If you own a small or mid-sized marketing firm, you’ve probably struggled with the “ideal” new business lead generation solution. Most agencies solve this by hiring a full-time salesperson.

They hire a junior level salesperson. Next they try hiring a six-figure type salesperson. Then they ask: Why doesn’t this work?

Here are some of the truths behind why an agency of your size probably shouldn’t hire a full-time new business development person:

1. Career path is missing. What do you really have to offer a salesperson career-wise? Where would they move next? Any role you hire at your agency needs an opportunity path that keeps their head in the game.
2. New business development is not integrated within your agency. In previous posts, we’ve talked about how business development is isolated and is often on its own “island of misfit toys” within the agency. This role is assigned to someone with the orders of “make it happen” – then the team walks away while checking in every so often to ask, “Did you get a meeting yet?” This role can’t succeed in a vacuum.
3. Lack of marketing and technology to support them. Have you positioned your agency effectively as a basis for successful new business development? Do you offer them content driven marketing campaign support for the sales effort? Do you have a CRM in place for sales activity and pipeline tracking?
4. Their skill set is not diverse enough for what you really need. You don’t need “a salesperson” to make this happen. You need a village equal to one full-time employee equivalent * (FTE) instead. Skills needed include content creation, email marketing campaigns, sales outreach, etc. (See the end of this post for more ideas on this.)
5. They turn into Account Executives instead. Things get busy, your salesperson morphs into an account executive and new business development efforts fall off the table – or are done inconsistently.

What can you do instead?

Break down the new business lead generation activities below into one Full-Time Equivalent role instead of expecting unrealistically that one salesperson can do it all:

• Creating and running lead generation and lead nurturing campaigns
• Creation of thought leadership driven content to fuel campaigns
• Consistent execution of outbound email marketing campaigns based on this type of content
• Reviewing campaign analytics for success: who is engaging with your content
• Phone outreach to warmer, “content engaged” prospects: relationship building, lead nurturing
• Creating strategic sales presentations for new business opportunities (Current account executives, for example)
• Presenting to potential clients (Current executives and senior team)
• Moving this opportunity through the pipeline to potential close of new business

1. Identify who on your current team can take on one or more of these activities.
2. Do a gap analysis on the remaining activities and hire (consider part-time) or outsource for the parts you need.

Leverage your existing team first – then fill in the gaps for a complete, integrated new business development team effort. Don’t overhire.

Is your agency business development “isolated” or is it baked in to your organizational processes? Chris Vitrano illustrates why three things are important for success: 1) Consensus, alignment and integration, 2) redefining sales in an opt-in world and 3) defining career paths for the business development role.

Christopher Vitrano is the Marketing Director for Nelson Schmidt, Inc., a full-service marketing communications agency with offices in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, named one of the top marketing firms in the country six consecutive years by “BtoB Magazine.” U.S. and international clients include ADP, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Honeywell, McKesson and Polaris. Chris’ 22-year career spans a progressive range of agency creative, account service and business development roles — shaping his perspective on contemporary agency business development.

Chris, what is missing today from an agency’s business development strategy?

I look at it as missed opportunities. Speaking broadly, agencies tend to be myopic. We are focused on the day-to-day requirements to run a successful business while doing great work for our clients. The missed opportunity is the desire and capability to also step back and chart a longer range view and understanding of who our best clients are and why do they choose to work with us? To me, that’s pretty much the basis for any agency business development strategy to be formulated and acted upon.

Is it a lack of making agency business development a priority or is it the ability to allocate consistent resources to it?

As I mentioned, in today’s world, without treating business development as one of the agency’s functional disciplines — it’s always going to be a challenge for the organization to prioritize an on-going program and rationalize a corresponding resource plan of people, process and tools.

We frequently see an agency outsourcing business development but not integrating it into their processes – and then wondering why it’s not effective.

ARGH! Again, if it’s not baked into an agency’s process-driven organizational interactions, you end up with very misaligned views of the perception and reality of your business development investment. Executive management will have a different opinion than the business development officer … who’s opinion differs from the account services team … and the creatives don’t really care. In such scenarios, it’s not effective because there’s no easy way for the agency at-large to agree on what “business development” is and why the discipline is meaningful, on a daily and on-going basis, to the company and to each individual.

Do you think most agency owners’ expectations of their business development person’s efforts are reasonable, realistic or aligned based on today’s buyer’s market?

Social media has dramatically changed how we consume information, both personally and professionally. We now live in an “opt-in” world, and I’ve learned that agency business development must abide by this rule. Agency owners who understand this evolution tend to hire business development officers with social media acumen and the ability to establish and nurture a relationship-driven, rather than transactional-focused, prospect opportunity. If you’re still thinking it’s about “numbers” — just make X calls to get Y meetings to get Z projects  — I don’t see that approach as a realistic strategy like it may have been before the social media phenomenon.

So yes, if an agency owner appreciates an opt-in approach to business development and acknowledges “it’s not who we know, but who knows us,” and what the buyer thinks of the agency will influence how they react and engage with our brand, then their general expectations of the business development role will most likely be realistic.

What else is missing in the agency business development puzzle?

A dedicated career path for the business development profession. I think in many agencies, bodies are still just put in chairs. However, it’s great to see that many agencies are putting more thought into creating a business development discipline, with the lead role having a seat at the management table as the shop’s chief marketing and a sales officer. That’s a pretty significant human resource, with a specific skill set needed to nurture qualified prospects into mutually beneficial business relationships that can be forecast financially over an extended period of time. You’d think given these optimal end results, especially on a national and international scale, agencies would be eager to establish career positions that will attract and retain top business development talent. Good news for the industry and the profession … more and more are doing just that!

An interview with John Gleason, currently President of A Better View Strategic Consulting who – inspired by observations & experiences at Procter & Gamble and reinforced by interactions with more than 50 branded, consumer-facing organizations (mostly large CPG companies), and more than 600 creative services agencies – views the challenges marketing agencies face with a client lens. Click here to download the entire interview with John.

Why do marketing agencies struggle with business development?

They haven’t taken the time to define who they really are… and most importantly why they are the right choice for each potential client. We know our processes and our work so well that “We do this in our sleep, for ourselves!” And it shows. Agencies claim to have great, “proprietary” processes, but have rarely ever used these methods on themselves.

If they had applied their own processes to their own firm, they would see that they sound the same as most other firms… and lack real differentiation and likely offer little meaningful relevance for the client’s business.

How would you respond to concerns of agency owners about how narrowing focus means narrowing available opportunities?

It is completely logical to believe that a narrow and focused offering (i.e. “less broad”) might limit opportunities and potential engagements., saying something like “I can’t afford to be narrow.” Based on my experience, you can’t afford not to be narrow. You are going to get your wallet stolen by clients or procurement specialists who don’t understand the nuances in the marketing services space.

The more focused, narrow, and deliberate an agency can be about who they are and where their expertise lies, the more credible they’ll be because they’re not trying to be everything to everybody. And they can be more deliberate about who they approach. This is important, because by being focused and deliberate about potential clients – and not trying to chase every brand and every category – agencies should also be able to increase business development successes.

By comparison, would an agency ever recommend that a client’s brand is suitable for every consumer in every market? Of course not. So, why do agencies believe that they could credibly be suitable for every brand, in every category, for every capability?

They need to draw the line and say I’m the best at “X” and I’m going to walk away from it if the client doesn’t value this (and be willing to pay me what I think it’s worth. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Continued. Click here to download the entire interview with John Gleason.

When you’re a business services firm (staffing, IT, payroll, etc.) or a consulting firm (management consulting, HR consulting, etc.), spend time to discover what you offer that is truly different in the eyes of your decision makers. It will have a significant impact on how you market and sell your services.

Again, always keep in mind that your decision makers are multi-tasking and time-starved. If they aren’t able to instantly see a uniqueness about you, they’ll just put you in the bucket with the rest of your competitors. “Oh, it’s just another (_______) firm.” Fill in the blank with consulting, IT, staffing, etc.

Here are some examples of how to carve a niche for yourself that will help decision makers categorize you in a good way:

• Staffing firm. Too broad: “We specialize in placing experienced creative and marketing professionals in rewarding positions with a variety of firms.”
• Staffing firm. A better way: “We specialize in providing on demand talent to digital or interactive marketing departments of B2C companies.”
• Consulting firm. Too broad: “We create your competitive advantage by aligning your people, processes, culture, and strategy so everyone focuses on your vision.”
• Consulting firm. A better way: “We work with staffing firms who want to develop and execute a plan to expand globally.”
• IT services firm. Too broad: “We provide managed IT services.”
  IT services firm. A better way: “We provide IT solutions for small to mid-size companies in the hospitality industry in the Chicagoland area.”

You might think that this is narrowing your market. It is! But by narrowing your target market, you are creating the type of specialization that will make you stand out from your competitors and make it easier to brand, market and sell your services.