10 BD Problems and How to Bury Them

10 BD Problems and How to Bury Them

If you’re running an agency in 2025 and your new business pipeline feels thin, inconsistent, frustratingly quiet, or deceased, you’re not alone. I talk to agency owners every day who say some version of the same thing:

“We used to win more. Now it feels like we’re invisible.”

The truth? They’re not crazy. The game board has changed. The buyer has changed. The cheese has moved. The old ways, such as networking events, spray and pray, and even referrals, aren’t as effective today.

So, if you’re wondering why new business has gotten harder, I’ve got 10 reasons agencies are struggling to win clients in 2025. Some you know well, and others might be new. Each comes from my firsthand experience working with agencies and business development programs in the first half. You’ll see that the overarching theme throughout is value. Be the greatest value in all the tangible ways you can define it to win.

10 problems and, more importantly, what to do about them.

1. You Sound Like Everyone Else

The sea of sameness continues to rise. Every agency says they’re integrated, data-driven, human-centric, full-service, purpose-led, great relationships, and creatively obsessed. It’s marketing gibberish. If a client can swap your positioning with another agency, you have a problem. If a client can’t remember what you do that is different or unique beyond the basic services, you have a big problem.

What to do: Stop describing your services. Start owning your point of view. What do you believe that others don’t? How do you approach problems differently? What do you know about their audience that no one else has leveraged? Why is the outcome superior? What client pain do you solve better than anyone else? Clarity is magnetic. Bland or me-too is forgettable.

2. AI Flattened the Playing Field

Generative AI has commoditized “acceptable” creative. Marketers are adopting it at an alarming rate and expect their agencies to lead this new charge. New tech agencies that use it are popping up everywhere. It’s easier than ever to make something that looks professional in minutes. Clients increasingly ask why they should pay agency fees when AI can do it faster, better, and cheaper.

What to do: Move up the value chain. Creative production isn’t enough. Strategic insight, business fluency, category understanding, and intuition separate you now. Harness AI as another tool in your tool kit. Invest in training for the agency. Establish an AI COE and create a Chief AI Officer. AI won’t replace you. But someone using it smarter, faster, and more strategically will.

Drew McLellan (Agency Management Institute) and Susan Baier (Audience Audit) just completed research that reveals how marketing agencies can thrive by becoming AI guides, not victims. Their study exposes how clients feel about how their agencies use AI in their client work. Drew said, “This is the key that unlocks your agency’s ability to be found, trusted, hired, and valued by your ideal clients today.” I highly recommend that you check it out here.

3. Clients Aren’t Shopping the Old Way

Forget RFPs and agency search consultants. Today’s CMO doesn’t want to get bogged down in a six-month agency search process and pay outrageous fees for the torture. They are DIYing, looking for agencies through LinkedIn, Slack communities, YouTube, and ChatGPT. They’re asking peers, searching social, consuming content, booking meetings, and making choices.

What to do: Treat your agency like a brand. Be findable. Publish POVs. Post case studies that read like business stories, not eye candy. If you’re not visible where the real search happens, you’re out of the race before it begins.

4. Finance Runs the Show Now

You’re missing the mark if you sell through a marketing relationship alone. The CEO wants bottom-line value. The CFO wants maximum ROAS. Procurement wants the most significant savings. They all want outcomes. They want proof. They want trust and transparency.

What to do: Connect your work to business impact. If you can’t tie your creativity to performance, you’ll be seen as a cost center, not a value driver. Tell stories that speak CFO.

5. Holding Companies Poisoned the Well

I hear this from prospects all too often: “We picked a big-name agency. They brought the A-team to the pitch, then gave us the interns.” Holding cos made promises they thought they could phone in. Now, every agency pays the price of client skepticism.

What to do: Emphasize consistency and senior access. Prove that the people you have in the meeting are the ones who show up for the work. If they are, be transparent. Make sure the client team is in the meeting and running the show to demonstrate how the working relationship will actually be. That alone will set you apart.

6. Pitch Theater Is Played Out

Clients are tired of 20-person, 200-slide pitch meetings, spec work that never gets used, and elaborate pageantry. They want fast clarity, innovative thinking, proof points, and people who talk like business owners.

What to do: Ditch the pitch deck monologue. Have a real conversation. Bring unfinished ideas, not overpolished theatrics. Think beyond the creative with business-building ideas. Frame everything in ROI. Be curious, not just clever. Be the greatest value in every way possible.

7. You Lack Category Expertise

“We work across verticals” is code for “we don’t know your business.” In 2025, vertical knowledge is mandatory. If you can’t talk fluently about the challenges in healthcare, fintech, CPG, or SaaS, you’re a tourist. If you don’t know the industry, the business, the customer, or the solution, you are no more value to the client than a coloring book.

What to do: Pick your lane. Get fluent. Build a war chest of insights, case studies, and industry language. Don’t just pitch solutions. Name the problem better than the client can. Paint the solutions in industry and audience-specific terms.

8. Your Case Studies Suck

I hate to say it, but most case studies are shallow brag reels and eye candy. They show the output, not the impact. They frame the creative idea as the crescendo, not the business result. Pretty work doesn’t matter if the business impact is MIA.

I know. I know. The client won’t give you the data. Your part was only a link in a long chain of events. It’s confidential. I get it, but you’ve got to think beyond clicks and conversions about representing results and business impact however you can.

What to do: Structure your case studies like stories: challenge, insight, idea, and outcome. Put numbers to results. Even if you aren’t directly responsible, you can take credit for stock performance, overall growth, market expansion, anecdotal stories, and many other possible sources. Make it your responsibility at the start. And if you can’t, be honest about why. Transparency is rare and persuasive.

9. You’re the Hero of Your Story

Too many agencies still make it about themselves. Their process. Their awards. Their clever name. Clients don’t care. They care about their problems and want to understand how you solve them. They want to determine if you will provide greater value than their other agency choices.

What to do: Make the client the hero. You’re Yoda, not Luke. Frame your agency as the strategic partner that helped them win. It’s not your story. It’s theirs.

10. You’re Too Slow

One of the criticisms I often hear is that agencies are too slow to follow up. Too slow to shift gears. Too slow to respond. Clients move fast. The faster, the better. They expect clarity, responsiveness, and simplicity. Agencies still tend to move like it’s 2015.

What to do: Speed is a differentiator. Respond faster. Cut the jargon. Simplify. Make it easy for the client to say yes. Create momentum, not meetings. Earn trust, develop greater confidence, and defend that trust every chance you get. Trust = speed.

I know this list isn’t easy to read. I’ve lived through most of it. I’ve helped agencies dig out of these exact holes. I’ve seen what happens when an agency rewrites its story, leans into its real strengths, and starts leading instead of chasing. Cha-ching!

You don’t need a new pitch deck. You need a new mindset.

Start by solving one thing and then the next. Keep chopping away until the pipeline begins flowing again. Clean up your positioning. Rewrite your case studies. Pick a vertical and go deep. Show up where your prospects are. Demonstrate value in every way possible. Make the client the hero of all you do and share her story across her company. But for your own sake, don’t do nothing. Stop doing the same thing over and over again. You’ll only end up with the same bad results over and over again.

Make 2025 a turning point. Be the agency that adapts. Not the one that fades out, devoured by AI or invisible from irrelevance. 2026 is halfway here. If it’s not calling your agency, it’s time to rip off the bandaid.

Happy 2nd Half!

There is still time to turn an underperforming 1st half into an overperforming 2nd half. Take one, some, or all 10 problems and correct the course as you go. Schedule a call on my calendar if you have questions or need help. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily tips and advice. Subscribe to my newsletter for monthly content like this. #LetsGrow!