With any aggressive agency new business program, you should be touring more people than you ever imagined.
Start with a blank canvas and create a winning agency.
I’ve talked before about how important setting up a proper tour is for your agency. And you may “think” you have a nice space, beautiful views, cool environment, and more. What I’m suggesting is you may not realize just how much is missing. The space may be beautiful, but it fails to drive prospects to action. And isn’t that the whole point?
When an ad agency is really prepared for a tour, you can close a prospect quickly if the prospect is the least bit receptive to move soon. The purpose of developing a tour plan is to get your prospects into a receptive mind set where you can take them into a comfortable conference room and ask, “Is there anything more I can tell you about our firm? If not, then can we show you how we might work together?”
Let me share with you one example out of many.
Ad Agency Tour Wins Account:
There wasn’t much time. A good prospect had asked to come by the agency to talk over their account. They were unhappy with their current agency and were starting to look around. We were hired to help the agency win this national sporting goods manufacturer. We recommended a fast close strategy; strike fast before the account drifted into a formal review.
The process we choose was built around using a powerful agency tour followed by the magic question: “Would you like to see how we would work if we had your account?” This strategy was accepted and less then a week we re-decorated the agency, propped it properly for a tour, trained the staff on tour techniques, and set up our 7-day close presentation process.
On the tour, the prospect was very impressed. Back in the conference room he said he didn’t need to see anything else, the agency had the account. The final presentation wasn’t even needed. I had told the agency president that he would see agencies fired in his own conference room if he would learn how to build his presentation around the agency tour. On his first try, he got to see another agency’s fired. In his conference room. Nice feeling.
The payoff for the effort you make in developing a proper tour is simple. Agency facilities, prepared for tours, continue to pay off for years and years in pride, growth, better work culture, and great satisfaction. Especially when you hear a prospect say after an agency tour: “You really have an impressive organization.” The prospect hasn’t seen your creative recommendations. The prospect hasn’t talked to a client. The prospect has just walked the place where you spend most of your life. And now that prospect is ready to hire you.
Organizing for a tour is a unique opportunity. Great care and thought should be put into developing a tour strategy that works for your agency. If you’re interested in learning more about how to 1) get more opportunities to tour or 2) how to set up for a tour, just give us a call (412.897.9329) or drop us a line at [email protected].
Photo by aneesah
