Some agencies, in regards to their new business program, have a mindset that first meetings with a prospect should be solid gold and close fairly quickly. Those agencies tend to have three things in common: they’re 1) erratic in new business strategy, 2) hire and fire new business personnel fairly often, and 3) are generally […]
Always a good idea to revisit the basics. For those of you handling new business internally, we’ve written before on how hard it is to initially break through to prospects. Once you have broken through, however, the process has just started. Next comes your first meeting, and the steps afterward. We talk with our own […]
The theory of the summer slump is a myth. A fairy tale. We called this out in a post a few weeks ago, New Business Development “Summer Slump” … Feeling lonely as a Mars Rover?. That post argues that the summer slump is something we create by buying into the notion it has basis in […]
With the release of the new RSW/US infographic, Ups and Downs of Agency New Business, last week’s post told the story of a down: a “horror story” about a new business development prospect opportunity that went from hot to cold, seemingly at the click of the “Send” icon. Thinking they were being efficient, the agency sent […]
As we were developing the Ups and Downs of Agency New Business infographic, a colleague here at RSW/US who is a New Business Director, shared a “down” that relates closely to “Level 4” of the infographic: Manage the Meeting. This experience happened about five years ago, but was so painful, the memory still haunts. The […]
To Get the Second Meeting. So knowing that, don’t sabotage that first meeting. A few real-world examples to avoid: 1) Trying to make the meeting more than it is (a first step) You’re not signing the contract at the first meeting. New business is a process and not every meeting is going to result in immediate […]
And Persistent. Okay. I said it. AGAIN. We do talk about polite persistence a lot at RSW/US. Actually, we do more than TALK about it, we practice it. But if you’re a bit weary of us talking about being “politely persistent” in pursuit of new business prospects for clients, we could call […]
Two recent posts have addressed the importance of managing the introductory meeting process with new prospective clients, from pre-meeting planning and strategy, to managing the meeting itself. Following the meeting, the work is likely to continue. In Our “Check the Boxes – Getting to Close” webinar (or slides) for agency new business, we related that […]
So, you’ve scheduled that new business meeting. This is Part II in the series on “Now The Work Begins!” Our recent post on fully preparing for that agency new business meeting your team worked so hard to schedule offered steps to take in advance, showing your prospect how interested and familiar you are with their business […]
With agency new business, you KNOW how much effort can go into getting a prospect to commit to an initial meeting. Once that meeting is scheduled though, the work is not over. Accordingly, as we collaborate with our clients here at RSW/US, our support continues on long after getting the meeting on everyone’s calendars. Each […]
