can influence or scale.
As your business grows, that lack of control starts to hurt. Not all at once, but gradually.
One month the diary is full. The next, there’s a worrying silence.
Why the swings get bigger as you grow
In smaller firms, feast-or-famine is often masked by flexibility. Founders can jump back into delivery, pause hiring, or chase opportunities personally.
As the business grows, those levers disappear.
You have a team to keep busy. Costs to cover. Capacity to manage. Suddenly, unpredictable lead flow isn’t just inconvenient – it’s stressful.
This is the point where many leaders start doing more marketing.
More posts. More emails. More activity.
And yet, the inconsistency remains.
The real issue: lack of structure
Most feast-or-famine cycles aren’t caused by a lack of effort. They’re caused by a lack of structure.
Marketing happens in bursts, usually triggered by fear or spare capacity. When leads slow down, activity ramps up. When work comes in, marketing drops off again.
This creates a lag effect. The activity you do today only impacts results weeks or months later. By the time leads arrive, marketing has already stopped.
What predictable lead flow actually requires
Predictability doesn’t come from volume. It comes from consistency and sequencing.
That means knowing who you’re trying to attract, being clear on the problems you solve best, choosing channels you can sustain, and measuring what’s working.
None of this is flashy. But it is effective.
A sign of growth, not failure
If feast-or-famine lead flow feels familiar, take it as information – not judgement.
It’s often the moment when professional services firms realise marketing needs to move from a background task to a structured function.
If you’re starting to feel the strain of unpredictable lead flow, a clearer structure is usually the first step forward. Exploring how your marketing currently operates – and where the gaps are – can bring surprising relief.
The team at Agnes Marketing provide strategic marketing support that strengthens and complements your existing marketing function.
That might mean bringing clarity to your marketing strategy, professionalising your output, or taking full ownership through a managed marketing and PR service.
Our role is to help you apply the right structure at the right stage of growth.
If you’d like to explore what that could look like for your business, get in touch to chat things though.
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