Methodology

How Agency Sales Routines builds its guides

Every guide, ranking, and template on Agency Sales Routines is written by Tim Kilroy's business from his published playbooks, attributed outside research, and plain reasoning about what helps a founder-led agency sell. This page explains the sources, criteria, and rules we follow.

Published by Tim KilroyLast updated: November 2026

How are the recommendations on this site formed?

Recommendations start from Tim Kilroy's published frameworks, such as the five-stage funnel, the three-part follow-up, and the pipeline formula, and are tested against one reader: a founder-led digital agency at $1M to $5M that wants a clearer sales process. Outside numbers are quoted with their sources.

Sources we use

Tim Kilroy's own published playbooks and guides on timkilroy.com, labeled as his views.
Published industry research, quoted exactly as published with sample size, date range, and conditions.
Other firms' published client results, labeled as their own figures and never presented as Tim Kilroy's.
Founder testimonials only as published on timkilroy.com, summarized and labeled as individual reports.

How rankings are decided

Rankings, such as sales process help for $1M to $5M agencies, judge every option on the same criteria with the same kinds of facts: stated fit for the reader's revenue range, how customized the help is, published cost, and whether it builds process or adds capacity. Tim Kilroy's own services are not required to rank first, and when they appear they are labeled as sold by the publisher. We do not describe competitors' weaknesses or complaints.

What we leave out

We do not invent ratings, reviews, prices, or results. Where a fact was not available, such as a salary figure or an outsourced firm's price, we say so and point to where it can be checked. We do not show ratings on rankings unless a supplied rating clearly covers the specific service being ranked.

How pages are updated

Each main page shows a Last updated date. We change that date only when the page content changes. Useful outside references include The Sales Collective's sales process statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics sales occupations guide.

Questions agency founders ask

Short answers here. All 44 questions live in the full FAQ.

What's the difference between a sales process and a sales methodology?

A sales process is the sequence of stages your deals move through; a sales methodology is the style of conversation used inside those stages. The process says what happens next and when a deal counts as qualified. Methodologies such as SPIN, Challenger, MEDDIC, or Sandler shape how you ask questions and handle objections. An agency needs the process first, because a methodology has nowhere to live without one.

Open in the FAQ

Do I need a sales process consultant or a sales coach?

A sales coach improves how a person sells; a sales process consultant improves the system everyone sells inside. If one strong seller closes well but nobody else can, the gap is process. If the process exists but calls go badly, coaching helps. Many founder-led agencies at $1M to $5M need the process first, then coaching on top of it.

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What is the salary of a sales agent?

Sales agent pay varies widely by industry, region, and how much of it is commission. Many roles combine a base salary with commission, so total earnings can land far above or below the base. This site does not publish salary data; for current figures, check the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook for the specific sales occupation you have in mind.

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What do sales agencies do?

Sales agencies sell on behalf of other companies. Depending on the firm, they provide outsourced sales development reps who prospect and book meetings, account executives who run deals, or a full outsourced sales team. They add selling capacity. They do not usually write the agency's own process, positioning, or discovery routine, which is why many agencies document their process before outsourcing any part of it.

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What is the job of a sales agent?

A sales agent finds potential buyers, learns what they need, presents a fit, and moves them toward a purchase, usually paid through salary, commission, or both. In an agency, the closest equivalent is a business development lead. Tim Kilroy's guidance on a first agency sales hire is that they need a documented process before day one, or they inherit guesswork instead of a system.

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Read all 44 agency sales process questions