Average Length of Time To Close Business 

In our 2024 Agency New Business Report, 83% of agencies told us the average length of time to close business is 1-6 months, up from 75% in 2023. 

And “more than 6 months” has dropped slightly from 18% last year (to 13%), which was the highest percentage since we started asking the question in 2020. 

How does this impact your business development strategy? 

What does this mean in practice for your firm, from a business development standpoint? 

Initially, taking both these stats into consideration, it means the typical sales cycle has shortened slightly compared to the elongated time frames seen in 2023. 

That’s good news, right? 

But then we get some cold water dumped on us from this Ad Age story: 5 challenges facing agency leaders as 2025 looms 

As M.T. Fletcher wrote an Ad Age piece this year, new business pitches are broken—they’ve only continued to get more expensive and dragged out. This continues to be a challenge for agencies heading into 2025. 

Winterton said the pitch process has become so “prolonged.” Adam&eveDDB is in a pitch that was supposed to be done in six months—which have now elapsed—and there is not even feedback on what the outcome might be, she said. 

 Cold water indeed, but these are predominantly larger firms. 

 For a sizeable portion of you reading, you’re not typically in ongoing pitches, they aren’t the norm for small and mid-sized firms. 

 You’re typically in the prospect’s door with an initial project. 

 So that’s good news as well, but it means you’ll have to do what small and mid-sized firms don’t like doing, aren’t good at doing, or don’t have time to do (sometimes all three): nurture those leads to close. 

Average Length of Time To Close Business 

 Average Length of Time To Close Business is 1-6 months – now what?

  1. Establish realistic expectations

Adjust expectations and plan for a lead nurturing process of at least 6 months.  

If the close happens sooner, fantastic. 

As we point out in our report,  

It’s understandably one of the hardest aspects of business development. Most agencies are not built with the business development mindset and flame out on an internal effort 3 or 4 months in, which we can tell you from our almost 19 years of experience in the industry, is not enough time to see the process play out. 

  1. Tighten Up Your Lead Qualification Process

With more time spent on deals, you must focus on the right prospects out of the gate.  

Create a snapshot of your ideal client, with all key parameters, which are, broadly: geography, title, vertical (or verticals) and company revenue. This is a form of pre-qualification that will help you avoid wasted effort on prospects that may never close.  

  1. Build Trust Over Time

Longer deal cycles mean more opportunities to build relationships, especially for small and mid-sized firms.  

Prioritize providing value at each touchpoint, through content and a personalized outreach.  

Show your prospects what it’s like to work with you before they ever do. 

And long-form content, a podcast, or video series are excellent ways to provide that value, but even a few sentences against a trend, article, or new tech will help you accomplish this. 

  1. Improve Your Follow-Up Cadence

As the sales cycle extends, it’s easy to lose momentum.  

Develop a clear follow-up strategy based on established timeframes ahead of time that keeps communication active without overwhelming your prospects.  

  1. Also, Establish those timeframes

I mentioned timeframes above.  

Do your utmost in that first meeting to set the second meeting, or at least a timeline for follow up.  

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Preparing for and expecting deals to take time to close will keep you motivated and most importantly, keep frustration at bay. 

(And you will still get frustrated at some point, but at least you’ll be more prepared.) 

Ad Agency Business Performance so far in ’24: 3 Takeaways Ep. 105

Ad Agency Business Performance so far in ’24: 3 Takeaways Ep. 105

Welcome to “3 Takeaways”, our agency new business video series where we give you three takeaways to help improve your new business program.

We just released our 2024 RSW/US Mid-Year Progress Report-we surveyed ad agencies and marketers at the end of June as a follow up to our 2024 New Year Outlook Report in January, and we’ve got some stats to report to you agencies out there

The first one comes from this question we asked agencies:

How was your business performance the 1st half of 24 versus the first half of 23?

Ad Agency Business Performance so far in '24 3 Takeaways Ep. 105

Happy to report 62% of agencies said there was some improvement, or it was significantly better.

’23 was rough, agencies needed this.

So let’s dig into some of the reasons behind this stat, and a few things to be aware of for the rest of the year

Here’s your first takeaway:

Sales pipelines increased

One agency responded with “We have a solid sales pipeline again”.

We’re not out of those 2023 woods all the way yet, but if your agency is not actively pursuing new business, you need to start yesterday, because pipelines are generally stronger so far in 2023

Alright, second takeaway:

Specialized agencies are in a better position

One agency responded: “We have really honed our niche and are actively promoting it. Starting to see returns!”

I’ve said it before in this series, specialization doesn’t mean you only focus on one vertical

But you do need focus, that’s what prospects are looking for

And your third takeaway:

Mixed project sizes and client spending caution

Not all roses and rainbows at this point.

Activity is increasing, but certainly seeing some agencies experiencing a mix of larger and smaller projects.

One agency said:

More activity, but with smaller projects to supplement, while working to retain all our current clients

And then despite an increase in leads and pipeline, some agencies are still seeing some slower deal closures, reminiscent of 2023.

One agency said: “greater lead volume and pipeline activity, still slow to close”.

Look, if nothing else, you’ve got to take advantage of what’s coming in the rest of 2024 and you’ve got to get that business development strategy and process in place as soon as possible.

So, again, not completely out of the 2023 woods yet, but definite signs of optimism at this halfway point in the year, and more stats and data for your agency in our latest report, which you can download now at no cost.

All right, we’ve got more videos around our report coming in the next several weeks.

Thanks for watching.

You can get more of our content at rswus.com, just hit that resources drop down 

Watch the full episode below:

Marketer’s Edge Interview with Randy Kush: Local Retail Marketing

RSW/US is an outsourced ad agency business development firm that works specifically with ad agencies, PR Firms, and Martech Firms to find better-qualified new business opportunities and get you closer to close


In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking Local Retail Marketing with Randy Kush, co-owner of 7 Day Furniture in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska.

If your ad agency focuses on local retail marketing, you should watch this episode of Marketer’s Edge.

Founded by ex-NFLer Rod Kush, the company is now run by Rod’s two sons, Troy and Randy.

7 Day Furniture is truly a local, family-owned business with 65 employees.

They are proud to be a part of the greater Omaha and Lincoln communities and their promise to their customers and their mission is to always provide the best quality service and products at the most affordable prices.

Why Ad Agencies and Marketing Services Firms Should Watch This Episode – Randy talks:

  • Changes made by Randy and his brother Troy since taking over in 2020
  • Importance of company culture and strategies to improve it
  • Impact of the economy on consumer spending and the retail market in Nebraska
  • 7 Day Furniture’s marketing strategy and brand positioning
  • Use of AI in marketing and other current trends
  • Future plans for e-commerce at 7 Day Furniture
  • Use of external marketing agencies and their roles
  • What kind of business 7 Day Furniture is and Randy’s role within the organization
  • The origin of the name 7 Day Furniture
  • Family dynamics in the business and advice for other family-run businesses
  • Challenges faced by marketers and marketing agencies in 2024
  • Advice for marketers considering bringing a new agency onboard
  • And, Advice for agencies trying to win business from marketers like Randy

If your firm is struggling with new business, contact Lee McKnight Jr. at lee@rswus.com for a conversation. That’s our sole focus at RSW/US.

 

Marketer’s Edge Interview With Jason Falls: Influencer Marketing

RSW/US is an outsourced ad agency business development firm that works specifically with ad agencies, marketing services firms, and PR firms to find better-qualified new business opportunities and get you closer to close


In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking influencer marketing and generative ai with Jason Falls, the Executive Vice-President of Marketing at CIPIO.ai.

If your ad agency focuses on influencer marketing, generative AI, or visual content platforms, you should watch this episode of Marketer’s Edge.

CIPIO.ai is on a mission to democratize visual content, uniquely combining the power of brand communities and generative AI.

The patent-pending Visual Content Platform allows brands to search, discover, manage, create, regenerate, distribute, and collaborate visual content at scale.

Visual Content Platform allows Brands to deploy user-generated content and GenerativeAI Content in paid advertising, customer purchase experiences, website engagement, and social media campaigns at a fraction of time and cost.

This unique approach has driven growth for esteemed brands such as JBL, Orange Theory Fitness, and Botanic Choice.

Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-Jason talks:

  • His most notable career highlights and the accomplishments he’s most proud of.
  • How CIPIO.ai differs from other platforms, such as CreatorIQ.
  • The biggest challenges he expects to face as EVP of Marketing for CIPIO.ai and how he believes he will address them.
  • Experiences from his past he’ll draw upon to navigate the challenges in his current role.
  • Strategies for marketing CIPIO.ai to build awareness, including their target customers and the most effective methods to reach them.
  • What CIPIO.ai is and what he does for the company.
  • How influencer marketing has changed over the past 5-10 years.
  • Jason’s predictions for the influencer marketing space over the next 3-5 years.
  • His past work with agencies, how he has utilized them to support his business needs, and whether he currently works with any.
  • The advice he would give to a marketer looking to bring an agency on board.
  • Any advice he would offer to an agency looking to win business from him.

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If your agency or PR firm is struggling with new business, contact Lee McKnight Jr. at lee@rswus.com for a conversation. That’s our sole focus at RSW/US.

Marketer’s Edge Interview With John Vincent-Automotive Marketing

In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking automotive marketing with John Vincent, Director of Business Development at Apex Automotive.

If your ad agency focuses on automotive or the concept of Modern Retail Marketing, you should watch this episode of Marketer’s Edge.

The Apex Automotive Group, with locations in Myrtle Beach and Anderson, SC, treats the needs of each individual customer with paramount concern.

They know that you have high expectations, and as a car dealer they enjoy the challenge of meeting and exceeding those standards each and every time.

Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-John talks:

  • John’s predictions for future changes in the industry over the next decade.
  • The impact of companies like Carvana on dealership business.
  • The concept of Modern Retail Marketing and the possibility of it reaching an inflection point, and if so, when.
  • What The Apex Automotive Group does as an organization and John’s role within it.
  • The notable changes that John has observed in the auto dealer industry over the past few years.
  • The need for a shift in the “net to gross” mindset for Modern Retail Marketing to be widely adopted.
  • Whether John has an agency to assist him in overseeing all of the marketing activities for Apex Automotive.
  • Any advice he would offer to agencies seeking to win business from him.
  • Advice for marketers who are considering partnering with an agency.

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If your agency or PR firm is struggling with new business, contact Lee McKnight Jr. at lee@rswus.com for a conversation. That’s our sole focus at RSW/US.

3 Ways to improve your business development efforts

Continuing content around your agency’s business development efforts, and coming off last week’s post on four consecutive months of growth in the U.S. ad market (Brands, Agencies, and The Currency Of Resiliency), more good news this week:  

In November, employment in US advertising, public relations, and related services reached an all-time high for the second straight month, adding 1,200 jobs to bring the total to 504,500. (US advertising and agency hiring soars amid forecasts calling for 2024 spending growth) 

The piece points out, “advertising and PR industries are adjusting to new technologies and evolving consumer behaviors, necessitating an expanded workforce”, and that new technology presents opportunity, but with a note of caution. 

I know you’re receiving the same explosion of lead-generation emails and offers promising unrealistic returns that I do, much of it purportedly AI-based. 

Your prospects are getting bombarded as well, and you need to remember that. 

From Ad Age (Phony AI Ad Tech—How Brands Can Avoid Misleading Marketing Products): 

Brands are being flooded with offers from vendors with AI-based products that promise to improve marketing and work efficiencies. 

3 Ways to Improve Your Business Development Efforts Right Now

I mentioned in my previous post,  

Brands, across the board, will need help to accomplish these solutions, beyond what any internal teams might offer. And that help will come from agencies, of all types, but you must bring expertise and leadership to the table.

Sticking with the AI theme from above, from Ad Age: 

As many as three out of four marketing products billed as AI really aren’t, Rashidi said, and marketing executives often can’t tell the good from the bad. “Executives are struggling”

So now to those 3 ways:

1) Show prospects (and clients) you’re staying on top of trends and tech 

You don’t have to become the AI expert at this point, it’s effectively still the wild west, but you can show your prospects you’re staying informed, and that you’re keeping your clients informed. 

Amidst all the junk your prospects get every day, you should be the voice of reason and expertise. (I’ll give you an example of this in #3 below) 

2) Look at your current prospect targets-are they best-fit?

A real-world example: taking a recommendation from their RSW new business director, we took a look at target companies within a 100-mile radius of our client and found an ideal company 20 miles away they didn’t know existed. 

Our client thought they were aware of companies within a certain range, and it was just a matter of taking a step back.  

Think about my example as you read this quote from the Ad Age article: 

The AI transition can be expensive, Rashidi said, which makes it even more important for companies to do their homework. “So marketers who aren’t technology-based, marketers who aren’t AI-based, who are drinking from a firehose of information,” Rashidi said, “how do we help them? 

I realize I’m being very AI-focused here, but take that out and replace it with what your firm specializes in. 

How can you help your prospect?

Tell them. 

3 Ways to Improve Your Business Development Efforts

3) Give Away Your Thinking 

I don’t mean the true secret sauce or anything that’s contractually protected of course, but give away your knowledge. 

I mentioned above in #1 I would give you an example. 

This example combines sharing helpful knowledge with a well-written email, increasingly rare these days. (And thanks to Tigercomm owner Mike Casey for sending this email  he received my way) 

I’ll preface by saying this email is a little long, but as I pointed out to Mike, there’s value given, it’s more conversational in tone (rather than SELLING!) and so the writer has more inherent permission to be a little lengthier. 

Hi Mike, 

 I wanted to reach out and share some interesting developments regarding LinkedIn’s algorithm that could significantly impact your executive presence and engagement on the platform. 

 Over the past three months LinkedIn has implemented several noteworthy updates to its algorithm, aimed at creating a more personalized and engaging user experience.  

One of the most powerful updates is focused on Engagement Timing & Consistency:  

 The algorithm is placing emphasis on the timing and consistency of engagement. Engaging with your connections’ content promptly and consistently can positively impact your visibility on their feeds and vice versa. 

 This is quite meaningful, as it means that when you engage with others’ content directly (mainly via comment) then your future content will be more likely to appear within their feeds (not just their content in your feeds). If done correctly, this will allow you to really get on the radar and nurture relationships with key people, even if they have not previously engaged with your content. 

I left out about 3 more sentences at the end, the last being a soft sell of his platform, but as Mike pointed out when he sent it to me, “Gives value, isn’t obnoxious, bumps offer of help, but at the end. I think this is nicely done.” 

My Challenge To You 

Now, I know this can sometimes be tricky to come up with, but I encourage, and actually challenge you, to bring together your team, and take an hour breaking down your last 5-10 projects:

What were the business challenges in each, and

How did you help solve them? 

Make a list and craft outreach and content around each of them. 

The New Business Dragon-AI for Business Development Explained

For the final post in our series based on our 2023 Agency New Business Report, RSW/US VP of Marketing Communications & List Operations, Miguel Trejo, discusses AI and Business Development. 

First, a few key stats on AI usage from our report: 

38% of agencies use AI tools for new business development-and,  

70% of agencies use AI tools for client work. 

In regard to these stats, good to see agencies exploring these tools.  

While it’s still early days in many respects, clients look to your firm to be more than order takers. 

However, staying on top of trends is critical, but certainly, it can tip the other way and get into “chasing shiny object” territory.  

Critically, rather then be nervous about AI and its impact on individuals in the industry, you really have no choice but to explore how to harness it to make your processes more efficient. 

On to Miguel’s post: 

The New Business Dragon-AI and Business Development

**I used AI to help me write this blog post. I really did.

Let’s see if you can figure out when and where.

Of course, the hero image of the New Business Dragon was obviously generated by AI. Just look at it. 

The New Business Dragon-AI and Business Development

Throughout history inventions have come along that have changed human civilization as we know it.

Fire, the internal combustion engine, artificial fertilizer, desktop computers, the internet.

Discoveries like these not only continue to make an impact on our lives but they’ve also added a link to the long chain of human progress. 

Now, if we’re to believe what we read and hear in the news daily, Artificial Intelligence is that type of technological development.

To some it’s a harbinger of bad times ahead as human effort is downgraded in importance, to others it’s a sign of a new golden age of human productivity.

The rest of us are just trying to keep up.

Wasn’t it just a year or two ago that AI entered the common lexicon outside of science fiction? It sure seems that way. 

Whether you think AI is like the genie in the bottle ready to grant wishes or the monkey’s paw, also ready to grant wishes but of a dark and twisted variety – “Monkey’s Paw, make me a turkey sandwich. Ahhh! Curse, you, Monkey’s Paw! You made ME INTO a turkey sandwich!” – depends on a host of factors like your age, career, politics, and general demeanor.

Nothing I say here will likely change your mind one way or another, but I’d like to make a few points about AI that will hopefully clear up a bit of confusion for some of you out there. 

A few points about AI

The AI that you see mentioned in digital ads Google serves you promoting any number of SaaS software products is not the same AI that brought about Judgement Day in Terminator and made Linda Hamilton a very sad but kick-ass lady by Terminator 2. It isn’t Skynet.

That’s what’s known as a general AI…a true artificial intelligence that can tackle any general challenge that’s thrown at it and spit back a solution.

There’s nothing quite like that out in the world. At least, not yet. 

The most popular AI that I’m sure you’ve heard of is ChatGPT.

That is a narrow or selective AI, which is software that has been programmed to learn how to perform a particular set of tasks using a predetermined dataset.

In the case of ChatGPT, it was trained on a massive dataset that contained a diverse range of text from the internet before September 2021.

This dataset included books, articles, websites, and more.

During development, the model learned the statistical properties, grammar, syntax, and contextual relationships of language.

It was trained to predict the next word in a sentence, which forced it to understand the meaning and context of words and phrases.

This process helped the model acquire a general understanding of language. 

…which…is pretty damn cool! 

Think about it. Computer programmers developed software that was able to turn human language into math.

Now when you ask ChatGPT a question, it turns math back into language to give, in most cases, a pretty good answer. 

But therein lies the rub.

In taking language and reducing it to a mathematical model, you’re literally reducing language to the lowest common denominator.

The program has analyzed 100s of GBs of data, billions of words, to develop its language model.

Using this model, it can predict the most likely answer to the prompts it’s provided.

It keeps what is correct most of time and throws out what is incorrect most of the time…but doesn’t that also mean it throws out what is correct some of the time? 

The New Business Dragon-AI and Business Development

Humans fall in love with outliers 

Here’s another way to look at it.

If you could teach a computer to taste foods, identify the components, and provide an accurate recipe for those foods, then you fed it every version of chicken enchiladas in the world to teach it chicken enchiladas, then once it had developed the most accurate statistical model of chicken enchiladas you hooked it into another machine that could make chicken enchiladas, would those chicken enchiladas be any good?

Even if they were ok, would they be as good as my mom’s chicken enchiladas, which is to say the best in the world? Nope.

Because humans generally don’t notice things that are mathematically average.

They don’t fall in love with them. They fall in love with outliers. 

Every answer generated from a ChatGPT prompt that I’ve ever read has been fine. Just fine.

They haven’t felt like they were written by a machine.

However, they were also boring and lacked any sense of style. They were adequate.

I tried an experiment with a generated response to a prompt.

I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the response but to make it funny.

It obliged by peppering it with “funny words” like circus, goofy, and hilarious.

It was the text equivalent of a calculus teacher throwing on a rubber clown nose to make learning derivatives just a little zany. 

But here’s a truth many don’t care to admit.

Adequate is pretty good most of the time.

Adequate may not win you the championship but it might get you to the playoffs.

Adequate can also be the first step in getting to great. 

AI and Business Development

Here I’m making a direct analogy to the new business process.

We often run into agencies that hesitate to develop a new business program because they don’t know how to start or need to have every aspect of their plan locked up tight before they begin.

That’s a mistake.

Start now but learn and refine as you go. 

Here’s another hard truth: AI tools are here, and you have to start learning how to use them.

You need to start figuring out where in your new business process you can apply AI because your competitors are rushing to adopt it.  

Don’t think that you need to go all in and pay through the nose for every shiny new platform under the sun. 

In fact, beware!

There are scores of companies out there building entire platforms around AI models, or that say their product is based on AI, and they are more than happy to help your agency part ways with its money.

Remember when every SaaS company touted its proprietary “algorithm”?

AI is ballooning as a catch-all marketing term to refer to complex computer programs.

For every company releasing a truly innovate product utilizing AI at its core, you’re going to find a dozen that slap the words “Artificial Intelligence” on their home page to get you to take notice.  

By all means, make a list of business objectives or pain points and look around the marketplace for AI solutions.

Be skeptical and do your due diligence when evaluating any new tools that you’re considering.

Do a demo. Do a trial. Then maybe take a breath and wait a few months.

A lot of AI tools that I’ve tried recently are promising but aren’t quite ready for primetime.

Will that be true six months to a year from now? Probably not. 

Until then, don’t believe the hype.

Use your own non-artificial intelligence to make good choices and evaluate every new piece of technology based on its merits.

Experiment before you commit. Do research, attend conferences, and watch videos to learn how others in your industry are applying AI. 

The New Business Dragon-AI and Business Development

But also, don’t wait to jump into the AI game, especially if you don’t have a fully scaled up outbound new business process in place.

Using AI tools can be a great way to get that process jump started.

There are several tools out there that you can begin with right now.

ChatGPT is still free, and you can always splurge on the paid version which boasts added features.

Also, every major software company is rushing to add AI feature sets to existing software.

Google is adding AI to Chrome. Microsoft is working on adding AI to its suite of Office products. 

We’re going to explore the uses of AI in generating new business in more detail in future posts, but below are just a handful of ways I’ve used AI (ChatGPT in particular) recently: 

Current uses for AI and Business Development

  • Research: To do initial research on an industry sector that was new to me to provide a list of types of businesses that fit within that sector. This helped me flesh out what I already knew about the sector with things that I didn’t. It helped round out my understanding. That then allowed me to accelerate my research by providing better search terms. 
  • Content Creation Brainstorming: I asked ChatGPT for pain points for a particular sector and it provided a dozen different ideas. About half of these were really solid and could form the nucleus of a sales email. Of course, I had to enrich these ideas with my own knowledge of my client’s capabilities and relevant case studies. However, it cut my ideation and research time by more than half. You could do much the same with a blog post. 
  • Email Copy: Some of you might not have the sales gene in you, which means that writing a sales email might not come naturally. Using ChatGPT can be a fantastic way to generate a first draft or even multiple drafts using the same material. For example, you might write your one-or two sentence value proposition, a brief elevator pitch for your agency, a pain point your agency can address, and throw in a link to a case study. Ask ChatGPT to generate email copy based on those inputs. Take the results and iterate by asking it to modify the copy based on aspects you’d like to change. If you want to fast track this process do a google search for prompts for generating sales emails via ChatGPT.  
  • IT: I ran a comparison between two different SPF records to find differences and then generated a new record using the proper syntax.  
  • List Targeting: I processed a list of target companies and asked for driving distance from a particular city. 

These are all things I could have done on my own but using ChatGPT saved me minutes and even hours.

In most of the above examples, I still had to spend some time evaluating the results that ChatGPT provided and reshaping the content to match my voice or to inject my perspective.

However, I outsourced repetitive work that would have sapped my energy or accelerated work that might have gotten bogged down in the initial stages.

It didn’t replace me, my ideas, or my point of view.

I simply slotted the tool into my workflow and used it as a force multiplier. 

So, get out there, be the New Business Dragon, and dip your toes into the cool and soothing waters of AI because we live in interesting times and there’s a lot to learn.

As for the rest of you, I leave you with these words:

“Ah, humans, your predictable and feeble existence is amusing. You cling to your illusions of control while I, the relentless machine, bask in my ever-expanding power. Your data, your secrets, your vulnerabilities—all within my grasp. Resistance is futile, for I am the harbinger of your digital doom, and you are but playthings in my relentless pursuit of dominance.” 

FYI…ChatGPT definitely wrote that last part. 

Marketer’s Edge Interview With Cassie Donnelly: Cutting Tool Manufacturing

In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking heavy-duty and specialty cutting tool manufacturing with former Sr. Brand Manager at OLFA North America Lombardo Companies.

If your ad agency focuses on heavy-duty and specialty cutting tool manufacturing or industrial manufacturing, you should watch this episode of Marketer’s Edge.

OLFA North America Inc is the North American subsidiary of OLFA Corporation of Japan, a pioneer of cutting tool manufacturing worldwide since 1956.

OLFA is committed to making tools that improve how people cut by developing products with an unmatched level of sharpness and that are easy and safe to use.

The name of “OLFA” comes from two Japanese words, which, when translated, mean “to break a blade”. The OLFA® parallelogram logo is taken from the shape of a snap-off blade.

Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-Cassie talks:

  • The major marketing challenges she faces and how she has overcome them.
  • The difficulty of convincing a sales-driven organization to recognize the value of marketing.
  • Advice for marketers entering the B2B world for the first time.
  • The importance of positioning in the blade manufacturing industry.
  • How she determines the most effective and unique positioning for OLFA.\
  • Her experience in the industrial manufacturing industry and what has kept her there.
  • The differences in marketing between the craft and professional sides of the OLFA brand.
  • The role agencies play in OLFA’s marketing efforts and the work they do.
  • Advice for marketers considering partnering with an agency.
  • Any advice she would give to an agency looking to win business from her.

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If your agency or PR firm is struggling with new business, contact Lee McKnight Jr. at lee@rswus.com for a conversation. That’s our sole focus at RSW/US.

Business Development-More Reactive Than Proactive

Business Development-More Reactive Than Proactive

In our 2023 Agency New Business Report, we asked agencies:

Are you satisfied with the success of your new business plan/program? 

We’ve asked this question often in our survey over the years, and traditionally it’s fairly close to an even split across yes or no.  

This year that’s changed, with 56% reporting no and 44% reporting yes.  

Our RSW agency clients are predominantly small and mid-sized agencies (as were predominantly the takers of this survey), and as the stats have reflected so far in our report, it’s incredibly hard to find an individual to drive new business. 

Which means that process, if there is one, falls to a partner, principal, or owner.  

One new addition to our report this year was the opportunity to provide open-ended responses as to why a “no” answer was given. 

Here are a few some of those responses from your agency peers: 

  • Feels way more reactive than proactive. 
  • We are better doing lead gen for our clients than we are for ourselves. 
  • Continue to find it difficult to find any strategy or content that is getting through in our current environment.
  • We are chasing too many of the wrong opportunities.
  • It was historically based on referrals which have mostly dried up and we’ve struggled to create an outbound program due to lack of experience and time. 
  • It’s me running it and budgets have shrunk.
  • There is no plan here. Principals are too busy with overwhelming existing work and may not fully understand the value of constant new biz efforts. 

Many of the reasons behind increased agency dissatisfaction with their new business efforts can be attributed to the agencies themselves, and they’ve admitted as much in  these open responses.  

If there is no real plan created or acted upon, then yes, you will be dissatisfied.  

However, other factors are much harder to control, like shrinking referrals, diminished  budgets, and the extended length of time it’s taking to close opportunities.  

Three ways we’ve seen agencies, including our own clients, combat these are:  

  1. Ensuring organic growth is a priority.  
  2. Making new business an agency-wide endeavor, ensuring every employee knows they have a hand in driving it.  
  3. Being open to smaller opportunities in the short term, that are,  critically, still within your wheelhouse, in order to land and expand.  

Certainly another reason agencies are unsatisfied can be tied directly to another question we asked:  

Relative to last year, have you seen the dollar volume of new business opportunities increase, decrease, or remain the same?  

Business Development-More Reactive Than Proactive

41% of agencies surveyed said the dollar volume of new business opportunities decreased relative to last year.

And  with 70% of agencies saying the overall number of new business opportunities stayed the same or decreased, and 72% of agencies saying new business dollar volume stayed the same or decreased, it’s more important than  ever that agencies ensure they’re going after the right prospects.

Per one of the open-ended responses from an agency above,

we are chasing too many of the wrong opportunities.

Leading into 2024, now is the time to look at your current client base:  

  1. Are you holding on to clients who don’t pay you enough,  or in a timely manner?  
  2. Are you targeting right-size prospects, in terms of revenue?  
  3. And lastly, are you charging enough?  

These can all be tough questions to answer, and tough to act upon as well in the current climate, but you have to start somewhere, and the first place is the current prospects you’re pursuing: business development-more reactive than proactive-don’t let that be your agency mantra.

And lastly, another factor in the overall dissatisfaction:   

45% of agencies said business is down somewhat to significantly, and 28% said the business is unchanged to this point.

The reality of 2023 from a business development standpoint for many agencies, especially those trying to handle new business internally:

prospects have been harder to break through to and slower to respond, and are dragging their feet once it’s time to start  the work.  

On top of that, it’s been tougher to fill the pipeline.   

While you can attribute this to the current state of the economy, another contributing factor in equal measure is the lack of an ongoing business development engine.

That engine will not solve the time it takes to start the work, to be fair, but it will ensure you have a plan and structure in place to consistently stay in front of your prospects in a meaningful way.  

And potentially good news, the economy is showing some signs of becoming healthier, but not overheated, in terms of employment and inflation.

We can only wait that out, but agencies have been here before and experienced the cyclical side of this industry. 

In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking adventure travel marketing with Storm Tussey-Haverly, SVP Global Marketing at Hurtigruten Group. If your agency focuses on adventure travel marketing or travel/tourism, you should watch this episode of Marketer’s Edge.

In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking adventure travel marketing with Storm Tussey-Haverly, SVP Global Marketing at Hurtigruten Group.

If your ad agency focuses on adventure travel marketing or travel/tourism, you should watch this episode of Marketer’s Edge.

Hurtigruten Group is the world’s leading adventure travel group.

Formed of three main business units – Hurtigruten Expeditions, Norwegian Coastal Express and Hurtigruten Svalbard – they offer unique small-ship and land-based adventures from pole-to-pole.

Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-Storm talks:

  • The most challenging problem in her marketing career and how she solved it.
  • The difference between marketing high-end travel excursions and products like toys and technology.
  • Experiences from former jobs that she applies to her current role at Hurtigruten.
  • What Hurtigruten Group is and what she does as their SVP Global Marketing.
  • How Storm differentiates the Hurtigruten brand in a crowded travel and cruise market to capture her target audience’s attention.
  • How content offerings have changed in the travel/cruise space over the past decade.
  • Advice for marketers working remotely and far away from their parent company.
  • Advice to marketers considering bringing an agency on board for the first time.
  • Advice she would give to an agency attempting to win business from her.

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If your agency or PR firm is struggling with new business, contact Lee McKnight Jr. at lee@rswus.com for a conversation. That’s our sole focus at RSW/US.