The Golden Era
When I co-founded Something Big 25 years ago new biz was easy. I was full of start-up energy and excitement. I loved meeting new prospects and prided myself on being able to win them ‘in the room’.
As we grew it got more complicated. Our approach to new biz had to stretch beyond me and needed a strategy and a system that enabled us to track it. We recruited a new biz team, evolved our go to market strategy, started to track our conversions, calculate and compare our win rates, and set meaningful targets. We found our mojo and kept our foot on the pedal.
That approach worked successfully for several years.
The New World
Then the world changed. Not a little bit or gradually over time but boom, like an alarm clock when you’re in a deep sleep.
An unexpected referendum result ….a pandemic….the arrival of AI….in housing…..economic uncertainties….client budget cuts…. DEI roll backs……. procurement squeezing every penny from their supply chain……key clients being made redundant….. shifts in client relationships as they become more virtual….. what worked before does not work today. The skills and tactics we perfected are no longer as useful.
The future for agencies, we’re told, is in productisation, niching, shifting to consultancy models. All sensible and no doubt great solutions to stay relevant, but what about right now?
How do we keep the lights on, while we’re in no man’s land. One foot in yesteryear and one in the future.
Here’s what I’ve learnt in the last 12 months:
- Get the whole team involved – more than ever new biz needs to be a culture that runs throughout the agency.
- Business is personal – lean into networks, relationships and clients for introductions, referrals and recommendations.
- Prioritise relationships with existing customers, acknowledge that their needs are changing and talk to them about what would help them transition.
- Keep up momentum, by finding weekly KPI’s to track. Monthly, quarterly and annual goals are all great but to keep new biz front of mind you need something to remind you every week whether you’re ahead or behind.
- Keep trying new things. Don’t be the frog that didn’t jump out of the pan quick enough. Acknowledge that the world has changed, if you keep doing what you always did you may not even get what you always got, in fact, you’re likely to get less.