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Select A Growth Plan That Hits The Target

May 7, 2013 By NewBusinessHawk Leave a Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by ~toothdekay

 

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

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

Win More New Business More Often

June 4, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

Bring in the experts! Learn how to fix new business forever and celebrate new business wins all the time.

There are always winners and losers… which one will you be?

Growing your firm these days is more important than ever. You need to learn how the new business rules have changed without wasting time. Bringing us in is a low one-time cost but the ROI is very high. You get a new business manual to keep the learning fresh for years. And just one good new business idea that you use to win an important client in the next month makes it all worthwhile.

Competition is getting harder and clients are getting tougher so you need every advantage. Your firm’s new business program is probably out of date and badly needs this tune up. Below are 6 issues we know you must master to win more new business more often.

Learn How To Grow Your Firm Faster

Issue #1: Master Your Strategic Issues

Where is the business going? What’s working across the country? Learn how to follow what the smart money is doing. Understand how to get ready for your new future. Map out key changes you’ve got to make.

Issue #2: Generate More Leads

See why your new business program must generate leads from high-value prospects. Understand how to target 80-120 good leads per year. Review the seven ways marketing communication companies organize their new business activities. Determine which new business method is best for your firm. Understand why creating relationships with good prospects are so important. Learn why having the right new business system in place means you avoid RFPs, cattle calls, and worthless capabilities presentations.

Issue #3: Close Accounts Quicker

Learn why so many firms don’t know how to build trust and therefore can’t close the business. See why without trust in place you can’t have vital discussions that lead to finding needs and fevers. Learn the right way to make first visits so you can close prospects quickly, often within 48-hours. See how to set prospects up for a 7-day close. Avoid formal searches, creative shoot outs, and Howdy-Doody call backs that don’t accomplish anything. See why with a strong fast-close program in place you never need to do another proposal. Understand “First Visit Math” that shows why you need two people on first visits.

Issue #4: Win With Strategic Consulting

Learn why having a strong consulting process is vital to your firm’s long-term success. See why you should suggest to all your new business prospects there might be a strategic problem in play, rather than some simple communication needs to resolve. Understand why you must have a “Branding Black Box” that positions your firm more strategically. See how to earn more consulting revenue, perhaps $500,000 per year, by working at a higher level. Learn how to move up your client base with your Black Box and leave small jobs and smaller prospects for freelancers. Learn how to work with better clients because you can show them how to strategically reposition themselves with a Brand Triangle. Learn what’s required to import a Black Box process into your firm to add show and impact.

Issue #5: Win More With Chemistry

Learn why chemistry is the major secret weapon in new business. See why chemistry is more important than your creative capabilities and how to get it on your side. Understand how to get hired because prospects like you better. See why prospects you thought you won, went somewhere else. Understand what you and your firm project to prospects and why that might be the wrong message.

Issue # 6: What To Do Now?

Call us, bring in the experts and see how the new business rules have changed. After we’re done, put all you learned into a cohesive plan that you can use to reshape your new business program forever. Revise immediately what you are saying to prospects. Reshape how you describe your firm and determine if you must re-brand. Fix new business forever with the changes you learned.

Sanders Consulting Group teaches more ad agencies, design firms, and Internet agencies around the world more about new business than any other firm. The largest and best managed marketing communication companies use Sanders Consulting Group as a trusted advisor to help them grow their organizations. In addition to its growth practice area, Sanders Consulting also specializes in client retention, account service training, agency operations, productivity improvement, mergers and acquisitions, and all types of management concerns including exit planning, strategic alliances, partner formation and partnership dissolutions.

 

Photo by *Alexandru1988

 

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

I’ll Win That New Business Pitch! Missing the Forest

February 16, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

We’ve found that most presidents of firms in the marketing communications industry don’t really understand new business. And they don’t like it. They solve this problem by spending their time working in the firm as some type of technical expert. And they delegate the new business function to others who may not understand it either.

Sometimes we are so engrossed in the new business problem we can't see the easy solution!

Missing the Forest for the Trees?

For the most part, all marketing firms love the chase, the thrill of being in the hunt, late nights and cold pizza, and then having the opportunity to stand up in front of a prospect and deliver the winning pitch. If I had a nickel for every agency president who told me “just get me in front of em, I’ll do the rest” I would have at least $5!

But that’s missing the forest for all the trees. The key to getting “in front of em” and winning is building a relationship with them. Long term nurturing of prospects is NOT something most agency leaders think about. As a result most agencies end up pitching to prospects that are already deep into the review, with little time to build a relationship, much less better understand all the nuances of the brand. And they are now involved in a heavily contested review where up to 20 other marketing firms are all scrambling to make the cut.

What most agency presidents fail to understand is that prospects end up holding reviews because nobody was in there early in the process showing the prospect another way. By the time the prospect is ready to buy, there is no relationship-based agency friend from which he would like to buy.

I mean lets face it - the formal review process needs to change. If more marketing firms took the lead in developing their relationship building skills we would not be subjected to the pain and suffering of giving away ideas for free. All on the whim of a prospect you may have a 1 in 20 chance of winning. In addition, formal reviews can be too expensive for clients. It takes time, management commitment, and in the US, heavy fees for search consultants.

While one of the goals of relationship building is to improve your chances of winning formal reviews, there are additional benefits to nurturing prospects you are interesting in working with. The longer you work to build a relationship, the greater chance you have of closing the business with a fast close. You just need the skills and training needed to recognize where the prospects are in the review, and an understanding of how to move quickly and aggressively to preempt the process. Use that insight you’ve gained from understanding the prospect and building the relationship over time to win quickly, saving the prospect from the long drawn out formal review process.

Agencies are Full of Winners

The type bred for the hunt, the closers, the hawks. But who on your staff holds the responsibility for being the relationship builder? Who has training on how to cultivate and build relationships with a large number of prospects over time? The farmer of leads? This sacred role is the secret to many new business wins over time. Some of the largest account swings in history have been the result of an agency well versed in relationship building and understanding how to close.

Most agencies ignore prospects that are not ready to buy now. Those that ignore relationship building as a critical element of new business have to attempt to swoop in and convince the prospect on the beauty of their idea, the desire they have to work with their brand, how much they looove them! All in the weeks and months leading up to the pitch. This is a losing proposition if some other agency has put the time and effort into relationship building.

Every year Sanders Consulting Group travels to some of the best agencies in the world, and every year we help them address challenges with growing their agency. While each agency is unique its amazing to us how many fail to invest in long-term relationhip building. A small investment here can help solve many new business problems. If you have any questions please contact us at info@sandersconsulting.com or 800.899.1538.

Photo by ~Nightfrost21
Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A New Business Quiz

January 18, 2012 By Stuart Sanders
Lost In The Fog

New business can be very confusing to agency leadership. There is a fog about new business that blinds agencies on which way to go.

Agencies must become new business machines. This means agencies need to step up their new business activities substantially. It’s not good news but it’s true news. For most agencies a whole new way of looking at new business is needed. What is your New Business grade?

New Business Quiz

[ ] Know the Difference Between New Business and Advertising. The biggest mistake marketing communication firms make is confusing new business with the skills they need to do good marketing communications. There’s a big difference and the lack of understanding here is the reasons so many firms have trouble with growth.

[ ] Develop A Good Brand. It starts with your name and what you say about yourself. Is it in step with where the market is going? Is it properly positioned so it offers real benefits that are easily differentiated from your competition? And finally, is it compelling to prospects? Nothing hurts a strong new business effort faster than a weak brand.

[ ] Invest in Solid Marketing Materials. Including a solid website that loads fast and isn’t cluttered with moving parts. Back this up with an effective send-me-something brochure that brands the firm properly. Have effective outreach tools on hand to open doors. Develop a list of good prospects and make sure it’s current.

[ ] Build A Strong Outreach Program. This usually means agency staff members focused on outreach full time. We call that winning the first opportunity which means creating a steady stream of invitations for first visits from high-quality prospects. You should target about 80-90 visits per year. With these in hand, you can walk away from RFPs, cattle calls, and agency clusters where competition is strong and your marketing ROI is low.

[ ] Know How to Achieve Great First Visits. A good first visit is where your team avoids presenting capabilities but focuses on building trust so prospects will discuss their business needs openly and honestly. It’s a learned skill set called Torch®. And it successfully moves the prospect toward a closing process.

[ ] Have the Skills to Win with Chemistry. Your likeability, which you can control with prospect profiling, is your biggest asset or your greatest hurdle. Does your team know how to use chemistry as a major competitive advantage? Or do you mistakenly just hope good chemistry happens?

[ ] Know How to Fast-Close. If you have a good first visit, then you are prepared to move for a fast close, either in 48 hours or 7-days. The alternative, often followed by most of the industry who don’t understand the fast close process, is to wait after a first visit because nothing substantial has been set up. This forces clients to move into a formal search where competition is high. And you get to present in competition with many other firms. Why let that happen after you win a good first visit?

[ ] You’re Set Up for a Tour. It’s called walking the talk and it’s built around keeping your firm propped and ready for a first visit by good prospects. Most prospects are being put on notice about the importance of visiting your communication firm before hiring them. Why not get ready for that with everything in place, properly set up to show off your capabilities in a best light?

[ ] You Can Win the Big One. Most any firm can win formal presentations month in and month out. It’s a learned process and it begins by targeting to win one out of three and then moving to win one out of two as your skills build. At this rate, new business presentations aren’t an expense but an investment in your future.

[ ] You Can Win at the End Game. This means you know how to tantalize with contract incentives. And how to keep your key players who “won” the business out of trying to get the contract approved. You should delegate that chore to a financial type who has been hard trained in best negotiation techniques, just like the clients sitting across the table.

Score_____________

Analysis. Rate your self on each of these 10 categories above with a score of 1-10 on each category with 10 being best. Total your scores. Anything lower than 75 points is failing just like in school. But growing your firm isn’t a game you want to flunk. Or even get a D in.

Sanders Consulting Group has over 15 learning programs designed to help train marketing communication firms in all of these new business areas. And we do more new business consulting on specific agency shoot-outs and new business assignments than any other firm around.

 

Photo by *behherit

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