The Lead Gen Health Check – Why February Reveals What January Can’t 

For many B2B businesses, January is full of ambition, new budgets, new campaigns, fresh targets. But February is when reality quietly steps in. 

By now, your lead generation should be producing real signals, not just optimism. And those signals tell you whether your pipeline is healthy or heading for problems later in the year. 

That’s why February is the perfect time to run a lead generation health check. 

Why February Is the Right Time for a Lead Gen Health Check 

By February, January campaigns have had time to run, early leads have been followed up by sales, and pipelines are starting to form (or stall). 

 Performance data is no longer theoretical. You’re no longer guessing, you’re looking at evidence. Waiting until Q2 to review lead generation often means discovering issues after they’ve already cost you pipeline and revenue.  

February gives you time to fix problems while the impact is still manageable. 

What Is a Lead Generation Health Check? 

A lead gen health check goes beyond surface-level metrics like clicks and impressions. 

 It’s a practical review of whether your lead generation is attracting the right prospects, creating consistent sales-ready opportunities, supporting meaningful sales conversations, and converting interest into pipeline and revenue.  

Think of it as an MOT for your growth engine, designed to spot issues early, before breakdowns happen. 

Key Areas to Review in Your February Lead Gen Health Check 

Ideal Customer Profile  

Your ICP defines the type of customer you are trying to attract. Reviewing your campaigns to ensure that they are reaching your ICP and whether your messaging is resonating with them is key. If you are targeting outside of your ICP, you are risking wasting your time and resources on prospects who are unlikely to convert. To dive deeper into defining and attracting your ideal customer, check out our dedicated guide here. 

Lead Qualification & Quality  

Beyond identifying the right prospects, you need to ensure that leads are properly qualified before passing them on to sales. Check your lead qualification systems, are you scoring leads, and prioritising based on their interest and likelihood to convert. Unqualified leads can clog up the pipeline, waste multiple departments time and reduce the overall sales efficiency. For additional strategies on scoring and prioritising leads effectively, Autopilot offers a useful guide on lead generation and qualification. 

Lead quality is equally important; it determines the value of each lead. High quality leads match your ICP, have decision making authority, possess the budget and need for your solution and show genuine interest.  

Focusing on lead quality ensures that sales teams spend their time on prospects most likely to convert, improving efficiency and strengthening your pipeline. To learn more about building an effective qualification system (including scoring, intent signals, and practical tactics), check out ours guide.  

Follow up Speed  

A fast follow up remains one of the biggest drivers of conversion and one of the most overlooked. Assessing how quickly new leads are contacted, who and how they were followed up and when or if they need more information or further contact.  

If your follow up is slow, it can cost leads and effect your brands reputation. A slow follow up in February, often foreshadows the results for the year, if not addressed.  

Marketing & Sales Alignment  

Misalignment between marketing and sales teams often leads to confused prospects, lower meeting rates, and missed opportunities. February is the ideal time to review and tighten positioning before scaling campaigns further. 

Ensure that both teams are aligned not only on the lead generation and sales process but also on the messaging about your brand and products or services, so prospects receive a consistent and compelling experience. 

Channel Performance  

Not every marketing channel should receive the same level of attention or investment. Review which channels are actually driving pipeline, not just generating leads, asses the cost per lead against the cost per opportunity and examine the quality of leads from each channel.  

Focusing on the channels that deliver the results early in the year can amplify growth and create compounding benefits for your pipeline.  

Metrics/ Conversations  

February is the perfect time to identify and fix tracking gaps, clean and validate CRM data and ensure marketing and sales reporting are fully aligned.  

Accurate, timely, and transparent data empowers teams to make informed decisions, allocated resources effectively and optimise campaigns throughout the year. Ultimately strengthening the predictability and efficiency of your lead generation efforts.  

How does a February Health Check Set Up the Rest of the Year? 

A strong February review should provide clear decisions on what to scale, early fixes to weak conversion points, stronger alignment between teams and a more predictable pipeline by spring.  

This approach is not about starting from scratch, it’s about fine-tuning strategies, optimising existing efforts, and setting the stage for sustained growth throughout the year. 

February is the perfect time to analyse your start to the year and find any issues before they become unnecessary missed opportunities later down the road.  

A simple health check now can protect your pipeline and your revenue for the rest of the year.  

If you’re looking for a straightforward way to assess your lead generation, we offer a lead generation health check that let’s you see your current score and highlights areas for improvement.