Agency Domain Expertise
Success Through Agency Domain Expertise
Too many agencies attempt to be everything – unfortunately, it’s the same as standing for nothing. Successful agencies do what they do best and find resources for the rest. So what is it you are GREAT at? What is your agency’s domain expertise?
The most important selling strategy is understanding your prospect’s business. Do you really know what makes them tick? Their brand and value proposition? There KPIs? You should focus on their business challenges and be able to strategically address solutions. This grows your domain expertise.
For most, domain expertise evolves from client engagements. Somehow you landed a project in a specific market and learned. Leverage that expertise. Talk about them, not you. If a prospect feels you understand what keeps them up at night, you’ve connected.
Your team must be strong researchers. When you approach a prospect, do you understand their persona, their pain points, and their day-to-day activity? Fortunately for us all the internet provides an avenue to learn. Check out the website, LinkedIn, blog posts, press releases – do your homework. I always recommend role playing every interaction – have an objective for the contact – anticipate objections.
Agencies get concerned about conflict – they worry the prospect might reject them because they work with others in their space. This can be a ticklish situation, but domain expertise outweighs conflict. Of course you can’t work with direct competitors, but your target market(s) undoubtedly has numerous opportunities. And, while there are always similarities, every company has specific challenges.
