Growth Thru Business Development
Agency Growth Through Business Development
Lead generation is a challenge for all agencies – principals constantly ask themselves how or whether they should build a sales team. Hiring sales is a real crapshoot, and for most it’s not the right place to start.
Remember, it’s the job of the sales team to implement a marketing strategy. Too many agencies throw away a lot of money on outbound prospecting/sales methods – it’s just too expensive. So, for most agencies developing the Marketing Plan and Making Yourself a Client comes first. Do you have a unique selling proposition (USP), do you have visibility, and can you establish credibility?
Before you hire business development, your challenge is identify (narrow) your target audience (what do they need) and determine how best to reach them (where are the eyeballs?). Then you can develop the appropriate business development strategy.
There are essentially only two business models: low cost and differentiation. Only if you can differentiate (FOCUS) yourself does hiring sales make sense.
For me I would look to bring on someone who would execute various marketing campaigns and develop content (messaging) – PR, social media, email, direct mail, etc. – rather than a sales person.
What you need are developers; individuals who can open doors. Agency principals are typically the closers – they are best to represent the thought leadership of the agency and are in the best position to structure pricing.
If you considering bringing on business development:
- No one comes with a rolodex, but some know how to build one.
- Make sure they have a well-developed elevator pitch.
- Make sure they know the pain point of their audience.
- Make sure they know how to research.
- Sales personnel are motivated by money – if they tell you anything else, they’re not right for you.
The individual:
- Someone who attends networking events.
- Someone who belongs to various organizations.
- Someone who is smart and independent.
- Someone who understands integrated marketing – i.e., how digital plays in today’s world.
- Someone who is digitally savvy – utilizes social media regularly– e.g., LinkedIn
How Will You Grow Through Business Development?
In over 10 years of consulting, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a wide range of agencies, 50+, and in every case, agencies desire new customers/clients. As an agency specialist, I’m uniquely qualified to help you understand the pros and cons of various growth strategies as applied to your specific circumstances.
As this series of blog posts and videos continues, I’ll walk you through alternative agency growth strategies must be integrated with others. So make sure you get on my email notification list using the form in the right hand column on this page.
And if you’d like to have a personal chat about how your agency is dealing with growth (or the lack thereof) then please contact me directly. I’d be happy to provide you with a free consultation.
