ESSENTIALS TOOLKIT: WINNING MORE NEW BUSINESS

TIME FOR A NEW PROSPECTING APPROACH

As confidence starts to pick up, it’s vital that you re-consider your future approach to new business. Whether you continued activity over the last few months or put everything on hold, now is the time to recognise the changing expectations of clients and to re-think.

Business development will be one of the biggest challenges agencies will face in this new era. And there’s no denying that it’s going to be tough for many. It’s not a time for sticking your head in the sand, for mistakes or ‘old hat’. It’s a time for coming out fighting so you create the right opportunities and win more new business.

A CLEAR GAME PLAN

In this new, complex world you will need to be sharper and smarter than ever before – and with potentially fewer people and less budget. That means having an offer that is underpinned by expertise, experience and proven results. Exact targeting so you have absolute clarity of your ideal client, and the type of business you have the best chance of winning. Not just any work you can win. Knowing what makes you special. So standing for something, rather than everything and a positioning created with your offer and clients in mind. Ask yourself if you have real clarity and focus and if your plan is geared up to deliver the most value and most return.

DELIVERING EXCEPTIONAL VALUE TO CLIENTS

The way you created opportunities in the past; won’t necessarily be the way you’ll win new clients now. The pressure is on to bring new ideas and solutions to the table. Agencies need to convince clients that their level and type of expertise can genuinely add significant value and that they are a safer bet than competitors. This puts more focus on smart thinking, creativity and impact; and truly understanding clients’ new challenges, new priorities and new expectations. Nothing off the shelf. Every interaction with a prospect should be of exceptional quality and delivered with fresh energy. How do you and your team match up?

REVIEW OF TEAM AND ROLES

To compete in this tougher playing field, you’re going to need the best people possible – to create opportunities and to win new business. And that team might look very different to the one you had before. If you haven’t already, review your capabilities and roles (and beyond the senior team). Consider all options - in-house, outsourcing or a combination. Involve the whole company - where you can. Create a team of genuine specialists - polished, experienced, capable people who clients will want to engage with. Give your team the best chance of success by upgrading, up-skilling and providing the tools and systems they need. And as a leader, stay close, lead by example and be the driving force behind the activity. Don’t just get by with what you had before.

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HOW WE CAN HELP

Every business will have different new business challenges, but there are some common areas where clients have found external perspectives and help beneficial.

Offer and targeting

Achieving your objectives will start with having a clear offer and understanding of your ideal client and their characteristics. We’ll help you clarify your offer, and services so they are joined up, so you focus on those that will work hardest for you and will be the most compelling. We’ll help you define your ideal client so you target the right businesses and brands, and the right decision makers, who have a genuine need, who appreciate and pay for the value that’s delivered. Getting this right will result in sustainable income, profitability, regularity and longevity.

Business development activity planning

A new business programme will be most successful if the activities are joined up with your profile efforts. There will need to be the right levels of quality and frequency so you not only reach your targets, but when you do, you stand out and create interest. We will work with you to explore the range of activities and channels available to you - considering the opportunities, challenges and constraints. We’ll map these against your existing situation and resources and shape into a plan. Only recommending the activities that will deliver the biggest impact.

Content planning and creation

The best performing businesses have something meaningful to say. Creating compelling content should be a key element of your business development programme and will give you an edge over your competitors. We will work with you so you choose the right audiences, subjects, opinions, channels and delivery – and if you want, we can also produce and package the content for you. Together we will produce and deliver content that will help you stand out from the crowd and engage potential clients.

HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER

We recognise that agencies will have different levels of capability, time and budget to deal with a specific issue. So we’ve designed all our services to give you different ways of drawing on our expertise and experience to help your business thrive.

Insightful Mentoring

We’ll bring all our knowledge and experience - and share it with you throughout the process. You and your team will handle most of the work in line with the programme we’ll agree together. We’ll review and challenge your work and make sure you stay on track to deliver your objectives.

Hands-on Partnering

We’ll not only share all our knowledge and experience, but we’ll use our expertise and ideas to actually deliver specific parts of the programme for you. We’ll take on some of the detailed challenges but will always be close to you and your team. You’ll be confident of the best possible outcomes, efficiently and quickly.