Coming off the Mirren New Business Conference, I’m reminded again that the struggles larger agencies have with new business are no different than the struggles small to mid-sized agencies go through. Different in scale?  Sure, but much the same. Big Or Small-Agencies Have The Same New Business Challenges A consistent approach, agency positioning, new business […]

RSW/US’s Lee McKnight with the final video in the “60 Second Series” on our 2017 New Business Outlook Report. Specifically, we’re talking marketers moving agency services in-house. Like the increase in project work we saw in our report, this is another trend that’s increasing in 2017. Nearly 80% of agencies predict their clients will move […]

A stat I’ve spoken to previously that bears repeating: 63% of agencies told us it was harder to break through to prospects in 2016 than the previous year. The reason: where there used to be the traditional gatekeeper you had to get through to reach the decision maker, now you’re surrounded by gatekeepers. (Thanks technology!) […]

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 […]

Two weeks ago we presented Part I of a two-part series about why a good new business proposal may be rejected. The post was based on the Harvard Business Review article, 5 Reasons Good Deals Get Rejected. In Part I, we addressed the first three possible reasons why even a terrific new business proposal maybe declined: You […]

Agencies tend to push an active new business strategy to the side until something wakes them up.  That “something” generally tends not to be good. Then there are those agencies who get it, and they find a way to keep new business active, and while that’s to be commended, even these agencies tend to overlook […]

As if rejection isn’t bad enough, this is the first of a two-part series on the topic. This Harvard Business Review article, 5 Reasons Good Deals Get Rejected, refers to situations outside the realm of the agency new business proposal specifically, but the reasons DO apply. The article does a great job describing the “why” […]

  First, the technicality: it was a bridge keeper that Sir Lancelot faced in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Yet, this is a scene that has come to mind more than once over my career as I’ve worked on getting past gatekeepers. Granted I never met any who required me to provide the correct answer […]

I had the privilege of moderating a panel at the Mirren 2016 New Business Conference in NYC titled New Business Tools & Productivity Hacks, with Matt Chollett from AgencySquared, Ryan Barry from ZappiStore and Dave Currie from Winmo. The structure of the panel came from our report, RSW/US-Mirren Agency New Business Tools-2016 and we focused […]