Worksheet
Last updated: November 2026Published by Tim Kilroy
This agency pipeline calculator turns a quarterly revenue goal into the number of real sales conversations your marketing agency needs each week.
It uses the pipeline formula from Tim Kilroy's planning workshop, published here on Beyond Referrals. His point: revenue does not come from leads. It comes from a small number of real conversations with people who have a short path to yes or no, so you need a number, not a vibe.
Enter four numbers. Commas, dollar signs and percent signs are fine. The result appears only when every field is valid.
Definition
On Beyond Referrals, a real conversation is a sales discussion with someone who has a problem, a budget and a short path to a yes or no. Tim Kilroy's workshop calls everyone else an NPC: pleasant, but not pipeline.
Count conversations honestly. If you round up, the calculator will tell you a comforting story that your bank account will not repeat.
Numbers
A $150,000 quarterly goal with $15,000 deals, a 30% close rate and a 40% proposal rate needs:
These inputs are illustrations, not benchmarks.
| If this is your constraint | It usually means | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Not enough conversations | No channel you control beyond referrals | Growing beyond referrals |
| Conversations not becoming proposals | Weak qualifying or wrong-fit prospects | Discovery calls |
| Proposals not closing | Pitching before understanding, or generic positioning | Vertical positioning |
Tim Kilroy's rule: pick one constraint to fix this quarter and improve one at a time. This tool is part of the guide to how to grow a marketing agency.
Short answers below. Every question links to the full agency growth FAQ.
Divide your quarterly revenue goal by your average deal size to get deals needed, divide that by your close rate to get proposals, divide by your proposal rate to get conversations, then divide by 13 weeks. The pipeline calculator on this site does the math for you and shows its assumptions.
Most annual plans assume everything goes up and to the right and never change how anyone works on Monday. Tim Kilroy's planning workshop replaces goals with control systems: pipeline math, defining functions before hires, four key financial numbers, and content that builds pipeline. Pick one constraint per quarter and fix it.
Qualifying the prospect means confirming there is a real problem, that it is worth money, and that the person you are talking to makes the decision. In Tim Kilroy's five-stage funnel, a prospect only counts as qualified when you can name the problem in their own words. Counting your own activity as their intent inflates the pipeline.
Hire when a constraint has existed for 60 days or more, it directly blocks revenue, margin or focus, and removing it generates enough margin to fund the role within six months. Tim Kilroy's advice is to define the function you need, such as 15 hours a week of delivery coordination, before you think about a job title.
The 3-3-3 rule has no single official definition. Marketers use the name for several rules of thumb built on threes, such as earning attention within three seconds, keeping a message to three key points, and repeating it across three touchpoints. If someone cites it, ask which version they mean before you build a plan around it.
Tim Kilroy offers a free 30-minute call for agency owners. You describe what is going on, he helps diagnose the real problem, and you leave knowing what to fix first, whether or not you work together.
