New business is the lifeblood of any public relations or marketing communications firm. Finding prospects and converting them into new clients is normally the #1 need for most firms. Today’s economic uncertainties make this an even more pressing need.
However, ask most owners how they plan grow and win new clients and they answer, “By doing a better job of marketing.”
What they should say is “By doing a better job of selling.”
As both a former agency leader and current adviser to PR and marketing firms, I believe that most agency leaders confuse sales and marketing and as a result lack a real sales strategy to win business. And, a sales strategy is not just a list of potential new business opportunities,a training program to make your people better presenters, or more impacful PowerPoints.
Here‘s what I mean. For many (perhaps most) agency owners, one of their biggest gripes is the lack of an effective marketing program to make that proverbial phone ring off the hook, generate more referrals and ideally stimulate prospects to simply award them the business.
Do the words “positioning”; “messaging”; new website; “USP”; recognition; reputation; etc. ring a bell? These are the words agency owners often use when either trying to fix their marketing effort or launch a new one.
The reasoning is simple: the better known (and known for the right reasons) the more likely we are to attract potential clients. Once they get to us we can “sell” them. And, they are not wrong – just a little misguided that this is the primary solution to their growth issues.
I believe that the real solution to growth lies with the right kind of sales strategy supported by a complimentary marketing program – not the other way around. If you know to whom you are selling, what they have bought in the past or could be buying now, and what you can offer them that competition cannot, then you have the basis for a strategic sales development program.
Do you have a sales strategy or just simply a marketing strategy? Or, perhaps neither.
Showing posts with label new business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new business. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Friday, December 4, 2009
Part 4: 2010 Success -- New Business
In parts one, two, and three, we stressed the importance of taking a critical assessment of 2009, revisiting or creating your vision for the firm you want to become, and evaluating and maximizing your client relationships.
These are all critical components of becoming more successful in 2010. But, as we all know new business is the lifeblood of all successful firms. So here are some ways to make your 2010 new business effort more effective.
1. Assess what’s working and what hasn’t worked. Take a critical look back at the plan you developed and create a simple list of those tactics that were successful. Commit to doing more of that in 2010.
2. Review what you learned from your new business wins and losses during the year. Are you building relationships with the prospects? Have you really made the effort to be smart about the prospect’s business and communication need? Are you delivering “cookie-cutter presentations and proposals? Have there been “chemistry” problems?
3. Have an “outsider” review your agency’s capabilities presentation. Is it dull? Are you using latest presentation techniques? Are you committed to “creative theater” – making your presentations fun and demonstrating your creativity as an agency?
4. Evaluate your marketing efforts. Do you have a formal plan? Do you have an adequate budget? Whom are you reaching? How are they responding? What do you need to be doing differently in 2010?
5. Identify new potential targets, including your “dream” clients – clients you would “die” to have on your client list. Create an action plan for each one – a simple series of actions designed to get an introduction, a referral or ideally a meeting. Remember “six degrees of separation”. Who do you know that knows someone (who may know someone) at the prospect organization”? I guarantee you will be able to make a connection to your ideal clients.
Many agencies have hired business development specialists either on a full or part-time basis to lead their new business efforts. Consider whether this is a smart strategy for your firm.
What other ideas do you have for new business success in 2010?
These are all critical components of becoming more successful in 2010. But, as we all know new business is the lifeblood of all successful firms. So here are some ways to make your 2010 new business effort more effective.
1. Assess what’s working and what hasn’t worked. Take a critical look back at the plan you developed and create a simple list of those tactics that were successful. Commit to doing more of that in 2010.
2. Review what you learned from your new business wins and losses during the year. Are you building relationships with the prospects? Have you really made the effort to be smart about the prospect’s business and communication need? Are you delivering “cookie-cutter presentations and proposals? Have there been “chemistry” problems?
3. Have an “outsider” review your agency’s capabilities presentation. Is it dull? Are you using latest presentation techniques? Are you committed to “creative theater” – making your presentations fun and demonstrating your creativity as an agency?
4. Evaluate your marketing efforts. Do you have a formal plan? Do you have an adequate budget? Whom are you reaching? How are they responding? What do you need to be doing differently in 2010?
5. Identify new potential targets, including your “dream” clients – clients you would “die” to have on your client list. Create an action plan for each one – a simple series of actions designed to get an introduction, a referral or ideally a meeting. Remember “six degrees of separation”. Who do you know that knows someone (who may know someone) at the prospect organization”? I guarantee you will be able to make a connection to your ideal clients.
Many agencies have hired business development specialists either on a full or part-time basis to lead their new business efforts. Consider whether this is a smart strategy for your firm.
What other ideas do you have for new business success in 2010?
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Looking at the Bigger Picture -- A Real-Life Fable
Once there was a client who hired an agency of record, which developed a PR program that called for lots of writing for the CEO. Now the writing was not bad – it just wasn’t the way the CEO liked it.This happens all the time and, with the help of the CEO and the prime client contact, the agency usually figures it out.
In my fable, however, it turns out that the CEO had worked with a public relations director in a previous job for 10 years. Now, that PR director was out of work and freelancing. Guess to whom he turned for work? And guess what the CEO did? Started giving him the writing assignments the agency was getting wrong. The agency complained to the client contact who, in the inimitable fashion of many clients, said, “you work it out.”
Now if times were flush, most agencies would confront the client with “that is not how you treat an agency of record”. The freelancer would probably go away and everyone would live happily ever after. And, if the client refused, the agency would terminate the relationship and focus on winning the next piece of business.
But, times are not flush and priority #1 is the care and feeding of your current clients. So the agency stepped back, thought about the bigger picture and came up with a creative solution. The AS contacted the freelancer, who, as it turns out, had significant experience in a segment the agency was trying to crack, but was limited in what he could do because he was a one-man band.
The agency created an alliance with the writer agreed that he should continue to write for the CEO in return for entrée into important new prospects under a shared revenue scheme. It was a win-win for everyone. The client got the writer it wanted; the agency kept the rest of the business and won new business; and the freelancer boosted his revenue and had an agency at his back for support.
Talk about turning a negative into a positive! Sounds like media training 101. Instead, it’s a way of looking at a situation that on the surface “sounds” like a problem. But, in reality represents an opportunity.
There are talented people who have started their own agencies or freelance business. They may need your support and you may need their talent and their contacts.
Today, look at the bigger picture.
In my fable, however, it turns out that the CEO had worked with a public relations director in a previous job for 10 years. Now, that PR director was out of work and freelancing. Guess to whom he turned for work? And guess what the CEO did? Started giving him the writing assignments the agency was getting wrong. The agency complained to the client contact who, in the inimitable fashion of many clients, said, “you work it out.”
Now if times were flush, most agencies would confront the client with “that is not how you treat an agency of record”. The freelancer would probably go away and everyone would live happily ever after. And, if the client refused, the agency would terminate the relationship and focus on winning the next piece of business.
But, times are not flush and priority #1 is the care and feeding of your current clients. So the agency stepped back, thought about the bigger picture and came up with a creative solution. The AS contacted the freelancer, who, as it turns out, had significant experience in a segment the agency was trying to crack, but was limited in what he could do because he was a one-man band.
The agency created an alliance with the writer agreed that he should continue to write for the CEO in return for entrée into important new prospects under a shared revenue scheme. It was a win-win for everyone. The client got the writer it wanted; the agency kept the rest of the business and won new business; and the freelancer boosted his revenue and had an agency at his back for support.
Talk about turning a negative into a positive! Sounds like media training 101. Instead, it’s a way of looking at a situation that on the surface “sounds” like a problem. But, in reality represents an opportunity.
There are talented people who have started their own agencies or freelance business. They may need your support and you may need their talent and their contacts.
Today, look at the bigger picture.
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