Using Client Work To Land Prospects — OK? 3 Takeaways Ep. 74

Two accounts are a conflict. Three accounts make you a specialist agency.

I love that quote, and I got a question on using client work to land prospects and agency conflict of interest for small and mid-sized agencies that you’ll want to stick around for in this episode.

OK, I got a question from a longtime fan of the program, Dan from Baltimore, Maryland:

Something I’d love to hear more about is the use of client work to land prospects from the same industry. Is it ok? Permissions? Beg for forgiveness?”

The first thing I thought was, yes, agencies do that all the time with case studies, right?

But that’s not really what he meant.

So let’s dig into this topic.

First thing to point out, I’m leaving holding company agencies out of this conversation-potential conflicts get locked out or resolved very early in those situations, right?

I’m talking about those smaller agencies.

To Dan’s question, is it OK to share that work with prospects in the same industry?

First thing to ask-is there a non-compete in place?

Which leads to your first Takeaway:

Don’t sign a non-compete and do have a conflict policy in place.

In reality, this will not always work and you will have to sign that non-compete, but you should have a policy in place, in lieu of signing that, to at least give you an alternative you can offer that gives you some leeway, and doesn’t completely constrict your ability to work in that category.

And a bonus takeaway here- if a non-compete is on the table with a new client, think really carefully, if you’re in a certain geographic market, can you charge them what you need to justify that exclusivity?

Can be tough.

But let’s say you’ve already signed that non-compete, or more often with small to mid-sized agencies, it’s understood that you won’t be going after competitors.

It turns into a gray area, right?

There are less AOR’s, more project work, and how broad a definition does a client consider a conflict?

So you have those clients that are sacrosanct-we’re not going after anyone even close to what they do-too important a client.

Then you have those clients who do not care-go for it.

It’s that middle ground Dan is asking about though, isn’t it.

And in those cases, it’s typically that geographically, you’re not going after a direct competitor in their backyard, and there’s not a formal non-compete.

So here’s your second takeaway:

Ask or beg for forgiveness.

Which I guess could be two different takeaways, but if ethically, you can plainly see that yes, this is similar work, but there is no direct competition-you can ask and explain, if you have that relationship with your client.

Or you can prospect those companies outside your client geo, and one-on-one with that prospect, not on your site, not in your content or email blasts, describe the work, possibly name drop the client to your prospect, and beg forgiveness IF it ever comes up.

But even that might feel, “I don’t know”, so the best way to handle is your third takeaway-

If you got this new client, would your existing client be unhappy about it?

It really is best to establish it up front wherever possible, especially because so much of it is situational and case-by case.

 

 

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Ad Agencies Are Bad At New Business 3 Ways To Fix It – 3 Takeaways Ep.73

Ad Agencies Are Bad At New Business: 3 Ways To Fix It – 3 Takeaways Ep.73

Welcome to “3 Takeaways”, your agency new business video series where we focus on one new business category and give you three takeaways to help improve your new business program.

Okay, so we work with small and mid-sized agencies at RSW to help them drive new business.

What I’ve always found fascinating, still, in my 13th year of working here, is how good ad agencies are at the client work they do, and how terrible they typically are at doing it for themselves. At bringing in new business.

The reasons are many, we’ve talked about them: lack of time, hire that didn’t work out, just not being good at it.

Let’s talk about this last one. I

I’ve had conversations where an agency principal will say-we don’t get it, there’s no reason why we aren’t getting more new business-when we start working with a client, they love us.

And I’ll say, that’s great, that’s how it should be-but what are you saying to your prospects up front, what are your competitive differences?

We’re really smart, we’re an extension of your team, we’re really fast, we have a ton of experience, we make our clients look like heroes-TIME OUT.

All those things are great, and when you work with a client, all those things are important.

BEFORE you start working with them, and they’re not a client, they’re a prospect, all those things make you sound like everyone else.

And especially when you hire a new business director internally, and you equip them with that kind of messaging, it’s no wonder new business directors only last 18 months on average.

If you, or your new business director can’t speak with confidence and passion in a meaningful way to prospects about how you can help, then you’re selling from a position of weakness.

So how can you arm yourself, or your new business director with tangible selling points, that will help them pick up the phone, or write an email that doesn’t suck?

Here we go-Your first takeaway:

Build a strong prospecting brand for your agency.

We’ve said in previous episodes, how strategic you are, how smart you are, even how awesome your culture is-none of that should be in your elevator pitch.

Your prospecting brand is how you present your agency ongoing to your prospects and is really a mindset that should inform your entire new business process.

To have an effective prospecting brand, you need to answer YES to these three questions-

-Are your new business efforts memorable,

-Are you providing value, in some way, with every touchpoint, and

-Are you building prospecting trust?

OK, your second takeaway:

Write down your prospects’ challenges, by vertical.

Speaking to challenges within those verticals is one great way to show your expertise and authority.

I’ve asked agencies, what challenges do you help your clients solve?

And so often, the answers are not great, not at first.

Once you dig a bit, you can get specific-you’re helping your clients with those challenges right now.

And I say write them down, because you need to make them as succinct as possible.

You don’t have time to tell a story at the top of the funnel.

When I started at RSW as a new business director, with every agency client, I had a cheat sheet with a list of succinct challenges that client helped solve.

Not a script, but a reminder.

It was a huge help.

And your final takeaway:

Don’t sell all the time.

Take a breath and instead, send over an interesting piece of content, and tie into the work you’re doing for clients, if possible, your prospects will appreciate it.

And remember, 73% of marketers say they read agency blogs/content.

It works. Thanks for watching 3 Takeaways-lots of new business content on our resources page at the URL below-we’re here to help you drive new business if you need it at rswus.com.

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You Must Do This For Prospecting Success

You Must Do This For Prospecting Success-3 Takeaways Ep. 72

You will not experience prospecting success unless you prospect with intent. 

What does it mean and what does it look like?

Watch this episode to find out.

Welcome to “3 Takeaways”, your agency new business video series where we focus on one new business category and give you three takeaways to help improve your new business program.  

So let’s start with the definition of intent: it’s the act or fact of intending-don’t you hate definitions like that? 

But it’s then followed by one word:

PURPOSE. 

Prospecting with intent is prospecting with purpose. It’s avoiding generic, aimless, let’s see what sticks against the wall type of messaging.

So for our 3 takeaways, we’ve got 3 ways to help you purposefully prospect.

Let’s start with the tried-and-true email, and your first takeaway, which is:

Find a way to provide value in your emails. 

Let’s take a look at this email.

Quick read:

I hope this finds you well.  I am following up on my previous emails to confirm you received them. I figure one last shot to connect makes sense, as I know our services provide value. If you are open for a quick intro call to discuss, please let me know a good day/time and I’ll send an invite. If you are not the correct contact at Rsw/us-Outsourced Lead Generation for Marketing Services Firms, can you let me know who I should speak with?

There is no prospecting with intent here.

First-I don’t know what his company does.

His original emails are not underneath, and he never mentions it.

Second-he’s done no homework-we are not an agency, and a quick look at our site would show that.

Third-there is no value here, other than he says, and I quote, I know our services provide value. Trust me dude.

And fourth, and really just a pet peeve of mine-he’s just lifted Rsw/us-Outsourced Lead Generation for Marketing Services Firms from LinkedIn, because that’s not the name of our company.  

So what is an example of an email that has intent, or purpose? 

I got this the same day as the other email.

Don’t like overpriced business phones that are clunky and/or unreliable? We’re X Company: We’re helping agencies such as yours upgrade to uber-fast telecom service for as much as half the cost (99.9% Uptime, Videoconferencing, Call Routing & more) Does this sound good? All I’d need is 2 minutes or less to see if we’d we’re a fit. Is there a good number/time to quickly call/explain the details?

You can quibble with certain aspects here, and she did call us an agency, but this is short, direct, and has purpose in that I know exactly who they are, what they do, and how it might bring value to my world.

Alright, your second takeaway:

Don’t expect your prospects to do the work for you.

We’re going to look at voicemail now, here’s a recent voicemail that was left for me:

Hi there, reaching out about an email I sent you today, April first, titled “growth”-as soon as you get a chance, please reply to the email I sent, and this is Chris, from”-you get the rest. 

Tough to find prospecting success with no intent or purpose here.  

Never got an email with that subject line, no idea what you do, and you’re also expecting me to find that email, and I should send my reply right back over. 

Yeah, I’ll get right on it.

When you give zero reason, or value to inspire, or drive your prospects to respond, your prospects will not do that work for you.

To help flesh out what you should do, our last episode, episode 70, is all about leaving effective voicemails.

Your final takeaway is this:

Update your database.

How does this translate to prospecting with intent? 

It goes back to the earlier emails I just talked, and our company being called an agency. 

It’s not egregious, we do only work with agencies, but I would guess well over half of the sales emails I get, I shouldn’t be getting.

It’s part of doing your homework.

And doing that up-front homework, to ensure the backbone of your prospecting effort- your list, is made up of the right companies. 

Now, it does take some manual work, and I know there are some firms in our RSW database that shouldn’t be there, but we’ve put in an effort over the last year to get that cleaned up, and it’s still ongoing.  

But you need to take the time, even in manageable chunks, to get that done.

So, thanks for watching 3 Takeaways-we’ve got lots of new business content, just look for the resources dropdown on our home page at rswus.com. 

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