Kissing frogs for agency new business is a phrase we come across quite a lot.
“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF KISSING FROGS!” The poor man wailed.
“Really?” I empathised, but wanted to dig deeper “why is that?”
“It just. Doesn’t. Work” he accentuated each work with a loud thump on the Costa Coffee table at which we were sitting.
Startled mums with toddlers moved tables away from us. He was looking a bit scary truth be told.
“The lead generation company I use presently and each new business person I’ve employed in-house has either generated nothing or meetings with people with no interest in us.”
Exploring Further …
“Let’s dig a little deeper” I cajoled “tell me about the companies first of all”.
“Far too small to have a budget or constrained by international tie-ins.”
“And the people?”
“All very nice but were’t the real decision makers.”
“Toads” I said.
“Excuse me?” He responded, somewhat bemused.
“It’s not frogs you’ve been kissing, it’s toads. Kissing amphibians works, but you’ve got to know what type of amphibian to kiss and when. Kissing frogs for agency new business is fine. Just make sure they ARE frogs!
To the inexperienced eye a toad can be mistaken for a frog. But no matter how many toads you kiss, you’ll never be confronted by a Prince.”
I went on to explain how, with the right targeting and message one in three ‘frogs’ will turn out to have a live opportunity (a Prince) and most of our clients win one in three of these opportunities.
If you are using a new business agency that does not SPECIFICALLY tell you which companies they are approaching on your behalf then beware; you may end up kissing toads rather than kissing frogs. Manifest will take a detailed brief of the profile of the clients you want to work with. Using Nielsen and other research tools we will then identify, company by company and brand by brand the companies that fit this profile. We will then provide you with this list of companies. You then sense check it, take out those you are already n discussion with and those you do NOT want to speak to and return it to us.
Ask yourself this question: If Manifest arrange for me to meet the decision maker for what we provide at this company, will I be excited; regardless of whether there is a brief available right not.
If the answer is no. Put a red line through that company.
