“Tell me something different” he said, he was looking for a different approach to new business.
So I did.
I told him that we would identify perfect fit companies for his agency by using the tools the investment community uses (Crunchbase); so we could identify businesses that have received funding in the last month of more than £10m to spend in the next twelve months on marketing.
“That IS different” he said. “I love this approach, it is truly a different approach to new business, tell me more”. So I did.
There are 240 companies in the UK who have raised funds of this nature in the last four months and about 30 new companies do so each month.
“When we speak to these companies” I told him “we’re pretty much always the first agency they are talking to”.
Getting There First!
“That makes sense” he replied “I get it”.
I then told him the story about the company we spoke to for a client the other month. We identified that they’d got funding the previous week on the Monday. We spoke to the founder on the Thursday who wanted to speak to our client on the Friday. They spoke and agreed to meet the following Tuesday.
They’d won the business by the end of the week. Without a pitch.
That’s how things work with these guys. They’ve been given the funds to spend on marketing and they need to spend it.
“But I want to meet established companies as well, can you do THAT?” he asked.
“Of course we can and we would propose that too. But they take longer to win. Sure they can be bigger, so it’d be foolish not to approach them AS WELL.
Best of Both Worlds. a different approach to new business
But the beauty of throwing these new guys into the mix is that one or two quick wins from them will pay for us whilst we’re working on the longer term targets” I countered “and some of those will turn into the next big established companies and you’ll be the agency employed by the founder or first CMO”.
“How much do you charge?” he asked.
“About the same as you’d pay a new business manager but without the other overheads” I replied.
“How long do I need to commit to using you?” was his final question.
“You don’t need to. You can stop whenever you want, without even having to give notice” I said.
“But you won’t”.
He is our new client, been with us a month and has met with three companies looking for an agency already. Now THAT is a different approach to new business.
