It’s been my world for more than 15 years. Not as a consultant but in the trenches honing my approach at small, mid-size and large agencies. I know how your prospects want to be engaged and how agencies can succeed. I engage and develop relationships that lead to more clients, more revenue, and a more predictable pipeline. Read more →
Every new business pro will reach out to people who don’t know them. Those unsuspecting prospects often wonder why is this person is reaching out to me? When you make a cold contact, it is inevitable that the question will... Read more →
Advertising agency business development has often been the task of a junior account person, primarily an order-taker or a salesperson, someone from a traditional sales role in media or other services. We often argue about whether it’s better to be... Read more →
There are three primary sources for new business and healthy agencies generally grow in three ways equally. The first is prospecting which accounts for about a third of new revenue. The second is organic growth among existing clients which contributes... Read more →
It is typical for an agency to have a BD person or a BD team, or for the owner and leadership to have responsibility for agency growth. But does it end there? My favorite quote is from Philip Kotler, “the... Read more →
I was talking with a CMO from a well-known and highly respected national brand. At the conclusion of our 30-minute conversation she told me that while we were talking she received four emails from agencies soliciting her business. One was... Read more →
With the increasing clutter in the marketplace, ad agencies will have a harder time getting the attention and time of marketers looking for new resources. Too often our natural inclination is to tell prospects what we want them to know.... Read more →
We all know that on January 1, the gyms will be filled with people earnestly making 2018 the year they get in shape. The same holds true for advertising agencies. The difference between the agencies that struggle and those that... Read more →
Agencies who want an edge should consider new ways to stand out, differentiate and delight their prospects and future clients. In a previous post, Hold onto your clients. Unleash your new business hounds; I covered the historic competition expected next... Read more →
The first thing everyone thinks about when you mention advertising agency business development is prospecting – the attempt to intersect need out in the wild. Book after book tells us how. Consultant after consultant shows us how. Tools and databases... Read more →
Before you ever think about who to put on your prospect list, you have to know what your agency has to offer that’s different from your competition because that has a big influence on who should be on your prospect... Read more →
No doubt you are in the 4th quarter scramble to capture everything you can from your current clients before the buzzer sounds. At the same time, you try to schedule meetings with your leadership to strategize growth in 2017. But... Read more →
It used to be that ad agency business development was a bunch of separate tasks organized in your head, in word and excel, in calendars, post-it notes, scraps of paper and assorted business cards. I pulled out an old file... Read more →
August is prime summer vacation month, and most prospecting activity slows to an agonizing halt. Prospects are on the beach, toes in the sand recharging for the all-important fourth quarter. This is the time when most BD people question their... Read more →
At the end of last year, I surveyed 156 small, medium and large advertising agency owners and senior leadership about their business development practices. A wide variety of organizations participated, with a good distribution of sizes by employees. 28% were... Read more →
I’ve seen a lot of chatter recently about the death of cold calling. The phone still works. We all answer calls. Cold calling isn’t dead. It’s simply a matter of whether it is right for your business and your sales... Read more →
Research suggests that 3% of marketing executives are actually in the market ready to buy – only 3%. That should have significant implications on advertising agency business development but too often is ignored. 3% is a tiny percentage of people... Read more →
There is a lively debate going on in the On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs group over at LinkedIn about whether cold calling is effective anymore. Over 285 business development and sales professionals have weighed in so far. I... Read more →
What are the three biggest barriers to new business success for agencies? If you ask agency owners, you may get a different answer than the business development people at the agency. I just conducted a survey among advertising agency business... Read more →
We all know things change. Over 75% of marketers believe our business has changed more in the last couple years than in the past 50. The speed of change continues to accelerate, and there’s no telling where our future clients... Read more →
John Heenan | agency growth consultant
