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Select A Growth Plan That Hits The Target

May 7, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk Leave a Comment

Learn How Agencies Grow By Outscoring Their Competition With Better New Business Processes – Not Better Advertising or PR

Over the past many years Sanders Consulting Group has developed important new thinking on how agencies and PR firms really grow. This new thinking is concentrated in five critical processes:

There are no gray areas. New business plans must be specific, actionable and written down.

Bullseye! There are no gray areas. New business plans must be specific, actionable and written down.

THE OUTREACH PROCESS: The building of long-term relationships with a large number of prospects is now seen as the primary focus for any new business program. The ever changing social technology makes this more of an opportunity than ever.

THE OPPORTUNITY PROCESS: The success of any agency new business program can be measured in opportunities. How many visits with prospects does an agency get? How many request presentations does the agency receive? The process for developing these opportunities is a critical growth skill.

THE CHEMISTRY PROCESS: the importance of chemistry is now understood more than ever as agencies are selected primarily because “they better meet our expectations.” That’s a client’s way of describing chemistry. And the process of controlling chemistry is a vital growth skill.

THE FIRST MEETING PROCESS: The importance of the face-to-face meeting between senior-level managers on the agency side with senior-level executives from the prospect’s firm cannot be overemphasized and where the new business win really occurs. Agency search consultants report that most senior agency executives don’t understand the process and therefore fumble the opportunity.

THE FAST CLOSE PROCESS: Agencies with the skill to fast close accounts within 48-hours in some cases and 7-days in other cases are missing numerous growth opportunities. The only reason so many clients end up using formal reviews to select agencies and PR firms is that one or maybe two agencies missed the chance to close the account early because that firm had no fast close process in place and could not read the signals being flashed.

New business is a game of processes. And without proper new business processes, an agency doesn’t grow.

Final Note: If you do find your firm involved in a formal review, a pitch you really want to win, please make sure you understand the 12 keys to winning any presentation. And check out these other links to help you win:

The way to learn these important processes is to call Sanders Consulting Group.

Photo by ~toothdekay

 

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

5 Most Common Mistakes in New Business Outreach

May 1, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk 1 Comment

A great relationship starts with a gentle touch.

Outreach is vital for new business, building awareness about your firm, and an important way to express your interest in your prospect’s industry. Most agencies seem to be making the same mistakes, over and over, when it comes to doing outreach. Here is a quick overview of the five most common mistakes we see, along with a check list, to help you fix your new business outreach.

  1. No Plan: Failure to plan is a plan for failure. And so it goes with outreach, which seems to be a haphazard effort at most marketing firms. Establish a clear plan, roles and responsibilities, and resources for effective outreach. An effective outreach plan must outline target companies, set up a calendar, create a rolling effort that builds awareness and relationships, and tracks the number of leads coming in. It’s our belief that every prospect on your list should be “touched” at least 19 times over the course of a year. If a mailer goes out, call behind it. Twice if you don’t get through the first time. Invite them to an event. Send a holiday card, a note on something your firm did for a benefit. A friendly reminder about an industry conference. And more. Then, most importantly, stick with it!
  2. Too Much Interference: The number one issue we see in most marketing firms is allowing other work to interfere with regular outreach. Outreach is the single most important activity your firm can do to generate leads. And leads drive new business. If you allow day-to-day client work to interrupt your outreach then you have to look into firing your agency’s marketing firm. Wait… your firm doesn’t have a marketing firm? Exactly. Treat your firm is your number one client and don’t let other work get in the way. Or find a way to fire yourself.
  3. No Nudging: It’s worthless to work hard on building awareness and establishing relationships if no one is going to follow up on a regular basis by “nudging.” Nudging is what friends do for friends, sending your warm prospects a regular stream of interesting articles, notes, birthday wishes and more. This is much more impactful than sales calls or mailings, less expensive, and more personal. Does your agency do “nudging?” What impact would this have if a competitive agency was nudging your clients?
  4. Have a Attitude: Outreach without a good new business attitude is bad business. Most agencies have a negative feeling about having to do outreach. They continually tell themselves that “we too smart, too good, to have to stoop to this sort of activity.” Agencies who think positively focus on the great things their brand can do for prospects. They have a good new business attitude. Consequently, they feel powerful. They feel optimistic. They rise to challenges. Powerful thoughts make you feel potent and help you act to influence the situation for the better to make new business happen.
  5. Not Picking Up The Phone: Too many firms rely on social media, email, and perhaps a little direct mail. They never ever pick up the phone and call. And if they do call, they have no idea about what to do, how to leave a message, or what questions to ask should they get someone on the line. So after a few aborted attempts, they just quit. We strongly suggest you reach out behind every touch, and never-ever leave your number, or ask for a call back. That’s sales, and very annoying. Just leave a friendly message, breezy, checking in, no need to call back. Outreach is about building relationships. Know exactly why you’re calling, what you expect to get out of the call, and have a great list of questions – just in case.

Here’s What To Check If You Aren’t Getting Enough Leads:
•        Outreach system set up? Good Plan?
•        Good list of prospects?
•        Regular outreach going out?
•        Call twice behind every touch?
•        Working hard?
•        Establishing relationships?
•        Nudging?
•        Know how to go on a first visit? Interview?
•        Brand clearly established in mailings and follow-up?

The result: A constant stream of leads into the agency.

Final Note: The best way to make a bright future for your agency is to help create it with your new business outreach. We call this Sparking. If you aren’t generating many leads, at least one a week, then chances are you aren’t doing outreach. A few links to help:

 

Photo by ~Just–Joshin

 

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

New Business Can Be Very Profitable To An Agency – But You Must Invest First!

March 19, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk

New business takes a toll on agency resources including time, funding and energy. That’s why there must be strong commitment throughout the organization to the growth plan. But first you must have a plan.

New Business Training Manual
All of our programs are supported by a large manual that keeps the training fresh for years!

Last week we spent four days training a marketing firm on how to set up and run our Spark and Torch program. Together, Spark and Torch represent an intensive new business system that helps you gain control over your agency’s growth quicker and easier than you ever thought possible.

Our approach is to work with you over the entire time the system is being installed. We bring in new skills and new approaches in an orderly fashion. We don’t want to overwhelm the agency or interfere with your efforts to provide good service to clients. We work with you to develop and then install the new business program. And then we help bring the agency together behind the effort. And we stick around long enough to be sure the new business program runs right.

Here is the agenda we followed with this firm – they wanted it all as soon as possible as they had some free time last week between client assignments:

Spark & Torch Firepower Training

Day 1: Introduction to Spark & Torch

Chemistry

  • Chemistry is the New Business Secret
  • Basic Premise of Profiling
  • How to Profile
  • Check Your Personality Profile
  • How to Establish Chemistry on the Interview
  • Spark Reminders
  • Spark Interview Chart

The Spark System

  • Where Do Interviews Come From?
  • How to Open the Door
  • “Door-Opener” Strategies
  • Typical Spark Follow-Up
  • Opening the Door and Nudging
  • Building Awareness Exercise
  • Supporting the Spark System

Day 2: First Visits and Presenting to Prospects

Torch Overview (First Visits)

  • The Old First Visit Model
  • Agency Baseball
  • What Makes Up First Base
  • What Makes Up Commonality
  • Sparks Must Know How to Open the First Meeting
  • What Makes Up Propriety
  • What Makes Up First Base: Competency
  • The Torch Competency Model
  • What Makes Up Intent
  • Handling Questions

Torch Skills

  • What Makes Up Needs and Fever
  • What Makes Up Process
  • What Makes Up Timing
  • What Makes Up Budget
  • Second Base Exercises
  • What Makes Up Third Base
  • What Makes Up Home Base
  • How to Fast Close

Day 3: Adding Fuel to the Fire

Sparking Elements

  • Sparking is NOT Telemarketing
  • Making the First Call
  • More First Call Tips
  • Ask the Right Questions
  • Get Set to Listen
  • How to Deliver Competency Over the Phone
  • Spark’s Daily Productivity Chart
  • Spark Checklist
  • Spark Monitoring Questionnaire
  • Presenting on the iPad

Blogging, building links: WordPress & Facebook

  • Building content and creating the brand perception
  • Twitter, LinkedIn, Hootsuite
  • Social media outreach and establishing online relationships

Day 4: Bringing it all to life

Create a Comfort Zone, Q&A, and Closing Details

  • Spark & Torch Role-playing
  • First call competency pitch
  • Closing the loop
  • Final thoughts

How about your firm? Would learning these skills help you in your new business effort?

Another firm we trained last year had a great experience that truly demonstrates the power of setting up a strong new business system. After the training some of the staff expressed doubt if the program would work. But the president remained firm. They generated some leads, and had some success, but still had not tried the Fast Close techniques we practiced. They felt it was just too “out there” to really work.

A few months go by and just as the outreach program starts to generate results, they get a reply from one of the “dream” accounts on their list. A big blue chip client. Recognizing that they were not ready for such a large account, they decided to try the fast close techniques . . . just to practice. “Just wanted to see what would happen” the president told me.

They won. Without a review. The largest win in their history.

A Strong New Business Program Makes the Whole Agency Happier

For an agency no other activity can match the reassurance that winning new business can provide. Not keeping clients. Not winning awards. Not making more money. New business wins are what most agencies value above every other reward. If you want to buck up an agency, win some new business. There might be grumbling about the added stress and worries about the impact on existing accounts, but there’s real joy because of the win. It puts a bounce in the step. And it adds a smile to the face no matter how much it increases the workload or how much further behind the productivity curve it puts the agency. For this reason, announcing our training program at most firms is good news to the staff. But the agency staff needs to be convinced that the management team believes in the process and is committed to growth over the long haul. Agency staff is quick to spot flavors of the month, quick fixes, and half-hearted efforts. For the training to work there must be full support and total cooperation. That type of support and cooperation needs to begin on the first day of the training.

If you’re interested in learning more about our training programs that can transform your firm into a new business machine, give us a shout!

Photo by ~geory

 

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Agency Post: Simple Rules for New Business

February 19, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk

The Agency Post, an interactive publication for ad, PR and marketing professionals, was kind enough to post some of my thoughts on new business here. A short snippet:

At its heart, new business is not hard. As one old agency wag used to tell me, “This is an easy business kid — find the damn client, keep the damn client.” The rules for winning more new business are not difficult to understand. If your new business program isn’t producing, chances are someone is making it more complicated than it needs to be. Or, maybe your new business effort is focused on the wrong thing.

The concept I outline is that firms often focus on the wrong areas when chasing new business. Please head over and read the whole thing, as there are some simple rules for how to build relationships as well!

Additional Thoughts on Relationship Building

There is plenty of new business out there – all you need is a spark!

Clients are being contacted daily by sales people from within our industry who attempt to pitch without permission. The fact of the matter is that most new business people lack the skills of adding value and relationship building these days. The problem is they don’t know any better. They’ve been instructed by the agency presidents to speak to anyone who has a pulse. Something to think about – would you get involved in a multi-million dollar deal without knowing someone from the agency with whom you are dealing with?

I’m sure that you know the answer to that question!

We teach agencies how to Spark – The Worlds Most Powerful New Business System. A critical fundamental skill of the spark system is the process of building relationships. Clients must never know you are selling. Clients must never feel they are being solicited. You have to take the long view and look towards building trust over time.

5 Strategies To Help Your New Business Person Build Relationships

  1. Focus: Develop an expertise on a narrow subject. As an expert any comment and or advice brings more value. Show how your expertise can benefit the prospect. Experts in any field and are heavy relied on as a trusted resource.
  2. Network: We all know that people do business with people whom they like and trust. Choose to make a new friend over just creating a new business transaction. This will pay off in the long run.
  3. Nudge: Establish yourself with your prospects by creating a dialog on things that you have in common. You must be able to establish rapport. Be a steady source of ideas, tips, and advice.
  4. Add Value: Become a teacher to your target market, and educate people on best practices – draw information from any and all sources. You don’t have to create them all. Link, summarize, send.
  5. Close: Seek constantly for an opportunity to visit the prospect when there is a need. Then follow set rules to enhance trust, discover needs, when to leave them wanting more, and how to close.

The agency world has changed a lot, but two things remain the same: The necessity to win new accounts and the need to keep what you win. Becoming better at building and keeping relationships will help with both.

More Links On Relationship Building

If you are interested in learning more, bring us in for a training session with key staff on how to set up an agency relationship building program. And then sit back and watch your agency grow.

Photo by *chris-stahl

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Your Agency Winning or Losing New Business?

February 15, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk
This is a repost of what I wrote for Norman Sherman over at the The Troyanos Group – a leading marketing industry recruiting and consulting firm. Outstanding company.

The New Business Pipeline

Market changes have created a massive tank filled with new business opportunities – what are you doing to tap into it?

New business is the art and science of growing an agency and is often referred to as the “life blood” of an agency. If you’re like most marketing firms these days, you’re losing more than winning. What most agencies need is to build a pipeline to tap into the new business reservoir that all this change, upheaval, client churn, and agency closings are creating.

Unlike the traditional sales funnel that you run prospects through, the New Business Pipeline is made up of seven sections: #1 – Positioning, #2 – Preparation, #3 – Pursuit, #4 – Pounce, #5 – Profile, #6 – Present and lastly #7 – Patience. Get a good handle on these seven and you’re going be winning a lot more new business.

Pipe #1 – Positioning

Positioning is all about your brand. We all understand that every agency needs to be positioned. Each positioning descriptor carries with it certain messages to clients, prospects, and employees. What most agencies fail to recognize is that most of their competition is operating against a gray background without any strong positioning other than a hazy label (“we’re a full service marketing firm with great creative”). There is little concentrated branding going on among agencies; meaning few agencies have a clearly defined brand. If you create a strong brand that stands out against the gray marketplace, then you will create separation from most of the competition. This comes at cost, as a clearly defined brand means that you have to stand for something – something most marketing firms hate to do.

Pipe #2 – Preparation

The most difficult part of new business: creating an actual new business system. You must outline resources, positioning, targets, support materials, personnel to operate, and then find that special someone who will lead the whole thing. Most marketing firms feel all they need is that special someone to lead (or blame) for new business. Many firms feel they have a new business system; responding to all the RFPs, pitches, and more. But is that system proactive, focused on the right goal – generating leads? Or is it reactive, only responding to referrals? Only a strong new business system can generate enough leads – meaning at least one good lead a week! Of course, the alternative is to find that rare breed of individual who can charm a prospect into the agency. Those “rainmakers” are difficult to find, hard to keep, and can never teach anyone how they do it.

Pipe #3 – Pursuit

Nothing good happens in new business until someone from your agency is across the desk from a good prospect. This usually means someone in your agency is focused on outreach full-time and following up on all those leads to create first visits. We call that winning the first opportunity. A good first visit is when your team avoids presenting a catalog of your firm’s capabilities and instead focuses on building trust so prospects will discuss their business needs openly and honestly. It’s a learned skill—one that is undervalued and can always be improved. Without a good first visit, clients are forced to move into a formal search where competition is high. With good first visits in hand, you can start to walk away from RFPs, cattle calls, and agency clusters where competition is strong and your marketing ROI is low. The most dangerous thing an agency can do is put someone not trained in first visits across the desk from a great prospect.

Pipe #4 – Pounce

Pounce is the speed needed to win new business. Most firms walk away from a first visit with no idea where to go from there. They may send a thank you note, and just wait for the prospect to do something, anything. Learn how to close fast. If you’re doing pursuit correctly, you should have many opportunities for first visits or what we call the New Business Interview – where you go in with the attitude of interviewing the prospect to see if they’re a good fit for your firm. After an interview you have a range of options from waiting (slow and weak) to going for a 48-hour close (fast and strong). The 48-hour close is a process where the agency leaves the prospects wanting more and returns in 48 hours for a working session and a solution. Some of the largest account swings in the world have been won using the 48-hour close. Speed wins.

Pipe #5 – Profile

Profile is the chemistry of new business. Creating good chemistry with people is not as hit-or-miss as you may think. People’s personalities and how they interact with the world can be categorized into patterns and profiles. Learn to achieve “good chemistry” by profiling and putting prospects into one of the four major prospect quadrants called Headline™, BodyCopy™, Logo™, and Illustration™. Profiling helps you avoid a lot of tactical obstacles, like how to handle the critical question all prospects will ask on the first visit: “Can I get you anything… cup of coffee?” Your answer to this question will often determine if you win or lose the account.

Pipe #6 – Present

Present is how you pitch or ask for the business. Sometimes the present phase is long and complicated (formal reviews). And sometimes it’s short (48-hour close). If your pitch skills are weak, it really harms the new business program. Your best presentation strategy is to one up on the competition: one up on style (skill in presenting), one up on format (staging and meeting strategy), and one up on content (what is presented). When you beat the competition on style, format, and content, you usually have a new account. A quick question: Which of these three is least important? And where does your agency put most of its time and effort in preparing for a presentation: the answer is, of course, content.

Pipe #7 – Patience

Patience is the closing phase in new business. A new account requires you to know how best to price your services, how to win with incentives, and how to ask for all the money. This is where the key skill of negotiating must be developed. Clients are better informed now by taking courses on negotiating with agencies and attend meetings armed to the teeth. Most agencies come in under-armed and wonder what happened and why aren’t they making the money they want to make. Agencies are operating under an assumption they need to keep their prices very low. That’s a real money-losing assumption.

Get Your Pipeline Flowing

Please understand that new business is the ultimate revenue maker for your firm, and you need to be doing it right. Go back to each of the pipes and evaluate your firm with a grade. Be honest. If you’re not averaging a least a B+ then you’re losing new business. If even one pipe is failing then the whole system gets clogged. You know one good win can dramatically increase revenue. Now, what are you doing about that? Consider this: what are prospects hearing about your firm today? If no prospect is hearing about you, today, then you aren’t doing new business the right way.

 

Top water tank photo by *Witch-Dr-Tim
Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Change Marketing Is A Powerful Place To Find Prospects

January 21, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk

Smart agencies target recent changes or appointments in the marketing, advertising or management areas with key companies or prospects they want.

Change equals opportunity; if you know where to look.

The old change management rule says the new contact can continue for two months to blame problems on the old ad manager who got replaced. The old agency is good for more than six months of grace. Often, as we all know from the constant agency churn, the new contact needs time and a great place to buy some time is to conduct an agency review. That will typically last for three months. Add to that the six months of grace to blame the old agency while they train the new one and the new contact now has nine months of running room.

Change means change. Understand this and target the newly appointed executives at brands you have an interest in. You’ll find them hungry for new ideas, new approaches and new ways of doing things that allow them to make their mark.

Take advantage of this and reach out. It only takes a two sentence letter: “Congratulations. I look forward to following your continued success.” That letter usually generates a “Thank You” response which in turn leads to more contact and more contact. If you’re good; and understand how to build relationships.

Change marketing is powerful strategy in this most mobile of all markets. Use it to your advantage.

Target the change you see all around you and you will have a continuing stream of new prospects to replace the ones who turn into dry holes along the way.

Need More Ideas For Growth Like This?

Every year, we help more agencies develop their growth plans than any other firm in the world. Build the type of agency you will always be proud of. Grab market share the easy way by finding it when the opportunity is right.

Sanders Consulting Group has a wide range of learning programs for agencies to improve agency growth including DayOne, HighGear, Spark, Torch, Chemistry Wins New Business, Presenting To Win, Accounts in Review, Benefit Testing and many more.

We want to be your strategic counselor and your agency’s trusted advisor. Many agency presidents turn to us when it comes to improving their agency. We work with a wide variety of agencies from around the world. This perspective gives us opportunities that few firms ever enjoy, seeing the world’s best agencies up close and personal. We know what works and what is fantasy. And we help you avoid trial and error and that keeps you at the front of the line.

We start by earning your trust and respect.

We work in the world’s most difficult practice area because we deal directly with owners and operators of the best advertising agencies around. These presidents and CEOs wrote the book on entrepreneurial practices. They have no time for wasted time. They can spare no energy to chase castles in the air or to build empires on sand.

You see Sanders Consulting Group works only for agencies. We are on your side. We do no work for clients. And in today’s volatile market place, few consultants can claim that. We believe agencies need more friends like us.

Photo by `gilad

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