Look At This Agency. Is It Yours?

June 14, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

Your marketing firm will evolve and change over time – that’s a given. People come and go, you mature, perhaps getting a bit comfortable. After all, let’s face it…change is scary. Life is simpler when everything remains the same: same clients, same jobs, same processes, and same routines. But hidden within sameness are mediocrity and complacency – the two enemies of growth and success. Take a look around.

Is This Your Agency Today?

It’s up to you to transform your agency into a powerhouse, not a bunch of kittens.

- Another new business win for the agency you always compete against. How can they grow so easily and why is it so difficult for your agency to grow?
- You get referred in and have a great lead, just like so many you’ve had before. How can you handle this one successfully and not fumble it away again?
- You realize another four weeks have gone by and now new business activity has been undertaken at your agency.
- You know you need to grow, but you can’t work any harder.
- Your staff urges you with subtle and not so subtle suggestions that what the agency really needs is more new business. What can you do?
- Your account staff can’t understand the importance of new business to the agency’s future and theirs. They just hide from making phone calls, nudging and maintaining contact with prospects.
- At one time you loved new business. Now you hate it. What has changed?
- You went into advertising because you wanted to be independent and financially strong. Now your agency is dependent on the same clients and you are trapped with a salary that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.
- Your agency banker and accountant are getting nervous.

Is There A Way To Change All This?

You need to do new business the right way if you want to grow. And that means starting off the right way with our DayOne on-site planning session. It’s conducted by the leaders in new business, Sanders Consulting Group.

In one day, we get up to speed on your firm, charting out the best way to grow and then helping your staff develop the best way forward. It’s a new business mapping process that they buy into.

The DayOne session is efficient because we can save you hours of wrangling over opinions and narrow points of view you’re heard many times before. We’ll bring in fresh approaches and new ways to do things.

Yes, Change Can Be Good

Remember, only you and the decisions you make can change your agency’s future. In the end, by simply bringing in someone with a fresh perspective you’ll be amazed at your agency turnaround and so glad you said “yes” to DayOne.

Photo Credit: Just kittens in the workplace.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Ad Agency Training, agency tours, chemistry wins new business, DayOne, Fast Close Accounts, How To Win Clients, leadership, New Business, New Business Mistakes, Profile Prospects, Win RFP, Winning New Business, Winning Presentations

Take Care of Your Own: Leadership!

May 23, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

In this tough economy, employee training and development is the last thing on your mind.

In fact, how many times have you thought or said to someone, “You should feel lucky to have a job.” Is this the attitude you want to project at your agency? Fearful of the future, you may feel reluctant to add more staff even if new projects, client work, and prospects are on the horizon. Your employees, also fearful, are hanging onto their jobs with every ounce of strength even if they are unhappy. You may have even resorted to more cost-saving strategies by cutting your own pay, eliminating perks, and slashing operating costs trying to squeeze every nickel out of your budget.

During this fallow period, however, you must never lose sight of the critical role employee development plays for an agency—especially YOUR agency.

Eventually, and we’re starting to see some signs now, the economy will rebound. And then many, many people will leave their jobs in the hopes of greener pastures, to improve their reel, to find better benefits or better pay. Or they may leave just to help them forget the unhappy past at your agency and move on…

But, with the right planning and foresight, this does not need to happen to your marketing firm.

There are some practical strategies for building continued morale, engagement, and growth for times good and bad. How?

5 Leadership Strategies To Transform Your Firm

1. Stress open and frequent communication:

Be sure to hold effective agency meetings, briefings and update sessions
Schedule regular Q&A’s with groups and departments
Simple and consistent works better than complex and infrequent (KISS)
Recognize positive movement
Identify quick wins and implement them NOW!
Look for opportunities to help solve issues
Share good news with everyone

2. Take strong action that directly impacts agency morale:

Celebrate the work and the people behind the work
Select great plans, creative ideas, strategies and showcase them
Look outside the agency for trends and hold round-robin learning sessions
Provide training to introduce new competency requirements
Recognize extra effort spent
Provide support and offer rewards (simple non-monetary works well)

3. Enlist your up-and-coming leaders. Possible roles and responsibilities include:

Facilitating the day-to-day direction of agency projects
Meeting the goals for the client, agency, and individuals
Coordinating training and development programs for staff
Monitoring overall budget/profit & loss for the client
Facilitating communication between departments and leaders
Calling and facilitating meetings
Forecasting material, human, and technical resource requirements relative to projected workloads

4. Deploy cross-functional teams to work on achieving agency goals and specific, longer term issues:

Streamline your processes and workflow
Implement new technology/social media to promote your agency
Discover new ways, new tools, new resources to train employees
Revisit your performance criteria and incentives ensuring they are inline with your brand and operational strategy
Redesign your space and facilities – think about workflow, logistics, and never forget the importance of setting up a powerful tour

5. And finally, treat everyone with respect and honesty. They won’t forget that.

Strong Leadership Transforms Your Staff

If agencies want to move from client conference rooms to client boardrooms, then major shifts are needed. Essentially agencies must shift from worrying about ads to worrying about the client’s business. Give us a call to see how focusing on skill development and leadership can transform your firm from talking about advertising to talking about strategies that drive business. This shift transforms the agency from a marketing communication vendor to trusted advisor with an honored place in the boardroom. But it all starts with leadership. This isn’t about looking at old problems from the same angle. We offer a fresh perspective and new ways to improve your agency’s performance with clients.

Photo by *xOxChrystalxOx

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Account Executive Training, Account Management Training, Account Manager, Ad Agency, ad agency leadership, Ad Agency Training, Advertising, Client Bonding, client retention, Client Retention Strategy, Client Service Training, Improve Client Service, Keep Clients, Keep Clients Forever, leadership, Marketing, Marketing Decline, Negotiation, operations, Teamwork, Training

7 Ideas On Why Your New Business Program Is Failing

August 22, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

The best way to improve new business is to find and improve the most glaring area of weakness in the chain.

Here are seven off-the-cuff thoughts about why your new business effort may not be working and what you can do about it…

1) You haven’t done anything!

This is the best place to start in a list like this…A lot of people have slapped some promotional materials together, started a blog, and rely on word of mouth. New business comes from leads. And leads only come from people that know of your firm [awareness] or know you [relationships]. If you don’t have a system for creating awareness and building relationships you need to get one fast! That is if you want to grow.

2) You have a confusing brand!

Way too many firms have too many options, services, samples. The more I work with marketing communication firms the more I learn that simplicity is the key. We often try to make it too difficult for ourselves and our prospects. You will be better off if you try to focus only on one or two specialties and then use your other options for back-ends into the client.

3) You don’t have focus!

Being a Jack Of All Trades [JOAT] can present some great opportunities…but I would not recommend it for your primary marketing focus if possible. You need to develop your own niche. Then, use all the JOAT skills as affiliate services. What do you enjoy doing? What are you good at? What would you like to spend even more time studying? Start working on a simple service in that area. You could be the prime-source for that peculiar niche.

4) You don’t have a prospect list!

The number one priority for any firm is to have a large pool of prospects. I’m talking about a database with several hundred people who can use your services. This is the list you need to be working and finding ways to establish a connection. Many leaders are too busy to do this vital outreach, and many consultants tell firms that you may be too small to hire someone. This is the best way to stay small. We call working the list sparking. Sparking creates awareness.

5) You don’t follow-up with your prospects!

The secret in new business is in the follow-up. If you don’t follow-up with your prospects, you could be missing out on the majority of your sales. Do you even try to get the personality type of your prospects? Somebody at your firm [if you are too busy yourself] should automatically follow-up and stay in touch with each prospect. Don’t pester them, just find something of interest and send it out to them, bring their attention to you by being the one who is always thinking and pointing out good ideas. Make it personal. We call this nudging. Nudging creates relationships. Relationships creates leads. Leads turn into new business.

6) You don’t give prospects any reason to come back!

Is your new business effort just one big sales presentation? Do you include information on how you work – process – and how you can solve the problem? You can pretty much guarantee that if all you do is a capabilities presentation your new business effort will not make it very far. You have to give them a reason to come back… because most of the time your pitch will not resonate with the prospect. You need to have a Fast-Close process. Ways to quickly take the prospect problem, place it into context, and show how you can solve it.

7) You aren’t constantly seeking out new information!

Every one of the successful people who are growing their firms are what I call “information gluttons!” They spend hours reading everything. They are always looking for new information, new ways of looking at things. They never stop learning. Start a reading list! Reach out to experts and ask questions! Never stop learning.

Sanders Consulting Group has designed a straightforward series of new business consulting modules that produces results for firms that want to grow. Sanders offers owners a simple step-by-step procedure that gives them control over their costs and process. If you’re not sure how to get started give us a call or shoot us an email to info@sandersconsulting.com

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: Account In Review, Ad Agency, Ad Agency Training, ad agency winning, agency leadership, Agency New Business, attracting leads, How To Win Clients, New Business, new business training, organizational structure, pitch consulting, Presentation Training, standing out, winning before the pitch

5 Things I Hate About New Business

August 8, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: "As soon as your bunks are done, I want you two turds to clean the head."

Having started my career in the military, I’ve seen my share of crap. Don’t take me wrong, I loved my time serving! After all I spent 9 years traveling all over the world with some of the best and the brightest. That said, there are some aspects of serving that really grate one’s nerves – like having to clean out the latrines.

Working in new business is much the same. You get to work with some of the best and brightest, be highly creative, experience fun times, and relish the thrill of victory. But there are some aspects that remind me of cleaning latrines.

Here are the highlights of the things I hate about new business:

1. Letting Chaos Drive the Process (The Guy Everyone in the Platoon Hates)

This is not unique to new business, and we have all interacted with someone who never responds to requests for input into a planning document or who fails to provide clear direction early in the process. This same person tends to show up for meetings 15 minutes late, pontificates endlessly rather than attempting to understand the situation or share critical information. And then assigns responsibilities and actions not related to the outcome. The end result is often that last-minute changes are made in the wee hours of the morning of the presentation. The counter-argument is “we need to be more spontaneous” or “you just need to be more flexible” or my personal favorite is “I work better off-the-cuff.” What a crock.

2. Using Overly Complex Marketing Jargon (Or Establish a SOP to SITREP Clearly)

Marketing buzz-speak is often deployed as a defense mechanism. Box a marketing person into a corner, whether he is a brand manager or the most junior account coordinator, and rather than admit they were wrong or have no idea what you’re talking about, they’ll start spouting off impressive-sounding marketing terms, abbreviations, and jargon-laced speeches – “We need to highlight the brand USP to maximize CTR by implementing a highly-integrated cross platform SMM to generate strong ROI.” I know some former military folks who can’t communicate with civilians due to the lack of acronym commonality. That’s why it’s important to communicate clearly. The most respected people in marketing I’ve worked with have an ability to articulate a complex situation or a difficult process or a hard-to-grasp marketing problem in simple, understandable terms. Not the other way around.

3. Not Developing Presenters (Providing More than Just a Toothbrush for Latrine Duty)

Marketing firms tend to promote people with good account skills or outstanding creative credentials, and then expect them to deliver powerful presentations. Often the very skills needed to be great in client service or creative makes them terrible at delivering presentations. Yes, I’ve heard all the excuses about how times are tight and there are no staff-development budgets, but you really cannot afford to ignore building great presenters in your firm. The best presenters are coached and groomed – they’re not just born that way. And if someone just doesn’t have that ability, then don’t bring them! Would you want someone covering your back who hasn’t had adequate training? Watching a well-crafted presentation delivered poorly just kills me.

4. Focusing on the Wrong Things (Should Leadership be THAT Concerned about the Cleanliness of the Latrines?)

When heading into a new business planning session or pitch there are certain areas where we should be spending most of our time. That means the overall goal, strategy, or plan. One disturbing trend I’ve noticed is agency leaders are focused on small stuff, like which word on which slide is better. Getting a handle on new business requires among other things, a particularly strong attention to detail. However, few leaders are able to coordinate the dozens, if not hundreds, of individual details associated with new business. Although keeping track of details is a valuable skill for leaders, I think it’s easy for leaders to lose sight of the big picture. Regardless of how many small details need to be handled, it’s important to step back every once in a while to see things from a broader perspective. That’s why in the military you have a commander who is in charge of the overall mission and subordinates to track and execute the details.

5. Letting Your Firm Get Lazy and Fat (Why Physical Training is a Way of Life in the Military)

The worst thing about new business is how so many firms let things slide until there is a crisis, and then everyone goes nuts. The day-in-day-out work eventually fills everyone’s time, and new business keeps getting pushed to the back burner. Weeks/months/years go by with little-to-no-effort being made in new business until one day a large client decides to head across town to a rival firm. Then all hell breaks lose as the agency goes nuts trying to find new business. Suddenly outbound phone calls get made. Old prospects get hounded. And new outreach programs are thrown together. Why? As I’ve stated many times, the most important client in the firm is the firm. Look over the past year, and decide if your own marketing efforts would be representative of your best you would do for any old client. Probably not. Working and exercising your new business skills day in and day out should become part of life at your firm. They don’t call new business the heart beat of an agency for nothing. By continuing to ignore your new business weaknesses or gaps in your growth plan then you will never grow.

Next Steps

Work to learn about methods that can help your agency establish a solid new business program. Make long-term training commitments and help good people stick when they learn valuable new skills. Learn new ways to get more productivity out of your present program.

Semper Fi Devil Dogs!

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: account service training, ad agency business, ad agency new business, Ad Agency Training, advertising agency consultant, advertising agency new business, Agency New Business, leading ad agencies, marketing new business, new business agencies, new business agency, new business presentations, new business training, Winning New Business

Are Ad Agencies Too Expensive?

July 6, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Clients have started asking “are there any ‘Tangible Results’ from this expense?”

Many advertising agencies are starting to hear more and more that they are too expensive. Having worked with many of them we know their rates are reasonable.

The question is how can our industry overcome this objection and convert more doubters into believers? The economic downturn has pressured clients to trim expenses and assess the value-added contribution of their agencies. Most agencies have had their fees questioned and many have experienced the discomfort of fee/rate audits. Often agencies are responding with examples of results achieved and service quality, and question the appropriateness of this examination.

But this view overlooks the client perspective.

While the marketplace has become more tactically driven and project-based, many traditional agencies have not adapted their organizations and services to match the needs of the client.

To be effective and profitable your agency needs to present itself in a manner acceptable and appropriate for the circumstances. Agencies in this situation must understand that they are in three separate businesses that are often non-complimentary – Strategic & Execution Management & Production. Many traditional agencies have acknowledged this and have launched separately branded consultancies (strategic) and/or separate design studios (tactical). This approach enables a tactical response to an agencies organization and fee structure.

Just one more thought on this ongoing dilemma.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: ad agency branding, Ad Agency Training, agency leadership, leadership, marketing leaders, organizational structure, understanding prospects

Are You Stuck in the Past? Check our list and see…

May 19, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Is your marketing firm thriving in this new world? Or is it stuck in the past, trapped by old perceptions long out of date?

In this new world where clients are coming and going like snippy eaters at a food court, browsing, looking, and sampling, new business has to be a priority. Just like it is with design firms, promotion companies, and specialty suppliers where the rule of thumb is 10% of manpower has to be involved in new business. Most agencies are operating at a fraction of that. The pressure is on to make agencies perform as communication vendors, not long-term marketing partners. The agency-of-record designation is going the way of the dinosaur. Not extinct yet but bleeding badly and wobbling at the water hole.

	Old Paradigm	New Paradigm
Corporate CEOs	Want marketing partner	Want marketing off desk
Agency Contact w/ CEO	Frequent	Impossible
CEO’s trusted advisor	Agency president	Consultant
PR contact with CEO	Press releases	Possible strategic resource
Agency meets where?	Chairman’s boardroom	Marcom office
Client-side: CEO	“Help me market”	“Help me brand once”
Branding	It’s package design	It’s everything
Branding is for…	Big companies only	All companies
Marketing Dept	All the glamour	None of the glamour
Marketing objectives	Create big leaps forward	Sustain where we are
Marketing Dir.	A career	An 18-month stop
Marketing Dr. fun	Entertained by agency	Entertained by agency search
Marketing Dir. focus	Great ads to promote	Great results to promote
Ad manager’s focus	‘Atta boys for creative	‘Atta boys for budget
Delivery time	This month	This afternoon
Advertising	75% of Budget	25% of Budget
Account Service role	Manage the brand	Manage the project
PR’s role	Create news	Create brand energy
Below-the-line services	Agency disdain	Extend brand equity
Internet	Marketing curiosity	Major marketing weapon
Design Firms	Do collateral	Do agency’s job
Freelancers	Agency resources	Agency threat
Media Strategy	Too specialized for clients	Too specialized for agencies
Media Buying	Create highest impact	Buy cheapest rate
Agencies compete on	Creative	Price
Agency holding Co.	Buy agencies	Act as agencies
Industry’s new hurtle	Working with budget	Working with purchasing
Industry’s new threat	Clients invest in Macs	Clients invest in Lean 6Sigma
Ad Agencies say	“Call us”	“Call us something else”
Successful Firms	Most firms	Those in step

If you aren’t sure about your new business performance in this new world so very fast approaching, consider our DayOne program.

DayOne takes your senior management through a hard look at your agency’s current new business program and shows you how to grow your top line. Included are measures of success, growth objectives, lead generation, first visit performances, what the standards are and how to work with clients while avoiding vendor-type relationships. You’ll see what closing skills are needed and why agency targeting and agency branding are so vital. DayOne is conducted on site in one day by one of our senior new business consultants. It’s an action meeting that encourages senior management to make important decisions in a systematic way on a wide variety of choices and opportunities. The program even includes an important learning segment on how to use chemistry to win new business and keep existing clients.

For more information, schedules and costs on DayOne, contact Sanders Consulting Group at 800/899-1538. The agency world is changing fast. And smart agencies understand that new business priorities are changing even faster.

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: Ad Agency Training, Prospects, Winning New Business

Don’t Show Your Capability Presentation!

April 2, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

If you have a feeling that your capability presentation isn’t as strong as it needs to be, you’re right.

: While your agency presents same-ol-same-ol the prospect tunes you out.

Capability presentations are for losers. In a typical agency capability presentation, your agency does 80% of the talking while the client talks for 20%. And that’s a big mistake 100% of the time.

Before prospective clients hire you, they want to know what you can do for them and how qualified you are to do it. Most agencies end up making a “presentation of your capabilities” to the prospect.

The problem is most marketing firms jump right to this solution, giving a capability presentation, AT THE FIRST VISIT!

We call this the Chinese Menu solution… throw everything you can do up on the wall and then stand back waiting for the prospect to solve their problems for you. “I’ll take one serving of direct, with a side of social, and let’s kick it all off with some fresh creative!”

You don’t know the prospect, they don’t know you, and here you are throwing everything you have at them. And then waiting, begging like a french poodle for the order. No solutions to their problems. No understanding of their needs. No trust built.

Eighty percent of an agency’s problem in getting new business revolves around not building trust. Most agencies fail to build trust by leading with the Capability Presentation. Losers.

By putting all your energy on leading with your capabilities presentation you put the spotlight on the wrong place. The really good agencies understand how to win early.

Visit Prospects The Right Way

At Torch (a content packed training session taught on-site at your agency) we’ll show you how to make a first visit on a prospect the right way. And that means giving the prospect a chance to talk. At Torch, you’ll learn how to find all the needs and the fevers prospects have hidden away that really control agency selection. The latest thinking on agency packaging and positioning is included along with valuable tips on how to control chemistry. You’ll learn how to discuss the agency selection process and what to do if you want the account. And because you know Torch, you can determine which fast-close process is best.

Redirect Your New Business Effort

After Torch, you’ll understand the true value of quiet visits on prospects. You’ll re-direct your new business efforts to where it should be, creating first visit opportunities for your agency. You’ll see the wisdom of avoiding the cattle calls and the RFPs that rarely lead anywhere. You’ll put your energy the most important part of new business, making a good first impression. You’ll want everyone who comes in contact with clients to know Torch. Agencies find the negotiation section on discovering the real budget helps with prospects and clients. We’ll show you how to probe to see if there is any money left on the table. Just understanding how to negotiate with prospects over budgets will give your agency pay back from your investment in the training ten times or more, often within the first four weeks of your Torch session.

If Torch Training sounds like something your agency can use, then call Sanders Consulting Group at 800/899-1538 or email us at info@sandersconsulting.com for cost and schedule availability. In new business, you only get one chance to make a great impression.

And if you really want to understand how to give a new business presentation that will WIN, then perhaps our Presenting to Win | Winning Formal Presentations training session is for you.

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: Ad Agency Pitch, Ad Agency Training, Capability Presentation, First Visits, New Business, Prospects, Torch, Visit Prospect, Winning New Business