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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: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Focus Your Brand: Focus Your Efforts: Win

January 29, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk

the second largest B2B agency in the United StatesHow did an agency in the middle of nowhere Amish country grow 50 percent at the height of this recession? At a time when agencies around the world are cutting back, down-sizing, reducing staff or just flat out closing, how did this agency seize this opportunity to grow? I recently met a fellow new business person, Lance Baird, whose B2B agency, Godfrey, has been recognized by Advertising Age as one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies in the country. The secret to their success: focus your brand so you stand out in the market.

Lance said this about Godfrey: “Regarding a specialty, initially, to be honest, people were extremely uncomfortable with this position as they felt it confined us. Today, this positioning is not only internally accepted, it’s promoted. We help highly technical manufacturers market themselves better. Period. I think this concept is really, really important for agencies: define who you are or someone else will do it for you.”

Don’t Label Me Bro!

Most marketing firms I’ve worked with are afraid of developing a focus that stands out. They never go beyond the generic “full service marketing firm, great creative, outstanding service” shtick. They never shout from the rooftops “we’re the world’s best at … something, anything!” Without focus you run the risk of trying to be everything to everybody and fail to be remembered – your brand effectively fades into the haze gray of marketing speak. In other words, you become one more marketing firm that is “integrated-marketing, brand-building, highly-strategic, results-oriented, media-natural, crowd-sourced, social-media, idea-driven.” The more precisely you can describe your ideal client, address their marketing needs, and deepen your knowledge, the more new business you’ll get.

Growth With Focus Is Easy!

  1. Marketing an expertise is easy! If you commit to an area of focus, you then have a very specific client in which to market. Social media makes this more of an opportunity for you than ever. Focus your efforts, build targeted content and get found. New business efforts start to make sense.
  2. Referring prospects to an expert is easy! If your agency is known as “the expert in …” then it becomes simple for clients, friends, family, and staff, anyone in your network to refer prospects to you. Focus means more leads through referrals – it’s that simple.
  3. Familiarity makes relationship-building easy! Prospects don’t mind having a conversation with someone who has deep knowledge in their field. They need to know that you understand their specific industry and have something of value to offer. We’re in a relationship business, and relationships drive growth. If you are positioned as an expert, then more people will be interested in developing a relationship with you.
  4. Winning a pitch is easy! There will be less competition, as you provide specific services for specific clients, in a specific way. Walking into a pitch as a recognized thought leader in a field gives you more freedom. Free to make a solid case for your recommendations. Free to stretch your strategies, ideas, and creative into real award-winning work.
  5. Growing existing clients is easy! Experts understand how to get more organic growth. As you provide increasingly better service based on your client’s needs, the chance is that you will get more organic growth. Clients will come back for more and often will start spending more with you as the relationship grows.
  6. Accepting projects outside your focus is easy! Becoming an expert doesn’t mean that you won’t get work outside your niche. In fact, I’ve found that the more an agency clearly defines their expertise, the more their brand stands out. And the more the brand stands out, the more prospects notice. And prospects are busy people, so they really don’t care what your expertise is IF they’ve noticed your brand. Counterintuitive I know, but it works.

If you are unsure of how to develop your unique area of focus, get help. Don’t keep doing the same ol’ same ol’ expecting different results. Don’t go in for half-measures. To focus your brand and become an expert, you must go in 100 percent. Seek out help from thought leaders in marketing, existing clients, new staff, and anyone who can assist you in finding that special niche.

Define Who You Are Or Someone Else Will Do It For You

Having a strong agency focus will open new roads to growth.

I thought it would be interesting to see how Godfrey marketed themselves over the last 10 years or so. Going back in time, you may notice a steady narrowing of focus over the years:

1999: Specializing in integrated marketing communications programs, we define, shape, and nurture your corporate positioning through marketing communications. We have the experience, skills, and in-house staff to develop and implement effective marketing communications across a wide range of industries.

2004: A full-service integrated business communications company specializing in strategically driven business-to-business marketing for both national and international clients.

2007: Specializes in developing strategic marketing solutions that drive growth, competitive advantage, and value for business-to-business companies.

2011: Specializes in helping highly technical manufacturers market themselves better.

So Godfrey, throughout the years, has clearly defined and narrowed the focus of their brand. By doing so, they are now one of the fastest-growing agencies in America. The future belongs to those agencies that brand themselves best, don’t compete where the competition is high, and avoid getting marginalized by quicker, cheaper competitors. Agencies are discovering that there are no winners standing in the middle – soon enough they will be forced to move one way or the other.

Update:

According to this recent survey by RSW/US over 77% of prospects state that having a focus, or specialization, is important to them. In the notes section of that survey this is what marketers had to say about specalization:

Reasons why Marketers DO want specialization include:

  • Agencies can be more focused and strategic when they’re specialized
  • I don’t have time to train “beginners” in my space
  • We don’t have the time or money to waste.
  • We need experts in our industry who know it intimately

Implications: At the end of the day, I personally believe that if Agencies can make the Marketer feel like they know their category (no matter your level of experience in their space), the Marketer will be more likely to feel good about the Agency. I recently wrote a post based on my past two Agency Searches we ran. In both cases, the marketing clients told us that they selected the winning Agency because they “felt like they were already ramping up”. The winning Agencies tailored their presentations to the Marketer, they showcased their knowledge of the space, and they shared smart, strategic thinking applied from the Marketer’s and other industries. In both cases, there wasn’t any marked advantage that the winning Agency had over the other Agencies in terms of category experience. They just came to the table with a smarter, more creative, more strategic, and more energetic approach.

 

Bottom photo by ~wojtaaa

 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Not Getting New Business Calls? Focus!

April 10, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk
Stop waiting!

Be proactive! The alternative is to sit and wait passively by the phone. And wait. And wait…

Recently I was working with a great agency, around 15 people and some outstanding work. They were well known in their market, but had been defined in that market as a “certain type” of marketing firm. While there were many pitch opportunities in the area it seemed they were almost never called.

Why?

Over the past few years by not defining their brand they had allowed the market to brand them. And as their capabilities had grown, improved, they failed to communicate that with prospects. Even worst, the market perception was out-of-date and just plain wrong.

So here are 5 easy steps to help your brand stand out in the market:

1. Agency Focus: In this cluttered market place only an expert has any chance of standing out. Business leaders don’t have time to educate someone on their unique situation. An expert understands their product, their service, and knows how it can benefit customers. OR an expert knows their customer better then anyone. OR an expert has a unique view of the marketing landscape. Find something to be your area of expertise. Just being a “full service highly creative marketing firm that offers outstanding service” isn’t enough any more!

2. Make New Friends: We all now 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. Effectively Communicate: Establish yourself with your target market by creating a dialog on things that you have in common. You must be able to establish a relationship. With lots of people.

4. Find Opportunities To Speak: Become a speaker to your target market, and educate people on both the changes hitting their market as well as the challenges they face. Provide Solutions.

5. Use a Spark: Hire an Account Executive who is responsible for building agency awareness and creating large numbers of relationships with key prospects. This is the fastest way to build agency your agency brand with prospects. And that means more calls asking you to swing by for a visit. More new business.

There you go… 5 easy-to-forget strategies that can help you establish and maintain your brand in the mind of your ideal prospect. And just think, once they’ve heard of you, perhaps know you, and think you have some smart solutions then they will call you.

Next Steps

Agency leadership needs to build a long-term vision for success and gain commitment from staff to that vision. Any planning needs to ensure that agency teamwork, which is essential to making the vision successful, comes forth. Sanders Consulting Group, the recognized experts in agency growth, has proven techniques and strategies to transform your agency. Give us a call and let us show you how.

Photo by ~xEmDeex

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

Leadership Offsite as Engine for Innovation

January 25, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

Most firms annually convene a leadership meeting, strategic planning retreat, or brainstorm session dedicated to crafting an innovative course of business strategy. Rarely do these meetings deliver results.

Time to break out of your shell

What are you waiting for? Real innovation is only found by looking outside.

Instead, they produce a pattern of incremental progress. And this does not translate into competitive advantage. Other factors affecting these meetings include planning, organization and leadership. Because responsibility for this meeting most often falls on the leader, the outcome is predictable.

The reasons for this are simple. Leaders “know” they know more than their team, so they develop a plan and agenda that determines the outcome – and everyone’s frustration. Experience shows most meetings of this type fall into one of two patterns. At the “Rubber Stamp Offsite,” the team nods along as their leader uses his agenda to present his assessment of the “As Is.” He then dictates the action plan and assigns responsibilities. This approach is easily identified by the neatly organized three-ring binder entitled, “Strategic Planning 20XX.” Note – look for an accumulation of dust.

The other meeting type, the “March of the Hopeful, Guilty and Ambivalent,” is the product of an insightful leader who – tired of the “Rubber Stamp Offsite” – assigns every member of the team roles and responsibilities. The outcome – well – you have been at these meetings… There is no outcome. Only a reporting of the past year, justification of the results and explanation of the incremental changes that will be implemented to fix what’s broken. Frustrated, the leaders usually sits down following this session; drafts an action plan and dictates responsibilities – see the results of the “Rubber Stamp Offsite” above.

If you want to break this cycle to create opportunities for innovation at your firm, then change your approach.

Don’t go off the deep end and schedule team building exercises through Outward Bound, or book a provoking motivational speaker. These activities make great copy – but rarely, if ever deliver business-changing insights. A growing number of successful organizations are utilizing professional facilitators to assist in the planning and management of these important meetings.

By assigning responsibility for the business of the meeting to an experienced outside party, the group is better able to focus on the business of the business. The role of the facilitator is part emcee, part mediator, and part referee. But more than that, this person frames the discussion, manages interaction and creates opportunities for discovery.

Because innovation is not achieved in-the-box, a firm is better served living the process, not running the process. And leaders must understand that insight is achieved through their support, not as a result of their management. Utilizing a resource experienced in facilitation and knowledgeable in the industry changes the meeting dynamics. The firm, as a whole, becomes the focus, not the innumerable piece and parts.

If your firm’s strategic planning process is not creating measurable results in growth, quality, productivity, or profitability year-over-year, then you might be a perfect candidate for this approach.

Having just finished a couple of these, one a large marketing consulting firm, the other a national agency, the breakthrough possibilities are enormous given the changing landscape and flux in the market.

Photo by ~JordanRobin

Filed Under: Leadership, Operations, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Half Your Clients May Walk This Year

October 24, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk
Planning for New Business

When it comes to new business, plans are often worthless. But new business planning is invaluable

Client retention at agencies across the country is dropping like a stone. A few years ago agencies could count on keeping clients for four years or more. Now this retention rate is moving towards two years. This means half your clients are at risk of leaving in any one year.

Agencies must become new business machines. This means agencies need to step up their new business activities substantially and treat new business similar to other parts of the marketing communication industry that work on a project basis and deal in episodic relationships.

It’s not good news but it’s true news. For most agencies a whole new way of looking at new business is needed.

One Bad Year Can Put You Out of Business

In the past, agencies found it easy to recover from a bad year in new business. In the grim realities of this economic environment, with clients changing agencies faster and faster, a bad year in new business could put your agency out of business.

Add in the effects of the slowdown in client spending, and the situation becomes worse. For many firms, this changing situation means new business efforts must be doubled just to stay even.

The Changing Face of New Business Math

Client satisfaction has dropped significantly over the past ten years. And some experts are expecting clients will keep changing agencies at an all time rate in the coming years. Most clients are tired of having to fight with their marketing partners. As a result they’re hiring new marketing managers and looking for new ideas. As a result the new business wars are going to heat up more as the economy slowly recovers.

The Solution

Look around. Ask questions. Call your peers, your friends and family, business owners and leaders in growth. And most importantly find some experts in new business. The best thing to do now is understand how the game is changing. Many of the old tactics no longer work. Some very old tactics are working better then ever. And there is a whole slew of new tactics that may or may not be effective for your firm. Find out how other firms your size and condition handle new business and what results your can expect.

Then assemble your management team for a one-day new business mapping session. Refer to it as an 180 meeting because the purpose is to change the directions of your agency’s growth pattern. Usually in a direction 180 different from where it has been. If you can have an outside mediator that comes with a 80 page training manual designed to review 12 key new business skills and probe your firm for any weakness.

Work with your team to make decisions on which direction to go, determine the priority for a wide variety of growth tasks, choose who will be responsible, and allocate the resources needed to change your agency’s new business trajectory.

Fix New Business Forever

Map out the best new business strategy for your firm – we call the session DayOne. You’ll call it a miracle because you won’t believe the breadth and depth of the planning accomplished in so short a time.

The DayOne session is tailored to your needs and your situation. There’s no wasted time. Your team will appreciate how smoothly the day moves. And how critical issues are probed and resolved. Many sacred but out-of-date-paradigms are put to rest.

Even if you choose not to hire someone it’s your job to ensure the new business planning session is the most important day in your agency’s future.

The day you decide to fix new business forever.

Photo by *Garacci
Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

You Want to Be a New Business Champion?

September 22, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Then grow your agency. That makes you a new business champion.

New Business Champion

If you have the ambition to be a New Business Champion then you’re at the right place.

Not sure how to get started? Then you’re at the right place… for over 25 years we’ve been perfecting the art and science of growing your agency.

And if you want to be a champion then start with prioritizing your new business needs. Learn the vital skills. Get consensus. Build a plan. Launch!
We’ve already listed some of the top new business challenges… now let’s list some of the top “needs” we hear from agencies.

Top Marketing New Business Needs:

1. Need more leads?
  • Build more awareness and relationships
2. Need to best use branding?
  • Better brand the agency
  • Win accounts with branding
  • Win revenue with brand consulting
  • Bring in a strategic development/branding process
3. Need to be better at closing?
  • Stronger first visits to set up prospects
  • Know how to use the 48-hour close or 7-day close
  • Understand how and when to pitch
4. Need to understand Chemistry?
  • Improve new business success
  • Strengthen client relationships
  • Improve internal communications
  • Develop internal language to manage clients better
5. Need to get started but not sure how?
  • Get a plan!
  • Get consensus on new business priorities
  • Get support for a new business plan

Your objective remains: Be a new business champion!

We can help a couple of ways… first hold a DayOne: New Business Mapping session at your firm.

Objectives:

  • Grow the agency by winning new accounts
  • Get the agency in good position to handle any economic changes
  • Map out the new business process for the agency
  • Build management consensus behind the plan
  • Give agency staff confidence that the agency will grow
  • Assign roles and responsibilities for new business effort
  • End the agency’s confusion and uproar over new business
  • Fix new business forever

Strategy:

  • One day new business mapping session on-site at agency

Content:

  • Briefing by top management over breakfast
  • One-on-one interviews with senior management
  • New business evaluation session with senior management
  • Agency’s unique situation reviewed
  • Agency brand is reviewed
  • Agency new business performance SWOT completed
  • Review of performance against 12 key new business skill sets
  • New business options and alternatives outlined and discussed
  • Timeline set
  • Roles and responsibilities assigned
  • Expected new business payout analyzed
  • Action steps set
  • Next step decided upon
The second option is join our LinkedIn group – the New Business Institute!
New business in now more intense and the rules have changed. Overall new business activity is much higher but accounts and projects are smaller. Competition is tougher and different with firms of all sizes and shape competing for the same accounts. Budgets don’t seem to matter because big firms are chasing little accounts they ignored several years back. That’s the landscape. Join the New Business Institute and see what should you be doing about it.

About Us:

Sanders Consulting GroupSanders Consulting Group teaches more marketing communication companies around the world more about new business than any other firm. The world’s largest and best managed agencies and networks use Sanders Consulting Group as a trusted new business resource. Sanders Consulting Group offers the best advice, insight and training on how to grow your firm – from branding your firm to understanding outreach to winning the pitch.
Photo by ~birdswithoutwings
Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Business Ideas: 49 Growth Tactics

August 18, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk
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.

Low Hanging Fruit

Low hanging fruit - gets you most value for the least investment. Why stretch to reach way up there when there's one right here within arm's reach?

Grab the Low Hanging Fruit

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