In the fast-paced world of lead generation, businesses often seek agencies with seemingly simple guarantees: quick results and invoices outlining details by hourly billing. This is a clear conflict of interest that most businesses don’t question, the issue in our experience always leads to inefficiencies and misaligned incentives.
Before you read we will be clear that while we don’t have an hourly rate we do have a policy of transparency and a culture of accountability. Our clients if they choose can contact our team at any moment or log into their portal, we aren’t saying at all that disclosing the time it takes to do something isn’t a priority for us it just isn’t ok to enter agreements with the following assumptions.
I want details on what my agency is doing, I have been burned in the past and I need to know they are “working” also I need to justify the expense to my department.
Sorry, we really are (in all honesty that just sounds like a bunch of non-sensical bureaucracy) and you probobly aren’t the right client for us.
No harm no foul, we promise.
Now on the flip side, if you can see the big picture as we do we can have the stars actually align much faster. Great leadership prioritizes not the speed of “results” but the speed of trust, alignment and accountability.
Enough talk, let’s get to it.
Here’s why relying on these outdated agency business models can hinder your growth and why the right partners structure their work differently.
“A Couple of Questions” That Should Always Spark Immediate Concern When Paired Together or Even Worse, When They Are Asked in Sequence!
In conversations with potential clients, two questions frequently come up:
- How fast can you deliver results?
- What’s your hourly rate?
While understandable, these queries often reflect an approach to lead generation that creates dissonance and devalues innovative processes from the very start.
Let’s break down why these models don’t work long term—and what to look for instead.
The Problems with Hourly Billing
1. Hourly Rates Punish Efficiency
Lead generation requires scalable, streamlined operations. The faster and better an agency performs, the fewer hours it bills under this model. This approach penalizes innovation and punishes efficiency—precisely the qualities you want in a partner.
2. Hourly Rates Incentivize Inefficiency
When billing by the hour, the longer a task takes, the more an agency profits. This creates a built-in conflict of interest: an incentive to stretch out projects rather than deliver quickly and effectively.
3. Value Matters More Than Time
The real question isn’t how long a task takes but how much value it delivers. Imagine an agency could solve your biggest lead generation challenge in a day—what would that be worth to your business? A focus on hourly billing overlooks the ultimate goal: impactful results that drive revenue.
Why Promises of Fast Results Are Also a Red Flag
Quick wins may sound appealing, but in our experience the majority of clients need to be educated on what ROI driven results are. They often come to us after they are miseducated by agencies that mask short-term thinking or shallow strategies with a good client experience.
Lead generation itself isn’t the only thing we do, but our understanding is that sometimes it’s a far more nuanced process requiring time for proper research, testing, and optimization than companies want to allow. If you know your market and have a clear strategy great, but if you are unsatisfied with previous agencies (which is why we usually hear this) you most likely aren’t getting the right leads or maybe happy with your agencies “tactics” or “strategy.”
Agencies that promise immediate results or sell outdated strategies often:
- Overpromise and underdeliver.
- Rely on low-quality leads or outdated buzzword tactics
- Fail to provide evidence for sustainable growth strategies.
Instead, the best agencies (or martech firms) align their operations and actually identify success with your entire teams long-term goals in mind, prioritizing scalable systems and smart incentivizes that lead strategies over bad incentives that feed the need instant gratification.
The Real Cost of Misaligned Incentives
Agencies tied to hourly billing or unrealistic timelines often fall into harmful patterns:
- Disorganization: These agencies focus on hours worked, not outcomes achieved, leading to scattered efforts and diluted impact.
- Stagnation: Innovation is devalued, with teams incentivized to justify their hours instead of solving core challenges.
- Lack of Ownership: Employees in these environments rarely take initiative, fearing the consequences of stepping outside rigid structures.
By month four or five, clients often realize these agencies are simply maintaining the status quo—spending time on busywork rather than driving transformative results.
What to Look for in a Lead Generation Partner
Rather than focusing on speed or hourly rates, choose a partner that prioritizes:
- Scale Frameworks: Look for agencies that build repeatable processes tailored to your business.
- Aligned Incentives & Percieved Risks: Payment structures should reward results, not hours. Risks should be quantified of how the system operates.
- Value-Driven Relationships: Partners should focus on delivering measurable impact and aligning at every step, ensuring every action contributes to your bottom line.
Simply put, our Fractional CMO and MarTech firm rejects hourly billing because it limits innovation and worse of all it undermines trust.
Instead, we focus on delivering value through clear, results-driven strategies and innovating martech operations.
Ask Yourself This:
If you’re working with an agency today, are they solving your biggest challenges—or just justifying their existence? A great partner takes ownership, delivers measurable results, and aligns their success with yours.
Evolve Your Business By Contacting Tek Enterprise
Ready to future-proof your marketing operations and escape the pitfalls of hourly billing and empty promises? We would love the chance to share our approach to building scalable, impactful lead-generation strategies for your business.
Let’s talk sales.
