Did you know.... that a recent survey conducted by RSW/US indicates that 66% of agencies believe that their new business leaders were unsuccessful because they did not leverage a specific methodology?
In addition, 71% of agencies believe it is more difficult to break through to prospects than ever before. This is backed up by IDC's research which found that as compared to three years ago, 50% more leads are needed just to generate the same amount of revenue. Open rates are down and marketers are busier than ever-a by product of the Great Recession-as they are now typically doing 2 or more jobs.
A methodology is critical to the biz dev department's success because bringing in new logos has become infinitely more complex that it was just a few years ago.
Here are some of the key elements of a new business development framework:
Research: Understand your agency inside and out. Not only its services, but its personality and its point of view. What has it done well? What is its true core competency? What is the agency's point of view and how is it unique? At iNDELIBLE in the early days of digital, we offered many different services, but our pioneering in online video experiences was at our core the most distinguishing point of difference. Next, work with the other senior leaders in the agency to determine the best client prospects, industries and roles to target from a new business perspective. Lastly, using case studies and proof points from successful client engagements, create compelling insights which you can use in your campaigns and pitch decks. Create a prospect list which maximizes your chance of making a match. Now research those companies--their financial reports, websites, social media and executives. Create Google alerts so that you are notified of key moves within and by the organization. What are the key challenges facing those prospects? What are the key initiatives? What does their competitive landscape look like? How would you help them..? Work with your team to craft a few high level concepts. Then....(in tandem with your PR and marketing teams--if they exist at your agency)...
"Push:" Reach out via email. Include a value-ad--a link to relevant work or recent blog post and success metrics. Your prospects want to learn what their peers are doing successfully. Also send a brief Linkedin inMail requesting an intro meeting and a chance to discuss some of those ideas in more depth. Help the prospect see how you understand her business issues and how you can help her build a bridge to the desired state. Connect the dots(constantly!): Schedule coffees, lunches, phone calls, chats, skypes, face times. Everyone you know needs to be briefed on what you and your agency are doing and the type of people with whom you are looking to connect. That means all of your circles--old and new friends, high school, college, grad school alums, folks from your daughter's soccer team, your train mates. When you meet someone new, ask what they do. I delivered a major win for my agency out of a chance meeting at a "back to school" night for my son. Your antenna must always be up and on high receive. Turn your family into disciples of the agency, asking them to be on the lookout for marketers. Your kids' friends' Moms and Dads, your wife's friends, your husband's golf buddies---push the envelope. You want to get your team to the plate but it takes an extraordinary effort--a multi faceted approach. Meetings=revenue!
"Pull:"Many prospects prefer to find you, and are researching online so you and your team need to be blogging and posting to social media. Podcasts interviewing clients and industry luminaries, links to work, case studies, speaking at conferences and relevant news programs(MDC Chairman Miles Nadal does a great job of appearing on networks such as Fox Business and CNBC)are all critical. Establish thought leadership in key areas which map to your expertise.. Make sure the content is compelling. Give them a reason to call you.
Phew...So, you've got the meeting at long last. Great job, yes, but now its time to shift it into overdrive. A new set of skills are needed.
Assemble and prepare the team for the initial meeting: Select the team that matches up the best with the prospect based on the assessment you have conducted of the prospect's challenges and business objectives. In addition, based on the personalities and constituencies involved on the client side, assemble the team that will mesh the best. Deliver all of the key intel you have collected to your team and prepare as a group for the meeting. Provide strategic direction and insight. When you get to conference room and its showtime, start and finish the meeting strong, watch the clock and make sure there is sufficient time for questions and next steps--moderate accordingly--if people's eyes are glossing over--change the direction- call a time out and regroup with the team. Make sure everything presented maps back to the objectives and challenges you uncovered previously. Establish timing for the follow up meeting/call---try to schedule it right there on the spot if possible. Make sure everyone connects on Linkedin.
Write a summary of the meeting: What was discussed, agreed upon and include all follow up materials. Keep it short but continue to paint the picture of your prospect achieving his goals and moving toward a successful partnership with you and your agency. You heard them, you get them, you can help them and here's a brief overview of how you'll do it and what it will mean to them in the way of results.
Close with ROI: Assuming your follow up meeting goes well, when you proactively scope out the engagement, deliver the SOW, and ask for the business, there is one key element that is a must and potentially the difference between ringing the cash register or going back to the drawing board. The term ROI is thrown around a lot in marketing circles these days. In fact a study released recently and published in AdAge (http://bit.ly/1tG3VUp) says CMO's are increasingly being asked to deliver 'measurable ROI' for their marketing spend. 93% of CMO's in the study said they feel this pressure. More importantly, the CMO's in the study said they do not have the tools and/or team/skills to do so. This is a major challenge of the modern CMO and the agencies that can deliver proposals which clearly show the value of their services will have a leg up on the competition. As an example, in the high tech world, the companies that can quantify benefits, lead with value and ROI have seen sales cycle times decrease, deal sizes increase and stalled deals move to the win column by being able to demonstrate value. For the agency new business team you need to work with the prospect to determine what levers are going to be pulled and what KPI's need to be impacted. The final proposal sent in to the client should include a value analysis with an estimated ROI. According to best selling author Jeffrey Fox from How To Become a Rainmaker, "Rainmakers sell money." "They turn benefits into dollars." At Alinean, we train our clients in value selling and create tools which intelligently deliver the appropriate value messages based on the prospects' profiles. Buying decisions today occur with equal parts emotional and rational components. Many agencies are great at nailing the emotional...rolling out the A team, showing off their coolest work--Connect and feel good for sure, but there is another part of the decision makers' brains which need to be satisfied--the logical. The procurement teams are there to remind you of that! The agencies that can demonstrate ROI will be ultimately more successful in sealing the deal and winning new business.
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New business leaders and growth officers have a tough job. Like a good NFL coach, you need a well thought-out, orchestrated and executed game plan which covers all bases and possibilities. No doubt your team is an impressive group of individuals, but like the coach you need to put the right players in the positions that fit the team the best. You need to strategize, research, prepare, practice, and execute a detailed and airtight plan. Happy selling!
A methodology is critical to the biz dev department's success because bringing in new logos has become infinitely more complex that it was just a few years ago.
Here are some of the key elements of a new business development framework:
Research: Understand your agency inside and out. Not only its services, but its personality and its point of view. What has it done well? What is its true core competency? What is the agency's point of view and how is it unique? At iNDELIBLE in the early days of digital, we offered many different services, but our pioneering in online video experiences was at our core the most distinguishing point of difference. Next, work with the other senior leaders in the agency to determine the best client prospects, industries and roles to target from a new business perspective. Lastly, using case studies and proof points from successful client engagements, create compelling insights which you can use in your campaigns and pitch decks. Create a prospect list which maximizes your chance of making a match. Now research those companies--their financial reports, websites, social media and executives. Create Google alerts so that you are notified of key moves within and by the organization. What are the key challenges facing those prospects? What are the key initiatives? What does their competitive landscape look like? How would you help them..? Work with your team to craft a few high level concepts. Then....(in tandem with your PR and marketing teams--if they exist at your agency)...
"Push:" Reach out via email. Include a value-ad--a link to relevant work or recent blog post and success metrics. Your prospects want to learn what their peers are doing successfully. Also send a brief Linkedin inMail requesting an intro meeting and a chance to discuss some of those ideas in more depth. Help the prospect see how you understand her business issues and how you can help her build a bridge to the desired state. Connect the dots(constantly!): Schedule coffees, lunches, phone calls, chats, skypes, face times. Everyone you know needs to be briefed on what you and your agency are doing and the type of people with whom you are looking to connect. That means all of your circles--old and new friends, high school, college, grad school alums, folks from your daughter's soccer team, your train mates. When you meet someone new, ask what they do. I delivered a major win for my agency out of a chance meeting at a "back to school" night for my son. Your antenna must always be up and on high receive. Turn your family into disciples of the agency, asking them to be on the lookout for marketers. Your kids' friends' Moms and Dads, your wife's friends, your husband's golf buddies---push the envelope. You want to get your team to the plate but it takes an extraordinary effort--a multi faceted approach. Meetings=revenue!
"Pull:"Many prospects prefer to find you, and are researching online so you and your team need to be blogging and posting to social media. Podcasts interviewing clients and industry luminaries, links to work, case studies, speaking at conferences and relevant news programs(MDC Chairman Miles Nadal does a great job of appearing on networks such as Fox Business and CNBC)are all critical. Establish thought leadership in key areas which map to your expertise.. Make sure the content is compelling. Give them a reason to call you.
Phew...So, you've got the meeting at long last. Great job, yes, but now its time to shift it into overdrive. A new set of skills are needed.
Assemble and prepare the team for the initial meeting: Select the team that matches up the best with the prospect based on the assessment you have conducted of the prospect's challenges and business objectives. In addition, based on the personalities and constituencies involved on the client side, assemble the team that will mesh the best. Deliver all of the key intel you have collected to your team and prepare as a group for the meeting. Provide strategic direction and insight. When you get to conference room and its showtime, start and finish the meeting strong, watch the clock and make sure there is sufficient time for questions and next steps--moderate accordingly--if people's eyes are glossing over--change the direction- call a time out and regroup with the team. Make sure everything presented maps back to the objectives and challenges you uncovered previously. Establish timing for the follow up meeting/call---try to schedule it right there on the spot if possible. Make sure everyone connects on Linkedin.
Write a summary of the meeting: What was discussed, agreed upon and include all follow up materials. Keep it short but continue to paint the picture of your prospect achieving his goals and moving toward a successful partnership with you and your agency. You heard them, you get them, you can help them and here's a brief overview of how you'll do it and what it will mean to them in the way of results.
Close with ROI: Assuming your follow up meeting goes well, when you proactively scope out the engagement, deliver the SOW, and ask for the business, there is one key element that is a must and potentially the difference between ringing the cash register or going back to the drawing board. The term ROI is thrown around a lot in marketing circles these days. In fact a study released recently and published in AdAge (http://bit.ly/1tG3VUp) says CMO's are increasingly being asked to deliver 'measurable ROI' for their marketing spend. 93% of CMO's in the study said they feel this pressure. More importantly, the CMO's in the study said they do not have the tools and/or team/skills to do so. This is a major challenge of the modern CMO and the agencies that can deliver proposals which clearly show the value of their services will have a leg up on the competition. As an example, in the high tech world, the companies that can quantify benefits, lead with value and ROI have seen sales cycle times decrease, deal sizes increase and stalled deals move to the win column by being able to demonstrate value. For the agency new business team you need to work with the prospect to determine what levers are going to be pulled and what KPI's need to be impacted. The final proposal sent in to the client should include a value analysis with an estimated ROI. According to best selling author Jeffrey Fox from How To Become a Rainmaker, "Rainmakers sell money." "They turn benefits into dollars." At Alinean, we train our clients in value selling and create tools which intelligently deliver the appropriate value messages based on the prospects' profiles. Buying decisions today occur with equal parts emotional and rational components. Many agencies are great at nailing the emotional...rolling out the A team, showing off their coolest work--Connect and feel good for sure, but there is another part of the decision makers' brains which need to be satisfied--the logical. The procurement teams are there to remind you of that! The agencies that can demonstrate ROI will be ultimately more successful in sealing the deal and winning new business.
New business leaders and growth officers have a tough job. Like a good NFL coach, you need a well thought-out, orchestrated and executed game plan which covers all bases and possibilities. No doubt your team is an impressive group of individuals, but like the coach you need to put the right players in the positions that fit the team the best. You need to strategize, research, prepare, practice, and execute a detailed and airtight plan. Happy selling!
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