On my way to the record store this morning to pick up a few pieces of vinyl for my record player, I started thinking about how things go around and come back into fashion and that made me consider the role of analogue new business in a digital age. For the past few years we[…]
Many agencies believe that the role of outbound lead generation should be undertaken in-house by a dedicated resource. That resource will probably have a job title made up of a combination of some (or even all!) of these words – new, business, account, sales, manager, development, client, lead – but let’s call them a “new business manager”[…]
Many agency new business directors or owners believe that there is so much competition in their market that they should try to open up new markets as opposed to preaching to the converted; whilst laudable, in our opinion this strategy can take far too long and is a path littered with potential hurdles. As you may[…]
Agency new business is everyone’s business. Manifest believes that there needs to be a very real involvement by everyone in the firm in the agency new business programme. Everyone from Receptionist through to the CEO and Chairperson. I was astonished the other day when I had an email exchange with the MD of a pretty[…]
“Do you need targets to achieve results?” is a question I was asked a few days back and one the answer to which I thought deserved to be shared because it is one I have come across many times. I have been managing agency new business people since 1988 and have calculated that I have[…]
I was reminded recently of the Canal Barge analogy for agency new business. It was first told me many moons ago by, if I remember correctly, Graeme Green from LGM (that’s showing how long I’ve been in this business!). It goes like this. Imagine the marketing director is the pilot of an old fashioned canal[…]
I was reminded on the importance of a well written letter for agency business development was earlier. I was dropping my son off at school this morning as he was off on a bushcraft course – three days camping by the sea in Dorset, canoeing, rock climbing, survival etc. Sounds great fun! I got talking[…]
Running a marketing firm of any size is a juggling act; not only are you working on several different client/agency initiatives at any given time, but you’ve got projects from several different clients as well so it is important to prioritise clients and new business prospects. Often competing client conflicts will drive staff and leadership[…]
The Temporary King of new business is a term that sprang to mind the other day. If you read The Times then the back page of the The Game section recently provided a fascinating insight into the world of the football manager or rather, the world of those who appoint them. They discuss what on Merseyside[…]
Are agency MDs really salespeople?. Back to basics – SALES. It’s what we do – call it what you want, but that’s it. Many years ago I was making a speech at an Omnicom conference (DAS to be precise) and I was talking about sales and an MD of an agency at the end said[…]
