How Jacki Leahy reduces buyer friction across the sales funnel

Founder of Activate the Magic, Jacki Leahy, has spent years in sales. Her favorite part? That first conversation.

“I absolutely love a discovery call. I love the business development part of sales,” Jacki says.

The challenge was everything that happened after that call. Details that surfaced in the moment didn’t always make it into the CRM or to the teams responsible for the next step in the sales process.

“I’d get the qualifications by osmosis,” Jacki says, “but did I actually ask the question and take the notes? No.”

Jacki knew something had to change. The gap was causing slowdowns across handoffs, and teams were asking buyers for information they had already shared. So she shifted her workflow to capture context at the moment it's shared, reduce the steps buyers have to take, and route leads using the information already in front of her.

Here are the steps she took to reduce friction across the sales process:

1. Capture context and maintain it across every interaction

Jacki found that important information from conversations, like tech stack, team size, ARR range, and sales ownership, didn’t always become part of the account record. Project teams needed those details to prepare proposals or take the next step, and the absence created unnecessary back-and-forth.

“The more I did, the more frustrated people would be at me,” she says, “because I wasn’t passing on the context.”

To address that, she began using tools that record structured details directly into their CRM. Her focus is not only on capturing the data but ensuring it stays current.

“For a while we’ve had the data capture,” she says. “But the new thing is the context and the updating over time… taking into account not just what was said on the call, but what has been said on the calls.”

This continuity removes repeated questioning downstream.

“The last thing I want my prospects to do is have to re-explain themselves,” Jacki says.

2. Reduce form friction with enrichment

In high-volume inbound environments, Jacki noticed that long forms slowed down the initial conversion. Too many required fields created drop-off.

“What if we reduce the number of fields the lead has to fill out? Dream come true,” she says.

Reducing fields meant finding another way to gather the details needed for routing. Jacki began testing how much could be inferred from a single input.

“If they give us their URL,” she says, “we can usually find out how many employees, revenue band, industry, etc.”

This made it possible to simplify the form without losing important information.

“If we can get that information,” she says, “let’s do that so they don’t have to form fill.”

The result: less effort for the buyer and more complete data for prioritization.

“Prospect less friction, us more insight… having more conversations with more people we should be having conversations with,” she says.

3. Route leads based on real context instead of assumptions

With updated context and enriched data, routing decisions became clearer. Jacki could identify which leads were ready for immediate outreach and reach them faster.

“We want to shorten the time from when they clicked,” she says. “Not just speed to lead, but speed to human connection. Let’s get on the phone now.”

Leads that weren’t ready for direct outreach moved into paths that matched their stage. Instead of defaulting to standard email nurtures, Jacki uses live events and workshops, which she’s seen create much stronger participation.

“Events are winning,” Jacki says. “Especially if it’s a working session or workshop.”

Enrichment also helps determine which offering a lead aligns with, even if they entered through a different ad or form. Routing follows the context, not the entry point.

Final takeaway

Jacki’s approach shows what can happen when context finally keeps up with the buyer. When teams capture intent the moment it appears and carry it forward without asking people to repeat themselves, every part of the funnel becomes faster and more human.

This is the direction modern revenue teams are moving toward. It is also the foundation of Spara. By activating real-time context, strengthening enrichment, and supporting faster handoffs, Spara helps teams remove friction and create the kind of buying experience Jacki has been advocating for throughout her career.