New Business Hawk

Ad Agency Growth: Training vs. Consulting

Our most valuable assets walk out the door at five o’clock

American corporations dole out an estimated 15 billion dollars per year on training and consulting for up-and-coming mangers and leaders. Sadly, most marketing firms spend very little on developing their staff. It’s the one thing most leaders tell me is on their yearly goals, and yet somehow it always fades by the wayside.

However, a few highly successful firms target high performers and potential leaders within their organization and work with them to develop their skills. These are the firms that make up most of our clients.

We have been arguing and writing about the science and practice of new business since the early 1980’s all in an effort to demystify this critical element of agency operations.

Our experience as managers, leaders, and consultants, both nationally and internationally, have helped us to understand the nature of that work, and the science behind it. Over the past several years we’ve seen the growth of many new business consultants. However we do see a unique difference between most of them and Sanders Consulting: few if any offer detailed training programs.

In this latest economic downturn marketing firms are asking their leaders to take new business seriously – a critical success factor to organizational growth. Learning leads to more effective action and, therefore, improved performance – and is no longer an option. More and more of the firms we interact with are recognizing that the roles of new business and agency leadership are different, and the skills required to be a great agency leader do not necessarily transition into the world of new business.

What To Do?

Invest in your staff. Your leaders. Yourself. Your agency.

Photo By woodleywonderworks

Chemistry Wins New Business

Chemistry is that funny stuff in the space between people.

It’s not about you or me but what’s between us. That space is called Chemistry and it’s a driving force in new business. Chemistry is rarely talked about. Firms don’t like to say “we just didn’t like you” when explaining to an agency why they weren’t hired. Strategic direction, better fit, outstanding idea are all better reasons to go with another firm. Perhaps it would help if we called it “Likeability” as in “I like one firm more than another.” But Chemistry is more than that. Good Chemistry has more to do with meeting expectations, as in “I think we could work with these people best.”

Losing the Chemistry Battle

Here’s why it’s so important: We tend to like people better who best meet our expectations. Who seem like us. We understand them easier. We don’t get surprised. In short, we want to work with them. Hence we hire them.

In many searches, the search consultants or the key client-side decisions makers will realize that “any of these agencies can do the job.” The search process then becomes about which one firm do “we want to work with.” That’s Chemistry.

Must be Leap Year: Demise of the Ad Industry Being Reported

The advertising industry finds itself – yet again – at a crossroads, a confluence, a decision-point, a junction.  Attention is needed.  Assessment is necessary and action is required. After all, it’s been nearly 10 years since the industry was last stumbling headlong toward extinction.

Are there many reasons for concern? – Yes.  Are there always reasons for concern? – Yes! It's most interesting how the “expert class” repeatedly presumes cataclysm at the first sign of economic Darwinism.  Chicken Little would be proud.

Remember, not that many years ago, the Internet spelled doom for the industry.  Still around – amazing. Before that, TV. Radio...

Assuming clients will continue to sell products and services, there is a reason to believe that agencies will survive this most recent report of their demise.

Agencies HAVE Changed

That said, there are indications that change is needed to stem the tide of marginalization. Agencies have expanded, purchased, and partnered their way into every market, category and discipline.  They have leveraged advancements in technology to become as connected globally as their predecessors were in one office tower only a decade earlier.  And have scoured the market for the best and brightest to set to work advancing their client’s brands and products.

Evidently, not everyone has been impressed by the results of this effort.

The end of advertising as we know it

Traditional advertising players – broadcasters, distributors and advertising agencies – will need innovative new approaches to respond to major industry shifts underway.

What is most intriguing about this point-of-view is that it assumes the clients will sit and wait on the ad agency and their partners to innovate our way into the future.

There is no question that the future of advertising will look radically different from its past. The push for control of attention, creativity, measurements and inventory will reshape the advertising value chain and shift the balance of power. For both incumbent and new players, it is imperative to plan for multiple consumer futures, craft agile strategies and build new capabilities before advertising as we know it disappears.

Shocking! I know! The industry will have to “craft agile strategies!” in light of this “shifting balance of power.” This is amazing to hear in 2010.  Particularly from IBM who is serviced by the industries most influential agencies. After all, didn’t the industry spend the past few decades consolidating to deliver on the opportunity of integrated services, or was it convergent communication, or media-neutral communication, or whatever other iteration of the same to better measure and influence consumers. If agencies were delivering on their service promise, then churn would not be at unprecedented levels and clients would not be seeking the same service object as a decade earlier – FROM YET ANOTHER AD AGENCY.

So, where’s the rub?  Change is coming. And some agencies won’t make the change… See Cliff Freeman’s recent closing as Exhibit A.

Fingers of fault can be pointed in every direction, but what can an agency do to deliver on the promise of change and better consumer insight?

Options For Change

One choice might be to do – nothing.  As one CEO of a prominent agency network advised, “it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, so I’m better off spending my time on matters where I can have an impact.”

This pessimistic view might work for him and his pre-packaged retirement, but, as an industry, ignoring the issues is not a viable option.

If you are confident that agencies are on the case and see these views as a “Chicken Little” prophecy, consider one advertiser’s recent action. They terminated their agency relationships claiming the agency model to be irreparably broken. Then proceeded to underwrite the organization of its new agency – only to see that model stumble and fall. And now have folded the whole mess into yet another ad agency.

This is an extreme but not an isolated example of how client dissatisfaction has embodied itself in unprecedented levels of client churn.

Some would argue that client’s share much of the blame in these dysfunctional relationships.  But these same clients –criticized by agencies – have increased the role and expenditures for their management consultants year-over-year. Perhaps as an industry we need to consider why?

Anyone can satisfy and make money off of the handful of great clients. A great agency effectively services and profits from all of their client relationships.

Perhaps A New Role is Needed

Before dismissing the end of advertising as we know it, the example of another industry’s response to similar service pressures may be worth considering. The role of the general contractor in construction resembles the traditional advertising agencies role as general contractors of business communication.

The construction industry responded to client demand for improved quality, professionalism, integrated and unbiased service management by creating an entirely new industry services category – Construction Management.

After a decade of unfulfilled promises of better creative, more integration, social media and consumer insight and tracking, clients are showing signs of an aggressive search for “Communication Managers.”

Construction management firms are staffed by experienced and credentialed industry professionals who deliver unbiased results to the client. General contractors were not and did not.  Those who did not adapt have been marginalized. Agencies that continue to attempt to deliver services as general contractors have had their fate cast. Responding will require you to revisit your brand, organizational model, processes, fee structure and staffing protocols.

Time is of the essence; a recent study reported that those in the “advertising” profession rank just ahead of Used Car Salespeople in esteem. But neither that nor the changing consumer will end advertising as we know it.

New Business & Client Service: Keys to Successful Negotiation

Every person in advertising, like every fisherman, has a story about “the one that got away,” the perfect client that was a great fit, or the one that was “this close.”

Many times, great clients are lost due to blunders in negotiating. But there are negotiating tools and techniques that can help you land prize clients. Or keep key clients longer.

Although negotiation is a natural part of human interaction, it also makes many people uncomfortable. Lots of us, for example, are conflict averse: When it comes to “fight or flight,” we’d rather fly every time. Others see negotiation as an exercise in deception and manipulation, in which we hide our true intent, try to intimidate or outwit our “opponent,” or try to “wait them out” by sitting silently as they present options.

Many books and articles on the subject present negotiation as a set of “tips and tricks” designed to make the other person squirm. Negotiation, like office politics, is an unavoidable part of business life that’s gotten a bad rap because of the way it’s practiced by some agencies and consultants.

One of the first steps in successful negotiations is assessing your client’s style or profile accurately, and responding to their negotiating style in the way best suited to them. There are four client profiles, based on how they work and respond, whether they are more task oriented or people oriented, and whether they are high or low assertive. For instance, someone considered a “Headline", high assertive and low response, is focused on “now” and “results”, and wants “options” presented so that they are in control of the decisions. Others, like “Body Copy", are more interested in “how” and “process” and respond better to fully-presented information as they check off all the pieces they want to consider. Other profiles include the "Logo" and the "Illustration"

Client relationships tend to evolve, initially being based more on learning about each other, then on tasks and getting the work done after trust has been established. However, tension from something gone wrong can swing that relationship upside down, and until the relationship is healed, work essentially needs to, or will, come to a stop.

Negotiations are not always about the money, but can include a number of other items, such as turnaround speed, payment terms, licensing agreements, or limits to the approval process.

The negotiation triangle is a balance between finding out what the client wants and make them feel heard, with knowing exactly what your agency wants, and then suggesting action in such a way the client can accept, always looking for a win/win resolution.

Common errors in negotiation include misunderstanding what the negotiations are actually concerned with (someone’s job may literally be on the line, so budget is not as key as a client feeling confident that an agency can successfully solve the client’s business challenge). Or the agency team may not have clear goals going into negotiations, or not have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities for the negotiating team members.

There are eight phases of negotiation we teach in our High Gear program for Account Service:

1. Preparing: Collecting information about the client, their profile, background, and more.
2. Setting Objectives: Making sure all your objectives are on the agenda, how to counter other issues that might be raised.
3. Identifying Positions: Setting your “ideal”, “realistic” and “fallback” positions, or even your BATNA – “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.”
4. Opening: Open well away from where you want to settle, never accept an opening offer, and never negotiate with yourself, making concessions to the other party before you meet because “I know they wouldn’t accept that.”
5. Checking and Testing: Know the power of silence, and don’t accept “no” at face value, try rephrasing, look for non-verbal signs.
6. Getting Movement: “If you... then we” style of introducing some early concessions.
7. Giving Concessions: Consider when to give, how much, and what are you getting in return.
8. Finalizing and Agreeing: Recognize when you are at the agreeing stage. Look for signals such as repeated “no’s”, concessions getting smaller or resistant body language.

It’s important to remember that getting an agreement is the easy part. Keeping the agreement is often the hard part.

One key point - negotiations on client-agency relationships should be kept separate from those who will actually be working on the business, due to the potential for some bad feelings, no matter how good the intentions or how well negotiations proceed. It is critical that CEO’s in particular not lead negotiations as they are the ones who may, at some point, find it necessary to step in to resolve potential issues.

Agency Growth the Old Fashion Way: Buy It!

Want to grow fast? Do a cross-town merger. This way you add important services you don’t have or bulk up fast and perhaps more inexpensively than you thought. And with a cross-town merger you can bring in experienced personnel to add to your management team. That’s all possible if you grow by acquiring.

Why Cross-town Merger vs. Out-of-town Acquisition? Cross-town mergers are often quicker, easier and more profitable immediately. Back office, administrative, production and more can be streamlined with little problem. This simplifies management issues and produces fewer hassles. In addition, a cross-town merger is usually less expensive and is a good place to start. Few executives know the full extent of the many attractive opportunities within their own city.

So how does one go about a cross-town merger?

First you have to decide to seek a merger partner. It's important not to tell any outsiders about your decision. The search needs to be done in isolation. Second, do a strategy session to look at all the options. What type of firm should we be looking for? Any specialties we are missing? Or what market do you want to get into? Third, organize a proper search to see where the best fit is. Keep your name out of the initial conversation with any prospects. And lastly, use an experienced, outside point of view that will keep the process on track.

Typical Cross-Town Merger Situations We Find:

A. The Cherry A perfect fit where everything goes right from the beginning and continues on through the deal. If everyone is reasonable, Cherry deals can be found and made. Cross-town mergers make these even sweeter.

B. The Slot This is another perfect fit where you can slot the acquired operation into your firm without missing a beat. It’s usually in a service area where you have little experience but solid potential. The acquired firm gains from your resources, your new business opportunities, and the organic business you can place from your existing accounts.

C. The Escape The search phase has located a firm in trouble and the owners want to crash the company, not pay the creditors and move themselves and several key accounts to your operation. You buy nothing. You take on some staff. You pay for what sticks.

D. The Exit The search phase has located an owner who wants out, will stay for a year or two to work the accounts and help maintain AGI. But the owner is phasing out but willing to stay around to help the transition. And is willing to work hard to make the deal happen.

E. The Key Guy One firm is not very good at new business, for example. The other firm is bad at operations but great at growth. The buying firm brings the other firm on board mainly to get the key person and the expertise to help them grow. The other guy wants to sell because he or she is having troubling managing the business already on hand and can’t wait to dump the operational side of things so he or she can go chase new business.

How To Get Started: Not sure a cross-town merger is right for you? We suggest a “Power Hour.” This is a one-hour, no-cost discussion by phone on the best way forward. It’s a chance to check chemistry, analyze costs and investments needed, and discuss possible options and strategies for moving ahead. Give us a call at 800/899.1538 for more information on how to get started and how to set up a Power Hour on mergers and acquisitions.

A New Business Fable

Once upon a time, there was a nice advertising agency in an important city far, far away. The agency had four key partners named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. The agency’s creative work was outstanding but the agency wasn’t growing.

It seemed when it came to new business, Everybody was sure Somebody was looking after it. Anybody could have done it easily but Nobody touched it.

Somebody got angry about the lack of new business growth because he thought Everybody was in charge of it. Everybody thought Anybody was looking after it. And Nobody did nothing.

The situation lasted for several years and the agency stopped growing. Some key people left for better opportunities at agencies that were growing rapidly. Then the agency’s best accounts left because of company buyouts and changes in client management.

The agency spiraled downward because there were no new clients to replace the ones who left. In desperation, the partners sold their firm to a large agency holding company who had to rebuild the entire operation. The partners’ buyout turned to peanuts.

To this day, Everybody blamed Somebody for the lack of new business success when Nobody did what Anybody could easily have done. And that was to fix new business forever.

Advertising New Business: The Pitch You Have To Win!

If you’re in the agency business, you quickly learn you have to be good at presenting. If you’re going to really grow your firm, you have to be especially good at presenting to win large accounts in what we call a “formal review” or the Pitch You Have To Win.

You know the review I’m talking about. It’s where the prospect has selected a number of agencies to present for their business. It usually starts with a “cattle call” for lots of agencies. Then this mob is whittled down into the “consideration set,” requiring jumping through some additional hoops at an intermediate stage in the selection process. And finally you get to the “presentation set:” those agencies chosen to finally present for the business.

Prospects love these formal reviews because they get all this advice and creative work – most of the time for free! And a group of very smart agency people are all lined up to tell them all about their markets, their business, their competition, and offer thoughtful recommendations on what they should be doing with their business. What’s not to like?

But on the agency side? Well, it’s a different story. Long hours, lots of pressure, changes made at the last minute. Presentation books to prepare and print. Lots of tension and patience is in short supply. You have probably been there before, so you know full well what I mean.

The agencies have to spend a lot of time and money on these formal pitches, knowing there will be only one winner and nothing for the agencies that lose (except maybe, and I really mean maybe, a thank you note from the prospect). But most times agencies hear nothing back after putting in all this effort. And the message is brutal: “Sorry guys, we’re going with someone else.” And the unstated message agencies hear is: “We’re going with someone we like a lot better than you. We’re going with someone who is so much better than you.” It’s crushing on agency spirit. And if the losses mount up, it kills an agency’s self image, an agency’s confidence.

Make your presentations pay off by winning more formal reviews. I mean win three, four or five presentations in a row. And many of our agency-clients win at this success rate. Then the effort you put into formal presentations isn’t a lost expense but an investment because your firm is winning more than its fair share.

Here’s how the process starts. First you need to get what we call a “Defining Moment.” That’s a big opportunity that will basically redefine who your firm is if you win the account. The win will reshape who your firm is because of the account’s size, its budget, the type of business it is, their reputation, their category, and their impact in the market place. All these can redefine an agency if they win such an account.

Getting a chunk of the Apple business is a defining moment for many national agencies. A nice bank can define a local agency. Winning a consumer product can reshape a B2B agency. Winning a nice technology account can redefine a retail agency. And moving into consumer advertising can redefine an internet agency. I think you know what I mean.

You want to look for a “Defining Moment” to win: a presentation that will have a big impact on your agency. You might have one right now on your hands. If you do, then this information will really help you.

Understand that any pitch you make will be made up of four elements – Style, Format, Content, and Chemistry. And most agencies mishandle these four elements completely by putting all their time and energy into Content, the least important part of the four. They practically ignore the power and account-winning pull of getting Style and Format right. And they spend NO time on thinking about how to win with Chemistry.

Prospects Have a Different View of Your Presentation Than You Do

Style

Style is how you present. How you own the room. What techniques you use to present. Are you locked into PowerPoint, which puts most prospects to sleep? Do you have walk-in music? Do you put out agendas? Do you bring in coffee and refreshments? Do you have a welcome video? Has your CEO learned to charm a room with a simple story from his childhood that he tells to set the stage? Are you using California Boards that make an impact in a room? Do you use reveals? Do you tantalize? In other words are you set to Make Your Presentation a Show?

Remember this is a fun school trip for prospects, and they want to be entertained. They want to fall in love with an agency. They want to be dazzled. They want to laugh and to enjoy the process. They don’t want to be bored. And they don’t want to be talked down to – talking down to a client means you know their business more than they do. That’s insulting. The agency’s role at this stage should be to offer the prospect something they want and need. So you have to get Style right and make a show by the smoothness of your presentation, your professional look, and the impact you create.

Format

The second element is Format. And that’s the structure and organization of your pitch and how you organize things. Basically, what format do you follow? For example, do you lead with a creative to grab their attention? Do you change the brief in some dramatic way? How do you structure what you present? Do you let one person dominate your presentation (which rarely works)? What’s your casting and do your people show well? How are they dressed? Do they look like dress casual gone wild?

Is your presentation logical? Have you dumbed it down so everyone can easily understand what you are saying? Do you make sense? Do you build from one key point to another? Does your presentation lead somewhere? This is all Format and you need to get it right.

Frankly, from what I’ve seen, and I see lots of agency presentations, most agencies seriously fall down in the Format stage. In fact, most agencies, and this is coming from the search consultants who sit in on agency pitches all the time, say prospects are most often seriously disappointed at the quality of the presentations they see. There is no Style. Format is weak. And Content, the third element of pitch, all looks and sounds the same from agency to agency.

Content

The third element is content. I've sat in day-long sessions where each word in a presentation is agonized over, discussed, argued and beat to a pulp. Hours wasted on reviewing the 120 slide pitch deck. Each slide is analyzed in isolation to the big picture. And while each slide is finally perfect, clear and perhaps even makes a great point, the overall message is lost in the clutter. A few key points when thinking about content:

• Brand your message
• Presentation built on one central theme
• Check, check, double check for mistakes/typos
• Avoid hyperbole
• Clearly demonstrate a clear path to success/results
• Less is more – remove all excess and put in the leave behind

Chemistry

The fourth and most important element of presentations is Chemistry. New business wins swing most often on which firm the prospect likes best. Every search consultant will tell you the work, strategy, and presentation are all important – but the number one reason a firm is hired is the client felt a connection with them. They liked them the most – not which firm does the best work. Once you understand this, you can see why new business is mainly about people and your firm’s likeability. Learn how to best match your people with prospects, so they like you better. Learn how to profile prospects before you even meet them.  

If you have a Defining Moment, call us. We have an excellent track record of helping agencies win pitches of all shapes and sizes. We can help, from large multinational wins to small local business wins. Whatever is a Defining Moment for your agency is a defining moment for Sanders Consulting Group to help you win and help you redefine who you are and what you stand for.

You’ll get the training and learn the processes that can keep you winning. I’ve seen defining moments change the direction of an agency for years to come just by winning one account. If you’re there, then call us.  

The New Business Budget Game: Up to Six Million

To avoid discounting your work, we believe agencies should discuss money whenever a new job or project is brought up, right when the assignment is first mentioned by the client.  It’s a way to open up negotiations over both job specs and job budget.

Our approach is to start by asking, “In round numbers how much are you planning on spending to get this done?”  Now wait until the client responds.  The client has two options. 

Option #1 is to ask you back how much it will cost, and the agency person needs to move towards suggesting a budget range by discussion first the job specs and then by picking a high number to test the waters.  If the client responds, “That sounds about right,” then you know you have guessed too low. 

Option #2A.  If the client faints or grabs for his or her heart, then you have guessed too high, and you need to move down in a series of bracket jumps.  It’s fun to do.  The key point is to remember that you are not estimating the job at this stage, you are just trying to understand the importance of the job.    

Option #2B.  If the client gives you a number, your account staff should be trained to immediately say, “And as much as….?” You are assuming the client has given you the bottom number from a budget range, a normal assumption.  And now you are asking how high to probe for the upper range. If you get a new number at this middle stage, immediately ask, “And up too?”  Here you are assuming there is a very top number in the range, and you need to know what it is. 

This is simple negotiation in a process we call the Budget Game.  And your agency staff needs to be trained on how to play it well.  It takes less than a day to learn and it will make your firm a lot of money over the years.    

Running back to a client with a production estimate when you don’t have any idea what the client expects to pay, as so many agencies do, is very very foolish.  It’s not a smart way to do business because you lock yourself into your own expectations about how important the project is to the client.  And you lock your agency into living off production budgets.

Case Histories  

Our files are filled with actual stories of how well this simple negotiation technique from the Budget Game has worked for agencies around the world. 

Here are some favorites.  A mid-sized agency asked their client, a medium-sized manufacturer in Ohio, a client for ten years, in round numbers how much money were they thinking of spending to launch a new home improvement kitchen product?  The client responded, “Up to $6 million.” 

The account handler was so shocked at the size of the budget that he forgot to ask the follow-on question of “And up to?” as he had been trained to do.  That afternoon the agency president told me by phone, “Guys, do you know what we would be doing this afternoon if we had not asked that simple question?  We would be working on a campaign launch of about $450,000.  That’s the usual budget range we suggest when work with them.  We have had the account for years, and we never knew they could pull the trigger on that big of a new product launch.  Thank you so much for showing us the way.” 

Another $300,000 Found

The president of a direct mail company called to report his junior account executive had just returned from a client office so excited that the Budget Game had worked for her the very first time she had tried it.  She had asked a client the “round numbers” question and the client had said $200,000.  She moved the client up to $300,000 for the next number and been told that the client couldn’t go over $600,000 on the project.  The junior account executive was excited that the Budget Game had worked so well her the very first time. 

The agency president wasn’t excited at that.  He was excited at the new monies that would have been left on the table without his most junior AE asking a simple question, “In round numbers”, and then knowing what to do with the answers. 

Big Black Eye

Before I knew about the Budget Game I got a big black eye on a large regional brokerage company.  I had been part of the team that had won the account and now I had been assigned to work on the client.  I was new to the agency, a junior AE.  The ad manager asked for a media recommendation on using the Wall Street Journal to launch their new brand look we had recommended.  I was young and so charged up.

I bounded back with a media budget recommendation that was six times larger than anything the ad manager wanted to see.  And he ripped me up and down and almost fired us.  We had flashed to him that we really didn’t know his business.  We kept the account for years, but after that I never again went back to a client with any recommendation without knowing what the client expected to pay first.  It was a life-lesson that I never forget.  And the best place to find that number is to ask for it when the client first mentions the job.  Your staff might need to learn all that now.

Probably going on in a client’s office near you…

I just read an interesting article on how local businesses in a small resort town are asking the city for better reporting, more accountability and standardized metrics. 

Shrinking revenues are demanding that the town become far more fiscally accountable so that funding is directed at the most productive activities.

Some of those who are attempting to analyze the productivity reports that are submitted claim the lack of financial or demographic data standards makes it impossible to fairly evaluate the productivity from either an economic or community-relations perspective.

Now change the players.

The city is the marketing manager, brand manager, or director of advertising at any one of your clients. The business leaders are acting as the C-suite. CFO, CEO, CMO, etc. In these tough times every action, every marketing plan, every cost will be studied. Analized. Picked clean.

What are the goals? How will we measure success? What is the ROI?

This is something business consultants in the world understand, and something they build into their proposals each and every time. Call it a cost/benefit analysis, matrix reporting, measurable deliverables, but they speak the language of the C-suite.

How is it impacting your business and what are you doing to deal with the changes?

Expecting things to remain the same is not an option!

Zen of New Business

Again and again,

The impossible problem is solved.

Again and again we see an agency can grow,

Once we understand that the impossible problem of limited growth,

Is nothing more than a series of tough decisions,

Waiting to be made.

For today to be a success,

Today has to be a day of decisions.

The lack of agency growth is all about what takes place within an agency. It’s rarely what takes place outside an agency.

It’s not time, nor talent, nor circumstances, nor location that holds an agency back. It’s the agency that holds the agency back.

The biggest barriers to agency growth are past prejudices, bad habits, lack of knowledge, limited management priority, misplaced resources, and poor leadership. These barriers can be overcome in when the management team makes decisions and sticks by those decisions.

What are you doing to help your agency overcome the barriers that limit growth?

Something remarkable occurs when an agency takes action and focuses on growth. We call it the Zen of New Business. Once you decide to tackle new business, reach out and call, engage in learning a different approach, focus for just a bit, take action, you've tapped into an unusual agency phenomenon; Typically we find that within a few weeks of being on-site with a marketing firm a new business opportunity lands in their lap.

We're never sure why, or how this happens. Is it the firm’s desire for the recognition and acknowledgment that growth brings? Some hidden connection in the universe?

Or just the simple concept that by taking action you've created a heighten awareness and are more responsive to what would have been a hidden opportunity...

After all, growth is the ultimate accolade that most agencies, and by extension ourselves, seek.

And if by having us bring the necessary attention to solving your new business issues and finally understanding “We are good. We are really good” then half the battle is already won.

That's the Zen of New Business.