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We work with over 50 agencies across the U.S., operating as their outsourced sales and marketing team.
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This is our latest RSW/US 2025 Professional Services New Business Survey Report, focusing on new business trends in the professional services world—and if there’s a theme for 2025, it’s this: the work is out there, but it’s taking longer to win and coming in smaller chunks.
A few things stood out: First, more than half of firms say it’s harder to land new business this year than last—driven by fewer opportunities and a tougher time breaking through.
Second, even when you do break through, expect to wait—78% of firms said it’s taking up to six months to close deals.
And third, satisfaction with new biz efforts hit a five-year low, with firms citing weak pipelines, reactive plans, and unclear strategy as culprits.
Despite that, there’s room for optimism.
The market’s starting to stabilize, and firms that adapt—by following up smartly, nurturing every opportunity (even the small ones), and staying in front of old leads—are seeing results.
It’s not about overhauling everything.
Sometimes it’s just about doing the basics better—and doing them consistently.
The 2025 RSW/US Professional Services New Business Survey Report was conducted with senior-level executives across a range of professional services firms
during the months of April and May 2025.
Types of firms included marketing service agencies, law firms, accounting firms, IT firms, software development firms, and engineering firms.
This year has been a challenging one for professional services firms and this survey is intended to help you improve the manner in which you pursue new business.
We hope the findings and takeaways from this study provide valuable guidance as you gear up your marketing and sales planning for the second half of 2025.
The sample came from our database of over 20,000 professional service firms in the U.S. and Canada. 95% of the firms responding to this survey had fewer than
50 employees.
If you’d like to reproduce any of our findings in any format, please reach out to Lee McKnight or Mark Sneider at (513-559-3111/3101) or via email at lee@rswus.com or
mark@rswus.com.