Interview

Q. What’s the number one mistake most firms make in new business?
A. They confuse what they do well, for example, advertising, direct response, PR, design, or buying media with new business. They
believe that they will grow their firm if they are good at their craft. They don’t understand that new business requires a different set of
skills.

Q. For example?
A. A firm, let’s say an agency, will believe that they will win because they have the best creative. Or a media firm believes the way to win
is to have the best media plan. A PR firm believes growth comes from having the best PR plan. And they lose and don’t understand
how some other firm with less talent beat them. The firm that wins does it because it’s best at new business.

Q. What is new business?
A. We describe it as the art and science of winning new accounts. And it is confusing to most firms within the marketing communication
business. As I said, they think they grow by doing good work. But it’s much more than that.

Q. But isn’t being good at your craft important?
A. Yes, doing good work keeps you in business. But being good at new business grows your firm.

Q. How do you grow your firm?
A. A number of ways. Of course it can be organic growth or growth from within, from existing clients. In our practice, we don’t consider
organic growth to be new business, but it is growth and it’s important. We train firms in how to grow organically, but that’s not new
business.

Q. How do you grow a firm with new business?
A. You can grow a number of ways. The best known way is by winning a major formal presentation. And that probably means you have
to win first at the RFP stage. And to win at the RFP stage, prospects need to be aware that you are around. And it helps if you have a
strong brand that has important benefits for prospects. And it’s really helpful to have a relationship with the prospect. Not many firms
win at the RFP stage without some relationship with the prospect already in place. That’s why so few firms can grow steadily by winning
RFPs. Without an existing relationship, your chances of winning go way down. And your new business costs and staff frustration
mounts. But growing only by winning at major presentations is costly and difficult. In short there are lots of ways to grow your firm.

Q. How do you build awareness?
A. You have to reach out to prospects. And we teach a number of different ways to create awareness. Of course it depends upon who
you are reaching out to. But we show you how to factor that in.

Q. What’s the biggest change in new business?
A.   You mean besides more competition, different players, no rational approach to what or whom you’re competing against, how
prospects are using the selection process to solve their marketing problems, the use of RFPs, the lack of marketing experience on the
client side, the arrival of the purchasing department, and the no-account-too-small attitude of the larger agencies these days? Well,
beside these, a lot has changed. It’s a new ball game.

Q. What’s the biggest change?
A. Without a doubt, the new bi-polar client.

Q. That sounds like a social disease?
A. It’s worse if you’re in marketing communications. Different people within the organization are now driven by different needs. If you
aren’t in step with this bi-polar approach, then you are out-of-step with today’s new prospect.

Q. What new business problem do you encounter most?
A. How firms are trapped by the sell-and-do cycle. That cycle keeps a firm the same size for years, and it requires a lot of effort and
management support to break the cycle. It’s usually in place where the ownership has a “I’ve got mine” attitude. And the staff is usually
frustrated by that attitude. So the firm stays in the sell-and-do cycle while good people leave and the bad ones hang on.

Q. How do you break out?
A. Truth usually starts the process of breaking out. Truth sets a firm free. Acknowledge the truth of the situation and decide if you want
to break the cycle. Then you can.

Q. What’s the most overlooked part of new business? What’s a little known secret?
A. The power of chemistry in the selection process is little know or rarely understood. Search consultants know all about it. They see it
all the time. The secret is clients usually hire the firm they like best and that can be controlled in the selection process. Few firms doing
new business understand the power of creating high likeability. Or what we call chemistry.

Q. What unique new business problems do ad agencies face?
A. Most agency owners and operators haven’t come to grips with the new role agencies have. There’s a new landscape they must
operate in. For agencies, it’s a tactical world from the clients’ point of view. The focus is on results, working fast, and staying on budget.

Q. When will that change?
A. Clients will see agencies as strategic when clients stop looking at marketing as a way to maintain the status quo. When clients start
looking at marketing as a way to achieve dramatic change in the marketing place, then agencies can change. When that happens, the
role of agencies will be more important again, but not until that time. Marketing has to move first.

Q. In a year or so?
A. Maybe in our lifetime.

Q. Why have ad agencies lost the ear of the CEOs at major companies? Where are the leaders who have the respect of the
CEO?          A. It’s still around somewhat at the holding company level in a more limited fashion. But agencies haven’t lost it as much as
it has been seized by the consultants. They meet with the CEO in the board room on strategic issues while agencies have been pushed
down to the marketing conference room or the MARCOM manager’s office working on tactical issues. Like marketing communications.

Q. What can agencies do to get back into the board room?
A. Open a flanker consulting brand. It’s a process we call the Enterprise Agency because it works throughout the Enterprise, not just
with marketing. They you get into the board room but you can’t do that with your existing clients. They will always see the old you, you
as a tactical firm offering tactical solutions. And few major CEOs are in the market to hear that advice from ad agencies. Now some
owner/operators CEO types, usually acting as their own CMOs, want that personal contact with agency leadership, but it’s rare these
days. These accounts are usually the smaller ones.

Q. There’s much more to new business than meets the eye?
A. You bet, and that’s why we’re in business. We understand this patch of the woods really well.

Q. How does a firm get started?
A. It’s simple. Just dial 800/899.1538