Lately, I’ve had the opportunity to go back to basics with a handful of agencies and help them figure out a foundational marketing tool: their elevator pitch.  Despite its slanginess, I love the concept of an elevator pitch for a bunch of reasons. It’s utilitarian. Strategic positioning, value proposition, mission/vision/values — these are all important but they’re also problematic. Their definition changes depending on who you’re talking to and in my experience they tend to result in a lot of debate and navel gazing. Then, when you finally arrive at something everyone agrees on, does ..read more

I onboarded a new client late last month, a small agency with a strong core leadership team that takes a collaborative approach and that’s supportive of each other and open to differing opinions and ideas. This is great! Agencies like this are a pleasure to work with and I count myself lucky to be able to do so. Nevertheless, I found myself asking the CEO and two of his colleagues this question during a conversation as we were preparing for our first all-day strategy workshop with the larger leadership team: “Who’s the ‘’decider’?” I want nothing more than to cultivate an equal exchange of tho ..read more

I’m about to expound on a topic on which I’m not an expert—time management. I wish I was an expert because, of all the new business challenges I can help a small agency owner solve, magically creating more time in their day is not one of them. And time, or lack thereof, is so often on the list of reasons why an agency doesn’t pursue new business at the level it wishes to. I get it. I’m like everyone else, wishing I had a few more hours at the end of the day to accomplish what I’d set out for myself. But I also know that when an RFP or an invitation to a competitive pitch comes your way, someho ..read more

Last week, I was advising an agency on writing a strong response to a large RFP. We put into practice a lot of the ideas that I wrote about last month about how to treat an RFP response as a strategic selling tool (rather than a burdensome box to check) like–  Understanding that the underlying reason behind the client even issuing the RFP, whether sound or not, is to manage the inherent risk involved in hiring an agency. Defining a strategic plan for your response before you even write a word. Recognizing any tendencies for people-pleasing enthusiasm and redirecting towards diagnost ..read more

We have a love/hate relationship with the RFP. On the one hand, we love to see a new RFP land in our in-box (perhaps way more than we should). It holds the promise of new revenue and fills the pipeline just enough to convince ourselves to shift attention away from more proactive new business activities. And we hate RFPs because they’re so often inscrutable documents that monopolize time and resources for however long (and it’s never very long) we’re given to respond while the uncertainty of it all gnaws away at our conscience. I’m firmly in the camp of people who say avoid competitive RFPs whe ..read more

I love making presentations.  I feed off the energy in the room, whether it’s a keynote speech to many or a pitch presentation to a few. I enjoy the feeling of connection with other human beings (I even enjoy the challenge of engaging those in the audience that might be resisting that connection) and I get a lot of satisfaction from watching heads nod as an idea lands or even sparks debate. This makes sense because my new dominant business strengths profile is the  Communicator (if you want to discover what yours is, take this short quiz).   That’s not the case for everyone ..read more

 “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”  – Mike Tyson Is it possible to close new business deals by simply following a step-by-step process? I’ve been contributing to a client’s effort to codify the new business process at his agency and as a result, I’ve found myself asking this question. I’m all for process, and believe that a strong new business strategy is more reliant on good processes than haphazard action. But are there times when a process has disadvantages? Selling, to use a word that many of you dislike but that describes an activity that’s impossible to ..read more

Do we ask enough questions when we pitch a new client? In a recent article I talked about how to assert some control over a new business pitch. Not in an aggressive, “give it to me” kind of way. Rather more like the skilled push-and-pull of a pair of well-matched tango dancers.  One way to exert control is by leveraging your knowledge of the client, but knowledge is the result of inquiry. And, inquiry requires that you ask some questions.  Maybe this comes naturally to some of us more than others. Like me. I’m a questioner by nature. I confound my life partner by my need for answers ..read more

In every transaction there’s an exchange of value. One person has the money, the other has the goods or services that the first person wants.  If you’re the one with the money, you might also feel a certain amount of power, especially if there are plenty of people who are eager to make the sale. You get to call the shots on who you’ll hire, how the product or service will be delivered, and when you’ll pay for it.  It’s the same in a new business pitch. The marketer holds the purse strings and the agencies pitching for its business tend to fall in line and do what they’re asked to do ..read more

We all deserve to start a new year filled with hope, ambition, and a solid plan for reaching new business goals. But as we head into 2023, there’s a palpable feeling of caution, not to mention mixed signals. A recession is looming? A recession is here? A recession is likely to be avoided? Google is cutting costs, Facebook has cut staff, but the labor market is still tight. Businesses don’t like uncertainty, so we may be in for a tough year in the advertising sector. But businesses will still spend in a recession, especially the smart ones. It’s not just a convenient argument that brands that i ..read more