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Every Agency Win Is a Lesson for the Others
I’ve spent many years helping agencies win new business and helping marketers find agencies. During that time, I’ve heard hundreds of agency leaders explain why they believed they won an account. Sometimes it was the…
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Your Agency’s Problem Isn’t Prospecting. It’s Showing Value.
Your Agency’s Problem Isn’t Prospecting. It’s Showing Value. That’s why growth often slows long before anyone notices the real issue. Every few weeks, I end up having essentially the same conversation with a different agency…
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Winmo. The best tool for agency new business
Winmo. Best tool for agency new business Full transparency: I’m a big Winmo fan and a daily user, going way back to when they were the List. I blog about it, speak about it, use…
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Your BD Process Is a Test Drive
Your BD Process Is a Test Drive I recently read a McKinsey article that, though not about advertising agencies, made me reflect on the agency business development process. The article, “The Surprising Economics of B2B…
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The Pipeline Wasn’t the Problem
The Pipeline Wasn’t the Problem A few years ago, I had a video call with an agency owner who, by most external measures, was doing fine. Revenue was steady. Referrals were trickling in. The calendar…
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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…
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Your Ad Agency Prospecting Platform
Your Ad Agency Prospecting Platform Reach more prospects. Guide the journey. Make decisions with data. Track your progress. Convert more clients. Affordable. Easy to use. Powerful. Backed by 20 years of new business experience. All…
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The Business Development Dilemma
The Business Development Dilemma 2025 is fast approaching, and agencies are finding themselves at a critical inflection point. The industry is rapidly evolving in three dimensions simultaneously, presenting exciting opportunities and tough challenges with agency…
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Best of Times or Worst of Times
Best of Times or Worst of Times Do you think this is the best of times or the worst of times for your agency? Have you adjusted your agency new business strategy? If you attended…
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Is Ad Agency BD Harder Today
Is Ad Agency BD Harder Today Is ad agency business development harder today than ten years ago? The 80:20 rule suggests so. In a recent discussion with a friend in the business, we found ourselves…
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2nd Half Agency Growth Playbook
2nd Half Agency Growth Playbook Missing your first-half forecast is a tough pill to swallow. Your passion-driven new business goals are starting to feel more like pipe dreams. The pressure is mounting to turn things…
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10 Agency Growth Tactics
10 Agency Growth Tactics Let’s say you completed my CORE Identity Exploration process and have your manifesto, brand narrative, anthem, positioning, messaging, and sales copy in hand. Now, what do you do? Most agency consultants…
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From Chasing Anything to Strategic Business Development
From Chasing Anything to Strategic Business Development In the fast-paced advertising world, agencies often rely on a whirlwind of short-term new business prospecting tactics, hoping for quick wins in client acquisition. However, a new business…
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Winning the battle for new clients
Winning the battle for new clients As the pace of change continues, agencies must adapt to the ever-evolving landscape to win the battle for new clients. Reports indicate increased difficulty obtaining new business opportunities, necessitating…
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5 Reasons You Need a Consultant NOW
5 Reasons You Need a Consultant NOW The first half was slow. Declining agency tenure, increasing client turnover, in-housing continues, project relationships, and tighter margins put even greater pressure on the need to add, replace,…
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From referrals to outreach
From referrals to outreach It is a common experience. For years, an agency startup thrived on a steady stream of referrals, never having to do proactive business development. The founders had stellar reputations for delivering…
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Can Anyone Really Predict the First Bite
Can Anyone Really Predict the First Bite When you embark on a new business planning process and look at all the time and effort required to develop an effective program, one question is top of…
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The AI revolution is on fire
The AI Revolution is On Fire I prompted ChatGPT to write this post in May, 2023. More on that later. See what you think of the quality of AI over a year ago and image…
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A new era in prospect targeting
When you define a target audience for your business development program, you will probably use criteria like CPG, Hospital system, Fintech, or startups with a minimum of $50M in total funding, $100M+ annual sales, 100+…
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No more Whac-A-Mole
The ad agency sales cycle can be long. The average tenure of an agency-client relationship is about three years. The average CMO tenure is about 3.3 years. What’s worse (or better if you have one),…