The Only P in Your Prospecting Should be Your Prospect

Guest post by RSW/US New Business Director Kris Klopp

You’re all familiar with the 4 P’s of marketing, product, price, place and promotion.

Chances are there are other P words you’re using in your prospecting that should be banished from your vocabulary: Passion, Process and Proven.

Although each is worthwhile, every agency you’re competing against is probably using these same terms.

Three ways you can replace those P’s:

1) Passion:

Most every agency is passionate about branding, or creative or digital, or whatever you do.

You wouldn’t have started your agency if you didn’t give a rat about marketing.

But you shouldn’t have to tell people about what you are passionate.  They should know it after a 30-minute conversation with you.

For example, I love hockey. Live it. Breathe it. Sleep it.

And everyone who really knows me knows that about me from the conversations I have about hockey, from the trips I take to see my favorite team play hockey to the tattoo on my ankle with my team’s logo.

If you’re passionate about branding (digital, direct, etc…), that’s going to come through in how you talk about the work you’ve done with other brands and the work you could do for your prospect’s brand.

Let your excitement and enthusiasm tell the story, but make sure to include results.

2) Process:

This is one of the most overused terms in prospecting.

Let’s face it, every agency has a process it takes with each client to develop a strategy.

You know what would be different?  An agency who said, gee we just kind of fly by the seat of our pants, slap some creative down and see what flies. 

I have no idea how we do what we do. We just do it.  It’s not a sound business strategy, but at least it’s different.

Marketers expect you have some kind of methodology you use to create a campaign.

Your process is what generates a course of action.

Instead of bogging a prospect down with the steps of your proprietary process, explain to them what course of action you would take to solve their problem – quickly and effectively.

Give the prospect a taste for what you would do for their brand. Let them feel like what it would be like to work with your agency.

3) Proven:

If an agency is open for more than a year or two, chances are it has at least one client for which it has produced successful results.

When you talk about proven results, what you’re really highlighting is your agency’s “reason to believe,” – why your agency is better than the other 100 agencies knocking on the prospect’s door.

You need to drive home your core competencies and how successful they are.  Our amazing digital work has helped brands such as Kraft, Nike and American Eagle increase their online sales by 25%.

By talking about deliverables that your agency can really knock out of the ballpark, prospects will feel more comfortable with your ability to manage their account.

If you want your agency to stand out, you have to make your prospecting less about YOU and more about your PROSPECT.

The only P in your prospecting vocabulary should be your prospect.