Ad Agency New Business Nirvana: Saying No To Prospective Clients More Often Than Yes

In a recent conversation with an agency principal on ad agency new business, he said they’d gotten to the point in the last several months where they’re saying no to business more often than yes-an obviously ideal position to be in.

How close is your agency to being in that place?

I hope you’re there now, but I know from my own experience that a great majority of you reading this post aren’t there yet.

Now is as good a time as any to ask why.

Here are several reasons we know of:

-Not financially possible right now-we have to take what we can

-Tough to break out of comfort zone and go after those larger accounts

-Seen as too small for larger accounts

-Don’t have an ongoing new business strategy in place to consistently go after larger/better accounts

There are more of course, but we hear these often.

Taking care of the fourth reason is going to solve, or go a long way towards solving, the first three.

 

Cue Broken Record

Cue broken record: creating a new business strategy and executing that strategy are a must to help you say no when you should.

If you’re not there now, start small-baby steps.

Create a manageable plan around 1 to 3 people in the agency with manageable time allotments for an initial effort.

Easier said than done I know, but even a small start gets you somewhere.