For this post, I want to give a shout-out-to all of you in the new business trenches, every mighty salesperson, whether you’re a new business director or a partner at your firm. It’s no newsflash to point out that this business is hard. A short, entertaining story to illustrate my point (at my expense): When […]
Your Readiness Checklist: Why Agency Consolidation is the Indie’s Greatest Opportunity The “Big Six” are becoming the “Big Few.” As Madison Avenue continues its streak of massive mergers and AI-driven restructuring, a specific phrase from a recent Marketing Brew piece should be music to the ears of independent agency owners: “[Marketers] could start to notice […]
Recently an agency owner asked me a simple but important question: Question: what is the appropriate length for an intro piece? And what does it contain? Do you have a simple ‘hello’ piece I can look at? Not a full proposal, just something you send prospects to introduce who you are. It’s a great question […]
I started RSW/US in 2005 with no clients, three young children, and a love of advertising, marketing, and sales. Today we are the #1 outsourced new business firm in the country. I’ve learned a lot over the years…about running a business, about myself, and about the value of great employees and clients. Here are 20 […]
A question that’s come up in conversations I’ve had with partners at firms: ” What do you think about sending over an initial proposal prior to the first meeting with a prospect?” I generally understand why a partner or business development lead would think this is helpful. In their mind, it’s giving that prospect helpful/useful […]
As we head into the final stretch of 2025, optimism is rising. In our latest survey report (2025 RSW/US Survey Report – Rolling Into 2026), 57% of firms told us they expect their overall business performance in the second half of the year to outperform the first. After 24+ months of budget constraints, longer sales […]
Our VP of Sales & Marketing, Lee McKnight Jr., just joined Drew McLellan on the Build a Better Agency podcast to break down the findings from our Rolling into 2026 Agency New Business Report. In this episode, Drew and Lee take a hard look at the state of agency new business as we head into […]
“Please if we wanted to reach out we would. I know you want to help but we get a lot of these emails everyday. Again, thanks but let us do the reaching out.” This landed in my inbox a few weeks ago from an agency principal. I wasn’t bothered by it. I know every one […]
Only 7% of ad agency and professional services leaders report their pipelines are strong and growing. That’s from our latest business development report, (2025 RSW/US Survey Report – Rolling Into 2026) and it’s a surprising snapshot. Now the better news: 50% of firms feel like while their pipelines are weak, they are improving. And 57% […]
Talent Isn’t Enough: Lessons From The Replacements on Why Firms Fail to Grow Have you ever heard of the band The Replacements? (and if your first thought was, “that’s not a band, that’s a Keanu Reeves football movie”, then I am instantly sad). I’m guessing roughly 50%, probably more of you, have not. And that […]
