• How many agencies are all trying to do the same thing?

    Stop Following the Formal Pitch Process!

    Most agencies look and act pretty much the same to most prospects – perhaps doing something differently can help you stand out and win. Let me share a short story to […]

     
  • Blow past the competition! Fast close more business.

    Fast Close More Agency New Business Wins

    Fast closing means closing prospects within 48-hours, or within 7 days at most, from the time of the first visit. That means you bypass formal presentations, proposal writing, long reviews, […]

     
  • Tough prospects are slow to trust people.

    DOs And DON’Ts On Visiting A New Business Prospect

    A client will never hire an ad agency. A client will always hire someone, whom they trust, who happens to work at an ad agency. The agency comes along with […]

     
  • How To Win Clients Without A Formal Review

    How To Win Clients Without A Formal Review

    From a Logo to a Complete Brand Study in 48 Hours. It seemed like a simple assignment. A small design agency was called by a national insurance firm asking about […]

     
  • Bypass the RFP, go directly to the finals.

    How One Ad Agency Used the Tour to Bypass the RFP Phase

    We were already in this nice 30-person agency conducting a new business training session, setting up a Spark. The session was going great, when over lunch the president asked me […]

     
  • Painful Ad Agency Prospect Presentation Mistake

    Painful Ad Agency Prospect Presentation Mistake

    The head of account service (we’ll call him “Tom”) at a fast-moving regional agency was on a roll. Tom had just closed the largest account in the history of the […]

     
  • Start with a blank canvas and create a winning agency.

    Ad Agency Tour Wins Account

    With any aggressive agency new business program, you should be touring more people than you ever imagined. I’ve talked before about how important setting up a proper tour is for […]

     
  • The key is to break the cycle.

    Common Business Cycles: Find Your Agency

    If new business is the heartbeat of an agency, then new business leads are the pulse. If your agency isn’t seeing a steady stream of prospects who are interested in […]

     
  • Good luck with new business!

    A New Business Quiz

    Ad Agencies, PR, design, and digital firms, creative hot shops and more must become experts at finding prospects and winning new business. The competition has never been greater. Firms of all […]

     
  • A New Business Fable

    A New Business Fable

    Once upon a time, there was a nice advertising agency in an important city far, far away. The agency had four key partners named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. The […]