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Skills Training

The New Business & Marketing Masterclass With Cact.us And Jfdi

Wednesday 18th January 2023

This New Business & Marketing Programme delivered in collaboration with cact.us and jfdi is for those in marketing / new business roles and agency owners who want to apply a specific focus on improving their pipeline and creating new opportunities to drive growth.

The programme runs in…
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Jfdi / Opinium New Business Barometer 2022 Featured In The Drum

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Every year, new business consultancy JFDI partners with pollsters Opinium to create their New Business Barometer report. Following the release of this year’s report, we delve into its key findings and what they say about…

How To Build An Agency Client Referral Culture

How to ask for internal and external referrals from clients.

1. Why Client Referrals

Asking for client referrals is one the easiest and most powerful ways to get in front of new business prospects – an effective and proven strategy for helping to build…
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Testimonials

I attended the Prospecting session run by Mark which, given my recent transition into the world of new business, I found extremely beneficial. The mechanics and techniques Mark discussed and presented gave me a new perspective on how to streamline our approach as a new business function. Well structured, considered content which I'm sure will have a positive impact on how both myself and the wider business approach the area of prospecting. I'd highly recommend this, and JFDI's courses for anyone looking to broaden their knowledge in the agency growth sector.

James Mellor, Account Director, Blue Chip Marketing

"I have just had a Zoom remote training session with Mark at jfdi on ‘Feeding the New Business Pipeline’ and it was genuinely the most helpful and practical information I have received. Mark’s experience and knowledge is invaluable to New Business professionals and his teaching style is friendly and enjoyable. Lucky to have had the opportunity for one-to-one, face time session on Zoom - which worked brilliantly. Hope to learn more from him in the future."

Hannah March, Head of New Business, Engine

I attended JFDI's ‘Entrepreneurship & Growing Existing Clients’ course through the IPA - it was fantastic! Lots of tools to put into immediate practice and delivered in a way that's understandable, interactive, and informative. Mark Clark was extremely engaging and has a wealth of knowledge to share, but does so in a way that's digestible, no matter your level or experience. Would highly recommend JFDI and Mark, and will certainly be attending a few more of his courses in the future.

Tom Cummings, Senior PR Account Director, McCann Manchester

"Janine led a recent JFDI session around agency marketing skills which focused on building agency reputation in order to generate and build new business leads. I found the delivery of the session engaging and insightful, with Janine’s obvious passion, knowledge and experience around all things new business coming to the forefront. The session provided me with key strategies and methods through which to improve Blue Chip’s new business pipeline, and can categorically say I’ll be looking to implement these practices internally over the coming months. I’d absolutely recommend agencies to utilise jfdi when looking to grow their business or win competitive pitches."

James Mellor, Senior Development Account Director, Bluechip

"JFDI came to Southpaw to give a group of us in Client Service the Client Growth Academy. With new business 5x more likely to be sourced from existing clients, learning how to approach your Clients without sounding 'salesy' is an essential skill to master. I can honestly say this course was invaluable. We all came away with actionable tips that we could start to implement straight away as well as tools that we could adapt for longer term strategies. Mark was brilliant in the way he structured the session and managed to keep us all engaged and interested for the whole day. I can thoroughly recommend JFDI and the Client Growth Academy"

Laura Wood - Business Development Lead, Southpaw

"I attended 'Leading Pitch Winning Teams' organised by JFDI and lead by Mark. I would recommend it to anyone leading pitch team, whether you are on the NB team or the Client team. It was insightful and gave me some useful tips and perspectives on new things to add as part of our pitch process. I also found it extremely useful to be able to share knowledge with the other attendees in the room, good to see we are all facing the same issues! The small intimate setting worked very well too, much better than attending a conference where you end up not taking much learning back to the office. Thanks, Mark"

Sophie Billi-Hardwick, Marketing & New Business Director, XYZ Brand Experience

"I found the prospecting course to be extremely helpful. Rather than having to rely on a basic list of potential contacts and opportunities, I now have a strategic framework that I can use to develop a plan of activity to move opportunities along the pipeline. I highly recommend this to anyone who is wanting to add some strategic rigor to their new business planning activity."

Rupert Doggett - Operations Director, Ogilvy Healthworld Advertising

I attended the Entrepreneurship & Winning More Business From Your Clients accelerator session at the IPA and would recommend anyone in a client-facing role to attend. I have left with actionable points to work on which can easily be conveyed and transferred to others at my agency. JFDI’s Go Grow Plan breaks down what can sometimes appear to be a huge task into something much more manageable to digest. The additional notes supplied to supplement the learning are also really useful.

Sharan Cheema, Client Services Director, Navigate Digital

"New Business is tough and getting tougher, which makes JFDI a breath of fresh air. Camilla's honest, invaluable and informative approach gives a whole new energy to the way agencies should approach new business. Helps you work through the analytics of past performance to raise up to another level, leaving you inspired and ready to JFDI."

Caroline Frith, New Business Manager, The&Partnership

Mark hosted a full day workshop with our agency, helping us work through some of our long-standing challenges with pitch process. His approach helped us to reflect honestly on what’s worked or hasn’t worked, to collaborate as a team, and ultimately to leave excited for future pitches.

In the weeks since our workshop, we’re referring to Mark’s key themes as well as our new process on a daily basis. We have a renewed perspective and have already put it to work!

I’d recommend Mark and JFDI for any new business team looking to level up.

Leah Selouk, Director, Ketchum

I recently attended a jfdi Client Growth Academy and I absolutely loved it. Mark shared many tools and insights which I found very useful. I'd recommend this course for anyone who wants to get the right tools you can put into practice easily.

Aiste Balaisyte, Digital Operations Director, Threepipe

"Having carefully aligned our business objectives with our professional development requirements, I truly believe our JFDI workshop will have a significant and positive impact upon our ongoing success this year. Our people came back believing it had been one of the most focused, informative and actionable courses we have ever offered."

Dom Robertson, Managing Director, RPM

“Pragmatic, perfectly paced and bursting full of terrific insider secrets. Shortcut your new business knowledge and get to the heart of what matters – driving the sale. Best course I have been on in years (and I have a lot of new business experience), as I learnt more than a few brilliant tactics and new ideas I can take back to the team. Can't recommend JFDI enough.”

Katy Howell, CEO, Immediate Future

"The jfdi team have just run a 'Bitesize' series of pitch training modules for us - 6 in total. Excellent content, engaging style and a great way to get my fuller senior team all on the same page in terms of pitching. The advice is practical, and there is an emphasis on using real and sometimes live case studies for the discussion. My team loved it and drop out rates were minimal - a good sign! And even better, it works - our confidence is high and deservedly so - our pitch win ratio is currently at 1 in 2."

Vicky Bullen, CEO, Coley Porter Bell

Mark Clark from JFDI held a great training day on Growing Existing Clients, for the IPA in Manchester. I came away feeling that I’d genuinely learnt skills and tools that I could implement easily into my work. The day was fun and he kept it at pace – brilliant.

Gary Bramwell, Client Services Director, Mediacom Beyond

“Highly recommended by our colleagues at WPP, we hired JFDI to instil an entrepreneurial new business culture within the agency. We wanted to create a mentality where seeking out and developing new business opportunities becomes the norm, building a sense of shared commercial responsibility. The Entrepreneurship Academy certainly delivered. Camilla provided a thoughtful combination of strategy and practical tools, which left the team energised, motivated and empowered to go out and win new business. They understood that each individual really could make a difference to the overall company sales”.

Becky Munday, CEO, Mando

"Essence has been on an extraordinary journey over the last few years taking billings from £7.8m in 2007/8 to over £170m in 2011/12. We have come a long way since JFDI agreed to run a series of workshops with our Executive team in a musty and smoky upstairs room of a pub in South London in early 2009. JFDI helped us understand the value in the assets we already had and gave us the self confidence to pitch to anyone, against anyone and be true to our values. They played an important role in setting us on the right path to success."

Matt Isaacs, CEO, Essence Digital

"I had a great 1:1 coaching session with Mark @jfdi via Zoom last week whilst working from home. It was really useful to talk through New Business strategy and approach with someone hugely specialised but also objective. I came away with lots of inspiration, having uncovered together some opportunities that I had not considered previously. Thanks again Mark!"

Alex Johnson, Senior New Business Manager, Born Social

"Recently attended Mark's half-day skills session on Grow with Your Clients and found it really useful. A succinct overview, providing me with some genuinely useful outline methods and practical tools that could be put into practice immediately. Would recommend for people who are relatively new to business development"

Sonia Dandy-Bee - Business Unit Director, Avvio Reply

"I was thrilled with the New Business Healthcheck. Before investing in this I'd found all other new business advice to be either a bit wishy washy or simply just unrealistic. But working with Camilla helped us break down exactly what worked best for us and why, all based on where we were ultimately trying to get to. I'd recommend the process to any agency that needs straight-forward, actionable outcomes from a new business session."

Iain Swan, Strategy Director, Bright

I took part in the JFDI Feeding the New Business Pipeline seminar led by Mark and found the session really helpful as a gauge against what we’re already doing right and what we can improve on in our new business activities on a tactical and strategic level. The tips, rationales and insights were easily digestible, relevant and also actionable.

Ash Clark, New Business Manager, JKR

"I recently attended the jfdi Prospecting Skills and cannot recommend it highly enough. I have recently been promoted into a role which requires more new business understanding and this course stripped things back to basics for me, enabling me to take what we had discussed in the training and apply it to my agency and to my daily working routine straight away."

Gary Whelan, Business Director, MKTG

"I recently completed some great training with Mark that was originally going to be an in person group session but due to lockdown was done via Zoom. Due to the new format Mark extended it to three shorter more personal sessions that were much more tailored to our specific business needs. Great session and lots of new strategies to implement as a result."

Nick Meakin, Head of Sport, Marcomms, Strategy, Activation at The Playbook

“This was a fast-paced session with Camilla brimming with insider tips and know-how. It gave me a fresh perspective - not only on how to manage the new business process, but also how best to work with procurement. It was certainly valuable time spent out of the office that left me feeling better equipped to grow my business. Highly recommended.”

Julie Giddens-Davies, Group Managing Director, Farraday

"I attended 'Leading Pitch Winning Teams' with Mark @ jfdi and it was an information-packed morning. Mark's sessions are engaging and he flexes the agenda to reflect the group’s needs. His vast experience means he really understands what the client is thinking throughout the pitch process from earliest contact through to negotiated contract. As a mixed group, the sessions are also a useful opportunity to network and gain insight from peers. Thank you Mark!"

Alison Bennett, UK Business Development Director, Dunnhumby

“JFDI's Highly Effective Selling Skills Bitesize – quite simply the best training programme we’ve done in a long while”.

Chris Freeland, CEO, Rapp UK

Vanessa did a fantastic job coming into the Open Outdoor business and gaining a strong grasp of how we work and what our offering is. She helped develop existing leads, sought out new ones and served to truly establish where opportunities may lie. She worked with us in developing an ongoing dialogue with prospective clients, in order to help us continue to grow the business. A fantastic person to engage with and a pleasure to have in the office.

Marc Gutreich, Managing Director, Open Outdoor

"Mark gave us practical and applicable strategies to put organic growth at the heart of the agency agenda – I would recommend every agency Business Lead attends this jfdi Client Growth Academy.”

Zoe Crowther- Marketing & New Business Development Director, Leo Burnett

“The full end-to-end story was covered in the seminar, from strategy to winning and growing, which is really useful.”

Chief Marketing Officer, APAC at iris Worldwide

I attended jfdi’s Pitch Leadership Academy run for the7stars pitch leaders. Mark’s provided the best training I think I've ever had. The amount of in depth analysis he crammed into a day is astounding and I feel infinitely better equipped to get into the brains of prospective clients and nail the entire pitch process from start to win. The whole group came out inspired and enthused at the start of the journey Mark has set us on. I would highly recommend him!

Alex Keogh, Digital Strategy, the7stars

"It was well structured and gave some real ‘light bulb moments’, not only in terms of the best places to look for opportunities, but also how to quickly establish the validity of those opportunities and the best way to act if appropriate. I came out of it with some useful tools, and a real appreciation of the huge changes in profit which can be generated from a relatively small amount of effort.”

Jim Glodkowski, Digital Project Director, McCann Manchester

"We knew we were as good as most agencies at pitching when we approached jfdi but we also believed we could improve. Guided and inspired by a jfdi Pitch To Win Academy, we managed to turn an average 30% conversion rate into a plus 60% win rate. And we believe it will continue improve as we develop our pitch skills with jfdi."

Mark Mullooly, Business Development Director, Aesop

"I attended the Prospecting and Marketing Skills course with Mark and found it to be an extremely useful and informative day, in fact, it went too fast! As well as picking up new skills and tips for prospecting and ensuring delivery is realistic, it also consolidated and confirmed approaches I am already using in a new business role. Thanks Mark!"

Treina Smyth, Business Development Manager, The Purple Agency

The jfdi ‘Get New Business Fit’ session with Camilla was fantastic from start to finish.  It neatly pulled together all the different strands of new business to provide clarity and enabled me to define the best route forward for my business. However experienced you are as a business leader, it is helpful to revisit and adapt approaches to take you to the next level of growth.

Flavilla Fongang, Founder, 3 Colours Rule & GTA Black Women In Tech

“The Inside support has been invaluable. We’ve now created and have a really strong commitment to our new business plan, and most importantly, its delivery. Without the unrivalled experience and expertise of Camilla & Emma it simply wouldn’t have happened. The value it is delivering has way exceeded our expectations”.

Margaret Johnson OBE, Group CEO, Leagas Delaney

"The Client Leadership programme run by Mark, has helped add a new dimension to the client centric culture we employ at Conversion.com. The course has enabled our team to look at their partnerships from a more strategic standpoint and is yielding great results in terms of client growth/opportunity. Thank you Mark / jfdi for helping our teams unlock some truly exciting potential."

Ross Carder, Senior Account Director, Conversion.com

"Mark came in to support Southpaw in really helping to shape the next stage our new business proposition and strategy. Really actionable and insightful tools that we could literally use immediately. Over the course of 2 days we now have a clear and precise plan to take Southpaw on and capitalise on the opportunities"

Rob Goodall- Business Director, Southpaw

The New Business Academy allowed us to hit the reset button and we’re now feeling energised with a renewed sense of confidence. Camilla's experience and expertise was invaluable during the course of the day. Together we developed a new business and marketing strategy which we feel sure will help deliver our revenue targets. Highly recommended.

Jason De Winne, General Manager, ICLP

Having attended Marks pitch skills day I can honestly say it was the best investment. Learning first hand how to approach a pitch and avoid the common mistakes 99% of agencies fall into has given me a new direction and confidence to carve out a niche for us in a very crowded space.

Simon Bateman, Founder, Social Disrupt

The half day new business session Mark ran for us was a really excellent investment.  Mark took the time to understand our business and shape the tailored session accordingly.

Having helped a wide range of media practitioners, he instinctively knows where to focus efforts to make the biggest impact on your business in the most efficient time.

Great strategic agility, providing spot-on advice for issues that came up in the session. I can highly recommend Mark for any business that wants to sharpen their approach and increase their new business ROI.

Mark Henson, Head Of New Business, Active International

"I recently attended a pitch presentation course run by Mark at JFDI. The event was one of the most engaging and instructive events of this nature that I've attended. Mark pushed the theory but ensured the course was practical enough to have relevance for any level of presenter. In a four hour event I took six pages of notes, which I've been poring over as I prepare for a presentation I'm delivering this week."

Finn Lynch, Director, Blackbridge Communications

I recently completed the IPA’s ‘Entrepreneurship & Growing Existing Clients’ training run by jfdi’s Mark Clark. It was fascinating, really useful and above all extremely enjoyable. I would thoroughly recommend the course, more so if Mark were presenting as he made the day fly by and has given me the confidence & knowledge to go out there and get stuff done. Thank you Mark for a great day.

Annette Hunsley, Senior Account Director, BJL

Camilla and Janine provided a razor-sharp focus on New Business and getting things done. Their vast experience made them a fantastic sounding board for challenges we were facing, ranging from positioning to agency marketing.

Francesca Brosan, Chairman & Co-Founder, Omobono

"Really enjoyed our recent Pitch to Win Academy with Mark. Pitching is like a muscle that is constantly used but every now and then needs a total workout in order to bring you to back to full fitness! We learned a lot of new things throughout the Programme, as well as being reminded of some old things that we'd forgotten about. A superb experience all round and it's certainly something we need to bake in on a more ongoing basis."

Martin Nieri, CEO, Partners Andrews Aldridge

Camilla’s knowledge of smart new business practices is unrivalled. As a previous delegate on a day course and more recently, the organiser of an online session, I can vouch for the training being delivered with as much passion and dedication, whether in person or remotely. Camilla is great at teaching better ways of hunting for new business, and she presents a very clear strategy, peppered with practical tips and ideas on how to generate opportunities. The content of our online session was incredibly well received, and had been fully adjusted to apply to the current situation. Highly recommended!

Sara Cosgrove, European Communications Director DDB

“JFDI's Prospecting and Marketing Skills day is a comprehensive walk-through of the processes and disciplines needed to make new business work in a 21st Century agency. With plenty of alternative prospecting strategies to choose from you'll leave feeling well-equipped to both do your job and to provide your colleagues with a deeper understanding of their roles in your agency's future growth.”

Steve Osborne - Partner, Osborne Pike

"Mark from jfdi ran a fantastic piece of Pitch Leadership training for our team on winning new business. His knowledge, acumen and engagement with the team were second to none. We left feeling inspired to put all we had learned into practice straight away, with a fresh understanding of what it takes to win the client rather than simply answering the pitch question. I'd recommend this course to anyone who wants to step up their pitching game."

Simon Harwood, Head of Strategy, the7stars

We have been working with Camilla and Emma from the JFDI Inside team for several years now. They are hugely committed, engaged and effective at driving new business leads for us. They have an intelligent and strategic approach which has been hugely beneficial to us. I highly recommend them.Sarah Hazlehurst, Managing Partner, MKTG

Sarah Hazlehurst, Managing Partner, MKTG

I attended a two-day virtual new business training course run by Mark. The session was engaging, informative and extremely practical. He provided a fresh perspective on our approach to new business pitching and facilitated a lively discussion, enabling us to learn from each other too. I would highly recommend Mark for new business training or consultancy. It was an excellent training session!

James Green, Global Client Director, Assembly Global

“In our day jobs we are expected to think creatively and strategically about our clients…however, like many communications professionals, we fail to take time to apply that approach to ourselves. Taking time out with JFDI is business transformative, no matter if you are a small, medium or large agency. It’s worth the investment if you are struggling to work out who you are, how you stand out from the competition and how to grow your businesses.”

Paul Donlon, Director, OWLMS

We brought Camilla & the JFDI team in to bring some fresh thinking and structure to our new business process. In the time we worked together they relentlessly pushed us to really think about what success looked like for us as a business, and then to create our business development plan around this. We chose their Inside product, where a member of the JFDI embedded themselves in our team to understand our culture, our work and how we interacted with our clients. This enabled them to conduct the right conversations with prospective clients to open up new opportunities for us. Working with JFDI helped us re-engage with lapsed clients as well as opening up those new opportunities. The JFDI team was organised, fun and had lots of knowledge to share with us that helped us as a business.

Zoe Kelleher, Director of Inviqa

"We had tried lots of growth methods over the years from lead generation to events to speed dates. They all underperformed. So we went right back to the basics and JFDI led us through that process brilliantly. Workshops around different approaches to new business, helping us find our new business proposition and attitude and organising our agency story before we went to market. Then using the talents of the Inside team, we had great support in defining suspects and converting them into prospects and finally clients. Happy Southpaw!"

Tom Poynter, CEO, Southpaw

“This was one the best and most worthwhile days of training I've been on. Mark was a great facilitator, allowing us to determine the flow and direction of the day, whilst still keeping us on track with the main objectives. He has a wealth of knowledge to share and it's already helped with current pitches that I'm working on.”

James Turner, Media & Planning Director, the7stars

Really enjoyed JFDI's Pitch Leadership training and got a lot out of it. I've been leading and supporting pitches for years, but there was so much that was totally new to me, so I'd recommend it regardless of your level of experience.

Chris Gilfoy, Strategy Director, the7stars

“We worked with Mark, Camilla and the JFDI team on a training initiative recently. Essentially to help us improve the already high standard of pitching we conduct as a global agency network. So we were looking for new ways of working, tools and inspiration. We got this and plenty more. Despite the sessions being 'bitesize' - essentially 90 mins in length (our choice) - they were packed full of both theory and practical application of really good thinking in the area of pitching: listening skills, asking better questions, profiling prospects etc etc. I'd certainly recommend JFDI and I'd use them again”.

Richard Stokes, Global Chief Development Officer, Maxus

The course itself was very comprehensive and covered a wide range of areas within growth. Mark was excellent - he has a wealth of knowledge in the industry and draws on his personal experiences. The course is very fluid and relaxed which I really enjoyed. Mark has so much good advise to give as well as filling the group with confidence. It changed the way I work enormously, I even got promoted shortly after the course. I would highly recommend this course and hope to attend another in the future.

Samantha Dixon, Global Account Director, MullenLowe London

JFDI’S Mark Clark brought to life each section of the course with relevant examples and opened our eyes to things we can apply immediately as quick wins along with some more longer-term models. The learning book was really useful in terms of being able to take away something tangible and put it into practice. Thanks for a fantastic session Mark!

Claire Knight, Senior Client Director, Everything Different

jfdi: I have kissed a few frogs in my new business time but these guys are the Don Perignon when it comes to New Business. I couldn’t recommend more highly!

Sedge Beswick, Managing Director, SEEN Connects

"JFDI’s Pitch Leadership Skills day really focuses your mind on some of the areas of pitching that might be forgotten in the heat of the pitch, but really make the difference between winning and losing. There is a good balance between “teaching” moments, interactive moments and “sharing” moments with other people going through similar issues in their business. There are definitely lots of relevant tips that I’ll be sharing with the wider team."

Kate Brundle, Business Development & Marketing Director, Livity

“We haven’t looked back since engaging JFDI Inside. There is a significant difference between ‘talking’ about New Business and ‘doing’ it. Inside gets it done, and makes things happen with expertise and confidence. It’s a joy having proactive attitude in the agency, and a roll-your-sleeves up approach…oh, and the fact they improve the profitability of the business is just a side-effect".

Ben Whattam, Managing Partner, Keko London

Mark Clark shared his incredible knowledge at the IPA’s “Entrepreneurship & Growing Existing Clients’ session. I learned so much in just a day and found the session really valuable. I'd definitely recommend this course for anyone client facing or in a new business role.

Michaela Gschwendtner, New Business Manager, MediaCom North Group

"Excellent course on a topic which is vital to my role. Entire day was genuinely insightful and filled with great tips, tools and models which have already had a positive impact on the way I manage and grow accounts."

Matthew Jarman, Client Director, Lakestar McCann

Creating and filling a new business pipeline was Integer’s number one priority. We enlisted jfdi to provide Inside support to help achieve that objective – and they more than delivered. It’s easy to de-prioritise new business in favour of the day-to-day, but the drive and energy of our Insider ensured we never wavered. We’ve built strong foundations that continue to reap rewards.

Clare Cryer, Managing Director, Integer

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Our Team

Meet The Team

Our team all have agency backgrounds - where they worked in Senior Management as Strategists, New Business Directors and Client Service Directors. They understand the cut and thrust of daily agency life and the need to resolve the tension between theory and getting things done.  So they all share a common attitude and action oriented approach - the clue’s in our name - jfdi.

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