New Business Intel

» Become The Voice of the Customer

The glue in the marketing organization

The marketing organization inside many of your larger prospects or clients is becoming increasingly fractured and siloed, creating a big opportunity for agencies to exercise leadership and vocally represent the voice of the customer. So argued Larry Light, President and CEO of Arcature yesterday at the 4As Transformations 2010 conference in San Francisco.

Larry is a management consultant credited with helping to turn around McDonalds and Nissan.

He made the case that in a big client's marketing organization, you might find a CMO and various chiefs of insight, analytics, merchandising, strategy, branding, and maybe more. Each has turf they're trying to protect and grow, and each is firmly entrenched in their own silo. From his experience, Larry has found that silos only serve to decrease accountability and increase the ability to blame others when there's a problem.

What's the opportunity for ad agencies, and new business people in particular? Become the voice of the customer. In many of the companies he's worked with, Larry said that no one truly represents the customer. That's a leadership role agencies are perfectly suited to assume.

Agencies shouldn't just be coordinators of marketing communication - not when the real prize is to be the glue that holds the client's marketing organization together.

Assuming the mantle of "the voice of the customer" would put your agency in the role of saying to your client,

"What kind of exciting future can we create for your business?"

Here are two important ways that Larry says you can do this:

1. Come up with a real insight. Before you state that it's an insight, though, you'd better be surprised by what you learned. If your insight is that "people like food that tastes great", keep digging.
2. As a result of your insight, how will behaviors change? If the insight doesn't cause you and your client to change the way you do things, then you only created an "interesting insight". You need a business-changing insight.

There are clear opportunities here for new business pros to use insights to crack open prospects' doors. Likewise, for agency management to think about the roles you play in your clients' organizations, and how you can better represent the voice of the customer to assume a greater leadership role.

Thought-provoking stuff; hope it generates an idea or two.

» Hot Categories for Ad Agency New Business - Today

Where and how to successfully prospect

There are only a few people in the U.S. who have a broad-based and in-depth view of the proactive new business market, and who can speak to all geographic regions, industry categories, and types of services being purchased by large and small clients alike. One of them is Dave Currie, President of Catapult New Business. I interviewed him yesterday to get an insider's view of where and how to successfully prospect - today.

What categories are currently hot?

• Consumer Package Goods (CPG).
• Food.
• Retail - both big-box and super markets.
• Consumer banking - particularly regional banks who want to acquire customers from their larger rivals.
• Travel and tourism.
• Education - colleges and universities (all types), and MBA programs.

What outreach techniques are most effective?

• Email marketing with trackable links to landing pages.
• Rifle vs. shotgun: carefully identify your hard targets, but be sure you have a lot of them.
• Small email batches (less than 20 per group).
• 60-second, HD, production-quality video case studies.
• Webcasts with niche content.

What messaging is most effective?

• Show something they may not know, that's a result of research.
• What's your solution that will help your prospect - NOT why your agency is best.
• Specify your value: why should they talk to you?

What follow up techniques are most effective?

• Plan for 15 touch points.
• Variable media: email, phone, webcast, direct mail, video case studies.
• Concise voicemail messages, each with a value message.
• Relevance: get to the point very quickly, with specifics.
• Consistency: success only comes if you regularly follow up.

How fast is work being won?

We've seen first meetings progress to projects in a week, as well as 6 months. The key is consistent follow-up, at least weekly, by phone as well as other touch-points. Be proactive and suggest days and times to connect with your prospect by phone.

Most importantly: "Ask for the meeting. Marketers are taking meetings today that they wouldn't or couldn't take last year."

» The Failsafe New Business Committee

7 ways to make your committee more effective

Many smart ad agency Presidents create new business committees with the best of intentions: bring together the best and brightest in the agency who touch new business, give them a mission and deadlines, and then watch them work together as a unified team and land new accounts.

Too often, the committee never realizes its potential.

Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal recently wrote a column titled, "How Group Decisions End Up Wrong-Footed". Extrapolating from his article, which addresses how committees lost billions of dollars during the recent financial crisis, we can learn a lot about how to make our new business committees work more effectively. Here are his suggestions:

1. A committee must be made up of people with different perspectives.
2. Each member must be unafraid to speak their mind.
3. Each member must be able to select and process information effectively.
4. Each member must demonstrate their ability to learn from their mistakes.
5. At the outset, the agency President must objectively determine and specify what success looks like for the committee. Each success factor must be measurable.
6. As the committee considers various options, they should split themselves into two groups: the "pro" group and the "con" group. Each side should generate the best arguments they can for each position, being sure to consider what success and failure looks like for each.
7. As recommendations are being considered, the committee needs to ask "the five whys". For example, why is one idea superior to another? Why does the proposer of that idea know that their proposal is right? (For a new business example of this, see this post.) Zweig argues that,

If you ask five such "why" questions in a row, you are likely to expose any weak points in the advice.

While I have a bias against new business committees, as I look back on my experience on various committees I can see how implementing Zweig's recommendations would have improved the membership, and more importantly, the healthy functioning of each group. I'll be curious to hear how these ideas work for you.

» Beezag Delivers and Guarantees Ads Viewed by Millennials

...with a new business hook

Interested in being able to offer your clients a quick, inexpensive, cost-effective ad delivery system targeted at millennials that guarantees 100% of your ads are viewed?

I ran across Beezag a few weeks ago, saw a quick demo, and was impressed by the simplicity of their service.

Here's what Beezag does:

• Consumers are invited to join Beezag.
• They opt-in to receive invites about specific products and services they're interested in.
• They're rewarded for their time and attention with offers, specials or cash.
• In order to receive their award, each consumer must focus and concentrate on their commercial from start to finish, guaranteeing that the ad was watched in its entirety.

I asked Richard Smullen, Beezag CEO, to suggest 5 reasons why ad agencies should use Beezag. Here they are:

1. You can charge your clients a premium per-view, as ad views are guaranteed, "super hyper targeted", and delivered in real time.
2. You can add 'delivery of client's commercial to mobile and web' to the media buy to extend your budget from pure TV to online (using the TV budget).
3. You can have every consumer recipient answer up to three (3) multiple choice questions at the end of the ad. This is extra value to the client and can be billed accordingly.
4. You can offer your clients a strong 'call to action' at the end of a commercial, and charge extra for it.
5. You'll have access to an opt-in community of millennials that are requesting and constantly asking for the ad of products and services they like, want, and need. This provides you a new, focused mobile and web channel you can utilize.

From a new business perspectives, agencies that have introduced Beezag successfully to an existing client will be able to offer guaranteed results to potential prospects - based on real, quantifiable experience.

In a business environment where clients are maintaining tight control over budgets, demanding increased accountability, and looking to derive more benefit from existing TV spots, Beezag promises an easy way to provide all three. And, best of all, this service provides a way to push traditional media to mobile devices, social media and interactive TV in a completely measurable way, with 100% accountability.

If you're interested in watching a short video further describing Beezag's services, click here.

In case you're wondering, neither I nor The List have any financial stake in Beezag; I just found it compelling, and hope you do, too.

» Guest Post: Taking New Business Dating to the Next Level

Know your type

This is a guest post from Craig Kavicky, Vice President at Big Red Rooster, an independent research, strategy, and design company in Columbus, Ohio.

In recent posts, Todd has referenced the business development axiom relationship-building and compared it to dating. Nothing is more true than the dating reference, and like identifying good prospective dates, identifying good prospective clients requires that you know your type.

All too often, collaborations are doomed by the same difficulties that have felled many a date: bad chemistry, poor communication, and misaligned expectations. We've all gotten into these situations (particularly in lean times) while seeking any work, rather than the right work.

Your first, best goal is to find the best dates in the least amount of time. It all starts with your contact in the prospective client organization.

Asking some simple questions at the start can make all the difference:

• Is your contact a change-agent?
• Do they invest in the value you bring per hour or discounts? 
• Do they share full disclosure and provide time for informed responses? 
• Are they a details person or do they look for comprehensive help to champion their cause?
• How is your contact’s role integrated into the organization for budgets and what's their criteria for decision-making?
• Is your contact chasing trends or making them?
• What other programs is your contact working on and how does this fit in with their annual goals?
• What's their past experience with firms or agencies? Preferences?
• How does your contact view his/her competition and the moves they're making?
• What's their vision for the success of the program and its impact on their role within the organization?
• Do they believe in committing to one firm or do they intentionally spread work out?

Keep in mind that the compatibility of organizations plays a significant factor in the harmony between them. For example, if an agency represents Hustler, it may have difficulty meshing with Wal-Mart. Recognizing this, you can easily translate the answers to these questions into all the criteria you need to evaluate good dates from bad ones. The questions take a little time to ask and answer, but it's time invested at the front end that will save much more later. And, as we all know, time is at the core of what business development leaders try to save every day.

We assume that skilled business developers already know their best fit within verticals or in targeted specialty roles, so the goal of talking to the right people becomes one of disqualifying the wrong ones. However, in my experience, most business developers will try to over-develop a poor fit until the end of time.

The right thing to do is to use these questions to identify prospects who aren't a good match. It's not always easy to do in one conversation, but then again, that's the nature of courtship.

If you don't know your type, you may not be their type.

» How Not To Be The Talk Of The Prospect’s Office

"Jarring" is not the reaction you want

A few weeks ago I wrote about how not to self-destruct during your first meeting. Unfortunately, in this true story the agency became the talk of the prospect's office. Here's the back-story.

Recall that this was a "good agency located in the Southwest" that was asked to submit a proposal for an initial research project estimated at $50,000. They took three and a half weeks to respond and then submitted a proposal with a price tag of $191,000.

At the time I wrote, "odds are, the project - any project - is in jeopardy". And that's what happened, though the prospect's "No Thank You" response was polite:

We were looking for something more in the moment that could present us with company growth.

Understandably, as the prospect explained on the phone, the agency became "the talk of the office for a day" when it became known that their proposal was three times the budget - a budget that was communicated during the initial meeting. She said that the word to describe her reaction to the proposal was "jarring".

After a conversation with the prospect, we can summarize exactly what went wrong.

The agency:

• Didn't listen: They failed to listen to what was said, as well as what was implied.
• Didn't view the prospect's business situation: They failed to look at the prospect's competitive situation, their culture, as well as the type of project appropriate for a company their size.
• Had no sense of urgency: They took 3.5 weeks to submit the proposal, which said a lot of negative things about them.
• Failed to meet the prospect's expectations: Proposing an initial project that will cost three times the budget is a bad idea, plus its scope was far beyond what was needed or desired. 

It's one thing to lose a project after a hard-fought, competitive dual. It's another to beat yourself.

The silver lining of this story, however, is that all this is fixable. You just need to focus on your sales fundamentals:

1. Ask questions.
2. Listen carefully to what's said and not said.
3. Summarize what you've heard.
4. Agree on next steps, including scope and due dates.
5. Deliver as promised and expected.

This agency likely fell down on #2, #3, #4, and #5. Let's all learn from their mistakes.

» A Tablet to Cure Magazine Ad Sales Blues?

Wonderfactory prototype is an exciting development

The Wonderfactory, in collaboration with Time, Inc., helped design the prototype of what Sports Illustrated magazine might look like on a tablet computer.

Revealed on December 2nd, this innovation could allow magazines and other periodicals to charge for content on tablet computers, and give advertisers data on who’s seeing their ads.

Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times broke the story. A few highlights:

• Apple, HP and other computer manufacturers are expected to offer tablet computers sometime next year.
• "The general guess is they’ll be like big iPhones, with interactive touch-screens. The larger size makes it feasible to put a magazine page on a tablet."
• The functionality is anticipated to let readers interact with the magazine stories, ads, and content, watch videos, see additional photos, get live updates, and particpate with what's going on in the story.
• Readers will also be able to email, print, save, and share stories and content with friends via social media channels.

From an ad sales perspective, this should create opportunities for media departments across the country. It's anticipated that readers will be able to use the touch screen to interact with ads, view video clips, product comparisons, prices, and purchase directly from a story. In turn, this should open up a whole to way of thinking about ads that will lead to increased innovation.

From a new business perspective, you have to think that this type of take-it-with-you technology - a tablet that's bigger than your i-phone but much more portable than a Kindle - will open up a another vehicle for innovative apps and offerings. Ad agencies and other marketing services firms should be able to leverage innovative offerings to generate both organic growth and new business.

While I'm generally not an early-adopter, the thought of being able to do most of my "required reading" on a highly portable tablet computer that provides online interactivity, is really exciting.

» The “So What” Behind a Prospect’s Pain and Aspirations

Reveal the answer to close more new business

Before a prospect can become a client, they have to clearly understand the value of working with your ad agency or marketing services firm.

Does your current new business process demonstrate what the positive impact of using your services will be? Do you clearly communicate both the dollar and non-dollar value of doing so?

One of the best ways to demonstrate value is to help your prospect answer the question, "So what?"

For example, if your rapport-building questioning reveals pain within your prospect's company (e.g. revenue is slowing, trouble with a new product launch), "So what?" questions around this type of pain might be, "What will happen if revenue continues to slow?", or, "What will happen if the product launch fails?"

On the other hand, if your questioning reveals a new opportunity, or aspiration, "So what?" questions may be, "If you don't pursue this, will someone else make this potential product a reality?", or, "If you can bring this to market in the next six months, how might your division better compete against your arch rival?"

Sometimes, the answer to these type of questions may be as simple as helping your prospect get promoted - or keep their job. But, in most cases it's going to be up to you to demonstrate how using your services will directly, clearly and positively contribute to resolving the pain or fulfilling the opportunity facing your prospect.

Recognize that your biggest competitor may be inaction. Expect to have to create a sense of urgency in order to get your prospect to purchase your services. The magnitude of the sense of urgency will be determined by how well you help your client answer your "So what?" questions, and a big part of closing the deal will be your ability to quantify the positive impact of using your firm.

Here are three ways to quantify the impact of using your services:

1. Dollar benefit. This could be "new" dollars generated - as in revenue from a new product; or, an increase in dollars - as in better marketing driving increased sales from existing products; or, dollars saved - as in less costly marketing. Whatever the situation, whether you're solving a pain or helping them achieve a goal, you need to be able to quantify the financial impact of using your services.
2. Non-dollar benefit. People buy from people they like. Don't diminish the positive benefits of working with your firm, whether it's your high quality team, your company's reputation, motivating influence, etc. Recognize the soft intangibles that you bring and don't forget to incorporate them into your conversations.
3. Your firm vs. alternatives.Your prospect may be considering a competitor, internal resources, or doing nothing. You're selling against all of them. To overcome these very real obstacles, you may need to be able to sell:

•     Why you're better. When faced with a competitor or internal resources, what are the tangible and intangible reasons why going with your firm is a better business decision?
•     What they may lose. There are potential costs to your prospect if they do nothing about a pain or don't pursue an aspirational goal. You need to be able to paint a picture of their potential loss so they can visualize themselves achieving their objective - with your help, of course.

Asking "So What?" questions is simply finding out what's at the root of their pain or aspiration. Why is it important to them? What's the potential upside and downside?

Understanding what's behind the situation and getting your prospect to verbalize it is a key part of the new business process, and to your closing more new business.

I hope this helps.

» The Other Reason Why Your Clients Buy Marketing Services

Help them create a new future

The common approach to selling marketing services is, "Find their pain, and then show how you can solve it." But, if you only focus on your prospect's pain, you're leaving half the potential new business on the table.

A client who hires an ad agency or other marketing services provider is looking to either:

1. Solve a problem or pain.
2. Grow, improve, innovate, etc.

After you build rapport, if your questions only focus on identifying and solving their problem(s), you may miss all the fun - helping them grow, innovate, or create other opportunities in the future. Who knows what they may be, but you'll definitely want to be part of it. 

Here are a few questions that will get your prospects or clients talking about what they want, hope for, or aspire to:

• So, what's going on at your company lately?
• What do you want to get done in the next year or so?
• What parts of the business hold the most promise for the next couple of years?
• What are a few things that your competitors are doing that you're watching?
• How might you improve on what they're doing?
• What do you need to get these things done?
• What do you need to know that you don't know yet?

The great thing about these questions is that they're not too-personal - they're not threatening. They're also open-ended, and future-oriented. You can just as easily ask them to a prospect or a client.

Since most, if not all, of your prospects and clients think a lot about how they'd like to change and improve, these questions may be just what they need to start talking.

And, once you get them talking, you're likely to hear things you've never heard before, which will probably open up a whole new world of potential new business opportunities.

» How to Build Rapport, Before Talking New Business

People do business with people they like

85% of buyers of marketing services state they're more likely to purchase from a provider with whom they've established some kind of personal chemistry. This was cited in a white paper I read recently and points to the incredible importance of building rapport with your prospects.

People prefer to do business with people they like.

Some of us are natural "people people" who thrive on meeting new people and establishing new relationships. Many of the rest of us are uncomfortable meeting people for the first time and establishing new business relationships. This post is for those who would like to improve their rapport-building abilities.

Five Steps to Connect with Your Prospects

1. Be Yourself - Be Genuine. You can't maintain a fake persona over time, so don't try to be someone you're not. Most importantly, don't try to be "salesy". Just relax and be yourself.
2. Be Sensitive to Time, But Not Pushy. You'll never get to know someone if you use your hour talking about your firm or yourself. Too many inexperienced new business people walk into a meeting, open up their Mac and walk through a PowerPoint credentials presentation. Don't. You've got to come across as a real person: if you jump right into business you may create a tense environment. Start by getting to know the other person, and then use your intuition about when to make the switch to business conversation. Wait too long and they will wonder if you're just wasting their time.
3. Balance Asking Questions with Talking/Advising. If you ask too many questions, or too personal questions too early, your conversation may feel like an interrogation. The trick is to balance smart questions with talking about yourself, providing real-life examples, or offering suggestions or advice. Your goal is a comfortable balance of the two.
4. Active Listening. Better yet, actually listen. All of us are guilty of barely listening to the person we're with, while we wait to jump in with what we want to say. The single most important thing you can do to build rapport is to listen. (Read a post about this.) When you're actively listening you have the opportunity to hear opportunities that many others will miss.

Your goal is to establish a connection with your prospect. Said another way, to find how you're similar. It could be job, family, school, home town, sports, hobbies, travel, etc. Once you have a connection or two, your opportunity is to match the services you provide with a current or potential need.

While being liked may not win you the business, it can tilt the odds in your favor.