Grab the Low Hanging Fruit: 49+ New Business Ideas

An important review of many often-forgotten new business basics plus some other reminders that every business owner and new business pro needs to know. Use this list of our Top 40+ to spark some of your own ideas about things you need to do to get more new business now.

NOTE: If you have any more please let me know and I’ll add them to the list

1. Move into Public relations

• When the economy slows down and media spending falters.
• Money spent by clients is usually all fee.
• If you’re not into this, move that way now.
• Expand that part of your operation.
• Stress with all your clients. It’s a real money maker.

2. Dress the part

• When business gets bad, this helps.
• You’ll do better
• When clients see you, they have more confidence in you.
• Always dress one notch better than your prospects and clients.

3. Remember outstanding business signage

• Walk in business can often be strong and highly profitable.
• Many agencies in high traffic locations have reported surprising results by listing what they do: advertising, branding, digital, public relations.
• Key in on what you want and refer the rest.
• Walk in business is usually fee business which is good.

4. Get a strong narrow focused point of view?

• Be clear about what you do.
• Too many agencies hide the fact that they’re an agency.
• Use a strong energy line as part of your corporate identity package.

5. Stress your benefits

• You help businesses grow.
• You move markets.
• You generate results.
• You return a lot for a little.

6. Get a new business lead going contest

• Talk up new business with your staff.
• Get them hunting for leads.
• Ask everyone for three leads per month.
• Everyone who does, goes to lunch with the boss.

7. Use your best new business assets better—your senior staff

• Not always great at new business, but good to start building relationships
• What you need are relationships and your senior staff are in the best position to get relationships started.
• Senior staff are the ones who prospects want to see.
• Get them “sharking” for you on major pieces of business whales
• Get them a limited number of prospects to reach out to maybe 5.
• You land one; the staff member gets a great reward.

8. Work one industry hard

• Agencies have conflicts. Consultants have areas of expertise.
• Develop an area of expertise for your agency and work that vein hard.
• Prospects respond well to category experts.
• And industry experts can work ocean to ocean.

9. Work close to home

• Most agencies drive by good accounts all day long.
• Go “smoke stacking” for leads.
• Look for successful businesses close at hand.
• Remember the story of the prospector who was surrounded by acres of diamonds. But he stopped a foot too short.

10.   Work your Direct Flight markets

• Used flight schedules to target key cities
• Follow one-flight rule
• Helps speed up servicing distant accounts
• A better story for prospects

11.  Work your clubs and organizations

• Relations are easy to make
• Use as referral base
• Don’t have to lead, just participate
• Good source of leads

12.  Get on a charity board

• Charities attract big names from important brands
• Charities are on the look out for business leaders with connections
• Advertising agency leaders can be very important to charities
• Most charities represent a target-rich environment

13. Launch web 2.0

• Easy to start
• Use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In
• Quickly makes the author an expert
• Feedback is quick and simple
• Video add personality
• Helps if you offer value and have a point of view

14.   Nudge prospects with white papers

• Historically effective
• Move to new medium on line
• Add diagrams and examples
• Distribute to leads as examples of our thinking

15.  Make sure your office looks the part

• Have an aspiration look
• Your office is you
• Most people believe a messy desk equals a cluttered mind
• Win the perception battle

16.  Check your brand

• Look carefully at your corporate identity pieces
• Do the business card check
• Be sure and look the part from a design standpoint
• Say what you do

17.  Check your energy line

• Make it clear
• Make it distinctive
• Try to make it memorable
• Make it work for you

18.  Check your curb appeal

• Your front face
• Little effort pays big dividends
• Signage counts

19.  Work referrals

• The art and science of getting referrals
• The importance of asking
• The power of a call behind a referral
• Write the referral letter yourself

20. Exceed expectations

• Check on your performance
• Use agency report card after 90 days, 6 months and 12 months
• Most upset clients will let you know if asked
• Most upset clients wouldn’t let you know if not asked

21.  Go after more organic growth

• Work from existing clients is 7 times more profitable
• Easier to win and easier to service
• How easy is it to sell cross-services at your place
• Many account managers refuse to let others in

22.   Expand your services

• When ad business slows down the PR business expands
• Do you offer a full range of services your clients need
• Can you cross brand some internal services and sell direct?

23.   Move into consulting

• Great source of highly profitable revenue
• Difficult to sell to existing clients
• Not difficult to sell to prospects
• House in the same location, use same staff

24.  Sell in branding work

• The most powerful line in new business
• Reorients the review
• Solve the brand problem before solving the advertising problem

25.  Make everything integrated

• Never again let a single source solution leave your building
• If it’s not integrated, you can’t take it to a client
• Easy to so
• Don’t try to sell with an empty wagon

26.  Reactivate old clients

• Clients love it
• I was thinking about you this morning and had an idea you might be able to use
• I sure miss working with you
• Reach out

27.  Work government accounts

• They have the money
• A specialized client
• Make a start
• Become an expert

28.  Develop a specialty

• Clients want to hire experts
• What are you expert in?
• Build a specialty

29.  Work the trade shows

• Easy to find prospects
• Time to talk
• Surprisingly little competition
• Don’t go to close. Go to meet. Build relationships.

30.  Expand your reading

• Read professionally
• Match one for one
• Keep a list of books you like
• The joy of being well-read

31.   Remember cross-town mergers

• Efficient to do
• Lots to leverage
• Easy to make one plus one equal three
• Have someone else do the search

32.  Do 10 a week outreach letters a week

• Great habit to get into
• Call behind each one
• The power of leaving voice mail
• Big shots read their mail

33.  Use more business cards

• More European and Japanese than American
• Best reminder
• Personal way to say I’m interested in you
• Sets up the call back

34.  Join lead generating network

• Big source of leads and referrals
• The bigger the group the better
• Love having ad agencies join up
• Keeps you looking

35.  Work your marketing and advertising associations

• Go where the clients are
• Often find little competition
• Make relationships

36.  Look for prospects in trouble

• Companies in trouble are most open to new ideas
• Old agency/client relationships may not be able to stand the stress
• Fishermen know the value of casting where the water’s rough

37.  Look for clients going through rapid expansion

• Many agencies don’t know how to keep up
• Any big client using distant agencies need local help
• Reach out larger accounts and position yourself as being able to work well with the lead agency
• You want to become Profitable #2

38.   Generate leads for your firm with a supplier open house

• Media and free-lancers know which agencies are in trouble first
• Reach out to them with an annual open house at your firm
• The best source of leads year after year come from the trade
• A thank you and a reminder that our clients are your clients and maybe some of your clients should be our clients
• Watering the grape vine.

39.  Build a free offer into your new business planning

• Free one-day planning session
• Call it the DayOne
• Senior management attends
• Full discussion on opportunities and trends

40.  Take advantage of distribution knowledge

• Channel management is very valuable
• Teach clients how to compete
• Make a living off of Wal-Mart tactics

41.  Crash a review

• Send a crowbar with a note.
• Pardon us for prying into your review, but …
• Search consultants hate it but clients like your taking the initiative
• Point out how your obvious expertise must have been overlooked

42. Sign up for Referral Services

• Alert you to upcoming and just issued RFPs
• Give you time to partner up if need be
• Need to make sure you can win the RFP battle
• Most agencies aren’t aware of the upscale look of many submissions

43.  Advertise on Google/Bing

• Promote your specialized services and knowledge base
• Do a key word campaign
• Low cost and surprisingly efficient
• Clients are not put off by it

44.  Make sure you focus on clients that have agencies

• Don’t pioneer
• Go after clients who are using good agencies
• Pioneers are usually found dead along the trail
• Trying to pitch a client with an in-house agency is most often a lost cause

45.  Revisit your prospect list

• If you don’t have one, get one.
• Goes out of date at a rate of 75% per year some change
• Keep it current weeding your crops
• Don’t mail without calling behind the mail

46.  Call clients you formerly worked for

• You are already up to speed
• Use your expertise
• Don’t be afraid to try

47.  Get a new business contest going

• Pay for referrals that lead to a visit
• Make it fun
• You’ll be surprised at what your staff can find

48.  Offer a big idea to a client

• Brain storm some solutions
• Do this after you have the appointment
• If you can’t find a big idea, do a Ben Duffy

49.  Work your old pitch list

• Maintain contact with the ones you lost
• Remember the 6 letters
• Start nudging them
• Find a project/opportunity to be of help

Reminder: If you have any more please let me know and I’ll add them to the list