The Changing Face of the Agency Business Development Leader: What’s Needed to Succeed in 2015 and beyond: Part 1

There is no denying that Great Recession has changed the way that business is conducted and the agency-brand relationship is no exception. What do we know? Buyers of agency services have permanently and fundamentally changed. They are more knowledgeable than ever before thanks to the wide range of information readily available to them—social media, corporate websites, and financial reports. They are also forced to do more with less, often doing 2 or more jobs and the budgets available to them are still well below where they were just a few years ago—so as a result they are more frugal than ever before. We also know that they invite agencies into their buying process later than ever. The research from Google and CEB (see “The Disappearing Sales Process” Forbes: http://onforb.es/1BA1DUX ) says that buyers are already 60% through their buying decision journey before engaging with agency’s business development teams. In addition, competition is fierce—no shortage of options in selecting an agency partner.

This has left the agency new business process in a state of flux. According to a 2014 RSW/US survey of 220 senior agency leaders, only 26% of agencies are happy with their business development team, which is down significantly in just the past two years. The Biz Dev leader has now joined the CMO on the ‘short time’ list with tenures lasting on average less than two years.

So how does a senior biz dev’er lead his agency to success in this tumultuous new economic climate? It is clear that what may have worked prior to 2009 does not even come close to working in 2015 and beyond. It also means that the profile and skill sets of the new biz leader are going to be radically different. What follows is part 1-a list of tips for the modern day head of new business:

1) Engage Pre RFP: According to research firm, Forrester, 76% of deals won today in a typical B2B transaction go to the company that engaged early and helped to set the buying agenda vs. only 24% that were won in the shootout. Yes, RFP’s are a necessary evil, but there is gold in those hills for the agency that masters the ability to engage earlier in the brand’s buying process. Not only that, but there will likely be less competition than further down the buyer’s journey. How is this done? A couple of different ways.

The business development leader needs to drive the demand generation process and work with the marketing and PR departments to hone the inbound marketing process. Marketing content must be not only be sexy and high impact but also value focused (more on that later). Agency web sites must do more than show off cool work. They need to lead new prospects to email into the agency for a consultation—a call to action. Furthermore, more like those of technology companies, the websites should include case studies and testimonials from satisfied clients and discuss how  the agency moved the needle and which needle? What was the ROI to the brand? Which KPI’s were impacted? In short, today’s buyer needs some steak with his helping of sizzle. Next, agency thought leaders must be actively blogging—weekly at a bare minimum. More marketers prefer to find a new agency rather than being solicited. In addition to a well-oiled inbound machine, there still needs to be outbound efforts. But rather than the traditional approach, the business development team needs to be surgical. It needs to work with the senior leadership to create a target list of realistic prospects that match up well with the agency’s current service offering and client roster. Referrals and Networking are still the top 2 means of generating new business according to the RSW/US study and we will address in more detail in part2.

2) Move to a “Challenger” Pitch Process: Once you get in the door, how do you increase your chances of winning the business? If you haven’t read The Challenger Sale by Matt Dixon and his team at CEB, you need to pick up a copy today. The book leverages groundbreaking new research that states that prospects want to be challenged out of their comfort zone and learn something new when they meet with potential partners-and that the days of relationship selling are over. Insight selling is a term being used quite a lot in the tech space. Prospects care about their issues, not your agency’s services. If you can teach them a new way to solve their biggest issues, you have moved that much closer to a win. What’s more, find out who will be attending the pitch meeting from the prospect’s team. Buying decisions have become more complex with a typical decision today including 5-7 stakeholders—each with a potentially different agenda. Make sure that the pitch is personalized to each constituency and their associated challenges. Challenger says to Teach, tailor and take control. If you do the first two, then you’ve done the third as well.

3) Help Procurement Do Its Job: You’re moving closer to a new logo acquisition. But now you’ve got to deal with procurement. Just hearing the name, makes you cringe, right? It’s the “sales prevention” department out to collect their pound of flesh. But it doesn’t have to be this way. At Alinean, a value-focused B2B marketing and sales services and software company, we give procurement what they need in every single proposal we generate. We calculate the specific value of each proposal to the client based on their challenges including the payback period and the ROI the client will realize by investing in our engagement. This exercise has led to a decrease in our sales cycle time when sales cycles in general have increased by 30% in the past 3 years ago. We work with some of the largest tech names in the world and help them to do the same. The result has been that more stalled deals move to the win column and of equal importance, discounting is reduced.

4) Deliver the Agency’s Value to Maintain Margin Integrity: How do you fight the downward pressure on agency margins and profitability? Winning new business is not going to feel as good if it comes for less than what your agency needs to make money. Agencies have mastered the sizzle and the emotional part of the buyer’s brain. But today, we are dealing with a new and empowered buyer whose rational brain needs to be satisfied in order for you to win profitable business for your agency. How do you maintain your margins? You need to know the prospect’s challenges, the KPI’s he is looking to effect, and then create an analysis of the value that your services will provide-how you will deliver those improvements and over what time frame. At Alinean, those of our clients that effectively demonstrate value, win more profitable business for their company.