I’ve been on a jag lately in regards to clarity and conciseness in your new business messaging. (Well, not just lately, actually constantly.)

Any time I write an email, a letter-whatever vehicle I may be using to prospect-I always ask myself, “How can I make this shorter, more concise and more relevant to the prospect?”

Similarly to when I first started cutting grass as a kid, once I finished, my Dad would pull me aside and say, “Alright, stand back and take a look at the whole lawn, how does it look-miss any spots?”

An entertaining example of clarity in messaging comes from an unlikely source-the comedian Bill Burr.

He does a podcast twice a week you may be familiar with and in those podcasts he reads advertising copy for those brands/companies brave enough to be a part of the podcast.

Agency New Business Via Bill Burr-Get To The Point

I say brave for two reasons: 1) He uses the word f**k operationally in just about every sentence, as a verb, adverb, adjective, command, conjunction, noun and pronoun and I think other ways you may not be aware of and 2) he calls out these advertisers on any and everything.

(You could rightly point out that Burr lacks professionalism here, effectively belittling his advertisers, but they know what they’re getting into at this point.)

The copy is overwrought?  He calls them out.  The offer is confusing/silly?  He calls them out.

Here’s a classic example of Burr just busting out laughing, not able to get through his copy read (warning on the language.)

And what I particularly like is Burr admittedly points out often that he’s not a strong reader, and reading a bunch of wordy, jargon-filled copy does not sit well with him-

Get to the point, in other words.

Your prospects feel the same way-they don’t have time to muddle through and decipher ineffective, overblown messaging.

You need to channel your inner Bill Burr when you’re creating/thinking new business messaging for your agency.

Keep it simple, concise and plainly convey who you are, what you do and how you can help.

And a random, but relevant tip:

Agency New Business Via Bill Burr-Get To The Point

Do not kick off any email or conversation with an open-ended question that has no meaningful or easy answer.

For example: “Does your current agency create ideas that propel meaningful change and make processes better?”

What answer could you possibly get from that that will lead to anything useful? Other than annoying your prospect?

Channel your inner Burr, with or without the cursing, that’s optional.

I'm the VP of Sales at RSW/US. We specialize in working with services firms to help drive and close new business-if you need help with that, email me at lee@rswus.com. What I actually do: drive sales efforts to bring ad agencies and services firms on board with RSW, create content around successful new business tactics and help drive RSW/US marketing objectives, including social media channels, blog content, webinars, video and speaking engagements. Dig it.