Why Digital Agencies Are Missing Revenue Targets
photo by Connie de Vries via Unsplash
I've been reading a lot about revenue challenges. I see the issues. Sometimes I've been in a role where I can work toward fixing the problem, but often not. And that gap is something I genuinely care about.
Chief problem solver is how I operate. Throw me a business problem and I can't help but find a solution. That's as true of special education and health challenges as it is of revenue strategy.
In 1998, I moved to the USA, and it seemed like everyone wanted someone who could think outside the box. I don't remember which company it was, but when the topic came up I replied: I make origami out of the box. I had a particular ability to perplex people with how differently I saw the world. Maybe because I try to. Though more than once, a psychological expert has told me it's a skill likely developed early as a means of survival. Whatever the case, I embrace it.
I look for what we're missing. What's not obvious? Why is X so much better than Z? Is it?
I remember the early days of my son's life. So many therapy sessions trying to analyse him, diagnose him. One day I got down on the floor and looked around at the world from his height. I'd climb into the back seat of the car just to see how things looked from his perspective.
“Often, challenges aren’t obvious because we don’t see things from the perspective of the people we’re trying to solve them for.”
Revenue generation in digital agencies has worked in relatively the same ways for years. Managed services becoming more common, retainers, referrals, relationships. But the shift to AI is dramatically changing what end clients want. Agencies are struggling to adapt.
In some cases, clients are consuming inbound for the benefit of new information, not because they have a real need. Others are fed up with inbound entirely and trying to figure out what they need before engaging at all. There's a lot to unlock.
As we see transformational change via AI ripple through businesses, are agencies transforming how they engage? Or just adding AI as a line item?
I ll leave you with this. I have spoken to a fair number of agencies who, in 2025 and into 2026, are not meeting their targets. Most had accounted for increased revenue from AI as an additional income stream. They have not adapted otherwise.
And the data backs this up. While I've been observing it in conversations with agencies, Stephen Diorio, a leading authority on revenue operations, recently wrote in Forbes about exactly this problem at a broader scale. According to research he cites: 55% of mid-market companies are regularly missing quarterly revenue forecasts by more than 10%. About 73% of mid-market businesses failed to meet their growth expectations for 2025. And over 80% of businesses have missed their sales forecast in at least one quarter over the last two years, according to Gong.
These are not outliers. This is a pattern.
Diorio's research identifies 45 moving parts in the modern go-to-market engine. Forty five. Most agencies are adjusting one or two of them and wondering why the numbers aren't moving.
“The problem is not effort. The problem is that most agencies are not managing all the factors that actually drive growth. And they do not know what they are missing.”
That's the real problem. And it's upstream of everything else.
If you're not sure whether your agency really knows what your clients are trying to get done, that uncertainty is worth sitting with. I built a short diagnostic for exactly that moment. You can take it at moxie89.com/diagnostic. It takes about 8 minutes and it is not a comfortable exercise. That's the point.
