Four good reasons to invest in new business development

The objection we hear most often when approaching companies about helping them do better new business development is: “we’re already busy with work; we don’t need any more”. Ironically, THIS is the perfect scenario to do some effective new biz. If you wait until you NEED new clients, you’ll be operating under stress, rushing a process that needs space to accommodate the inherently long leads times.

This objection also ignores the fact that running a new business campaign brings more benefits than the obvious. Because people like lists, I shall stop writing in paragraphs and instead switch to a four-point list. Enjoy.

WHY IS NEW BUSINESS IMPORTANT?

1) Growth. The obvious point of New Biz is to boost your revenue and client base. Reaching out to new companies and partners moves you away from relying on the phone ringing and email pinging with incoming enquiries. It also means you’ll create new opportunities to increase your referrals from these new contacts.

2) Image. New Biz can be incredibly beneficial to your company’s image. Even in instances where you don’t necessarily succeed in securing work, your ‘Rolodex’ grows as more companies who had never heard of you previously, now know who you are and what you do.

3) Opportunities. This could be where you talk to someone new to find that there is some business to be done… just not the business you were expecting. You may have contacted a prospect about “service X” only to find them asking if you can provide “service Y” instead.

4) Relationships. We’ve had relationships that have grown over years. From a pitch that didn’t close… to a keeping in touch… to a friendly regular ‘checking in’… many of our strongest relationships started simply by being smart, reliable and consistent in outreach. By the time you close that long-lead new business you’re already ahead of the game on a personal level.

There are even more great reasons to be doing better new business development, but we’ll save those for when we talk inperson. Until then, happy hunting.

If you're going to be wrong, at least be consistent

When I was a young man, I worked for Xerox Copy Centre. This was back before most companies had all their own office equipment, so I worked in an industry supplying the services of photocopying, report binding and ruining original works of art by chewing them up in ADHs (automatic document handlers, abbreviation fans).

As a result of my many years working in the industry I was able to tell you the GSM (grams per square meter (wow - you abbreviation fans must be having a field day!)) of any piece of paper simply by giving it a gentle twiddle between my fingers. No restaurant menu, business card or waiting room magazine was safe when I was around. My friends and family LOVED it (I’d say “you can ask them if you don’t believe me” but mostly they don’t talk to me now).

A similarly absorbed ‘skill’ came after many years as a writer/editor, specifically that of being able to read any document and spot inconsistencies without even looking for them. Obvious issues include people simply not understanding how to use the basics such as commas, apostrophes and semi-colons, but a more tricky issue to spot (and one I’d urge you to check for when creating any copy to accompany your new business efforts - see, there WAS a point to this!) is simple inconsistencies in ‘rules’ that exist in your writing.

One simple example is referring to a company as a “they”. Companies are an “it” so you have to structure sentences saying thing like “Sponge was key to our success” rather than “Sponge were key to our success”.

You could say “THE TEAM at Sponge were key to our success” but by rights a company is always a singular entity.

HOWEVER… people don’t like this rule as they think it makes their company feel ‘spikey’ and ‘cold’ as an “it”. If you want to refer to your company as if it’s a team rather than an entity, fill your boots, but please make sure you then ALWAYS refer to it this way.

Back in my Marketing Director days (yes, I’m aware I’ve had lots of jobs) I would sometimes weed out agencies based on the thinnest of criteria. Not sticking to your own rules when writing was one of them.

Chemistry vs coffee

There was a time we would be VERY fussy about what meetings we would accept for our clients. If a company hired us to run their new business development, we wouldn’t want to then burn the first month of their engagement sending them round the country to drink coffee and deliver presentations to indifferent prospects before heading back to the office wondering why they wasted a day out of the office.

…And then someone had the smart idea of taking the phrase “coffee and creds” and turning it into “chemistry meeting”. It was like changing “Coke Lite” to “Coke Zero” - exactly the same hollow experience, just with a slightly better name.

So now we have to tell our clients that someone who has no project and no budget wants to meet them so that - if they ever do have a project and a budget - they already ‘know’ some people. But… but… but that’s exactly what we promised we wouldn’t do!

However… despite my sceptical sarcasm (available 24/7, 365 BTW) there does appear to be some merit in this pursuit. We’ve had some apparently thin ‘chemistry meetings’ actually turn into serious projects. It turns out that smart companies do like meetings smart agencies.

The truth is, if you’re smart and engaging you can turn a handshake and a 30 second chat into business. If you’re poor in person, no amount of minutes and pages of Powerpoint will turn things around.

No doubt you’re expecting a point, so let me conclude: ANY opportunity to meet a prospect is worthwhile but 1) you need to have a business development partner you trust setting them up for you, and 2) if you’re finding you convert none of these fleeting encounters into a full blown affair, there’s probably something wrong with your pitch rather than the meetings you’re attending.

Words are results too

We’re constantly asked for advice from both clients and business acquaintances regarding the best way to present case studies. Our reply probably seems a little simplistic but - in a nutshell - it’s “results results results”.

People don’t buy processes and they don’t buy services; these are just the mechanics necessary to get what they really want - i.e. the aforementioned results (results, results).

Business Development (especially PURE cold channel new business) is all about maximum impact in a minimum of time. When people say you have three seconds to grab a cold prospect’s attention, they really aren’t exaggerating.

With that in mind, don’t drag your heels when presenting case studies. People aren’t ‘fascinated’ to hear all about “The Brief”… “The Problem”… “The Solution”… etc. They want to know… “DID YOU WIN?”

Don’t show me your copywriting ‘skillz’ with a text-heavy case study… SHOW ME THE MONEY! (or at least show me the outcome, which is more accurate but not as much fun to shout).

And if you don’t have a great big “400% INCREASE IN SALES” or “15,000 IMPRESSIONS” to shout about, make use of a testimonial. If the ONLY thing a prospect sees about your case study is the CEO of Aldi saying “OUR SALES INCREASED” then your three seconds have been well spent (and you’ve probably got a 1.5 seconds left to play with).

If you can’t say it with numbers, say it with words.

Er... what is new business development?

Ok. Sounds kinda silly to ask doesn’t it, but it’s easy for these terms to become faceless generic phrases that people use in sentences but don’t entirely grasp. Like “hedge funds” or “bitcoins” or “monogamy”.

We’ve recently found ourselves pitching to prospects who seem to go to great lengths to ask ‘what exactly are your methods?” or “…and how exactly will you be doing our new business?”

Initially, I thought they were just testing us, but I’ve come to realise that while some folks will honestly tell you "I don’t even know where to start” when it comes to biz dev, many others simply don’t know what it is.

So, without wishing to patronise those in the know, I thought it’d be worth defining what WE mean when we talk about new business development. Put very simply, biz dev means increasing your client base (and revenue) by doing anything other than sitting waiting for the phone to ring or email to ping.

Networking at a show and sharing business cards? That’s new business development (as long as you bother to contact the new folks you meet once you’ve got back to the office).

Calling a couple of companies you’ve never spoken to before to introduce yourself? New biz. TICK!

Putting together a small batch of outreach emails to initiate some creds-sharing. Yep - that counts (although we wouldn’t recommend that particular one without some specific ‘tips’ in effect).

Many companies are successfully ticking over having come into being when someone went solo and brought old clients with them from a previous career. As a result, they’ve never needed to (or wanted to) do any cold channel prospecting; it doesn’t feel like fun and might involve people saying “go away”. We get it. That’s why we do it for you.

There’s much more to new business development than listed here, but it’s an interesting discipline that warrants investigation if you are one of the many uninitiated. Don’t feel embarrassed - come and say hello and we can tell you more.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Three ways to improve database management

A wise man once said, “you’re only as good as the trousers you wear” and boy was he right.

Now, the above has nothing to do with what I’m about to post and - in truth - I just made it up, but it’s a compelling thought isn’t it?

Now that you’re totally onboard, let’s talk about doing a better job of managing your database, for ‘tis the very foundation upon which your outreach lives and dies.

1) I love a list.

2) Here is one, featuring three items.

---

1) Don’t make your database too big. If you start off with 400 populated prospects on a list you’re going to struggle to ‘get round’ it all before the prospects you so diligently populated in spots #300 onward start to go stale.

2) Be realistic. Don’t just go for vanity clients; think about the clients you’ve done well for, then build a profile from those and go fishing with the same bait for the same kinds of companies that ‘bit’ last time.

3) Cull with wild abandon. Once you’ve hit the same prospect fruitlessly with five emails and called 15 times, it might be best to admit it just isn’t happening for you and instead move on to fresh targets. The fact that your database is shrinking is a good thing; it means you’re working through it in an intelligent way, and now have capacity for fresh, better-targeted prospects thanks to what you’ve learnt from your efforts thus far.

I hope that helps. If you’d like more of our wisdom, please get in touch.

And don’t forget your trousers.

Five simple ways to improve your cold emails

Most people only do a little bit of genuinely cold new business. As a result, they’re sending out email campaigns in such small numbers (and so infrequently) that it’s almost impossible to draw any conclusions as to whether one campaign (and therefore one ‘style’) does any better than the other.

The advantage of being in our position is that ALL WE DO is genuinely cold channel prospecting. As a result we get to test the hell out of any and all variables you might consider in an email outreach campaign. How many paragraphs should it be? Do we say “hello” or “hi”? etc. - you get the point: WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING. So here are five tips to help you do better with your cold emails.

1) Don’t try to tell the recipient EVERYTHING about your company. This email should be the teaser trailer, not the whole movie.

2) Tell them WHY you are getting in touch. Show that you’ve done some research. Don’t just list your services; talk about the things you know will benefit them.

3) Feel free to name-drop relevant current/previous clients. People like to know they’re in good company, so flaunt your connections.

4) Don’t ‘jazz up’ your email. If you were sending a genuine email by your own hand it would be simple text. As soon as someone receives an animating HTML email they know they are being sold to. Be authentic, not flashy.

5) Don’t waste a PS. You’ve sent a nice casual non-HTML email, but a simple “here’s the work we did for…” hyperlink snuck into a PS. is a nice way to give them a little breadcrumb trail to follow.

If you want to know more about doing better new business development, you know how to get in touch with us.

Happy hunting.

Get on with it and win.

If you’re having fun doing New Business development you’re probably not doing it right. Take a tough cookie, soak it in vinegar and then bake it at 220 degrees for a further 17 hours. THAT’s how tough a cookie cold channel biz dev is.

Probably the biggest ‘killer’ of effective New Business is inactivity. I know that’s like saying “the fastest way to not make bread is to not make bread” but you’d be amazed how many people do ALL the prep but put off actually doing any of the work (primarily because they know it’s a lot of “NO”s just waiting to happen).

Though I’m not generally a massive user of mnemonics and acronyms, I heard something recently that I quite liked called the “Triple A” rule. Assessment, Assembly, Action.

Whatever the task (in our case, some business development) start by assessing what you already have and what you’ll face (otherwise known as “the problem”). For us, we might already have a small list of prospects, and what we’ll face are the companies on that list who likely don’t want to be sold anything today.

Next we plan with those variables in mind, augmenting what we already have by adding what we need. Assemble the ‘things’ we need - the assets, the data, the people, the objection-handling responses, etc.

And finally (and MOST importantly) you then take ACTION.

It sounds like common sense, but I can assure you there are fleets of people as we speak NOT doing anything despite having assessed the situation and assembled what they need.

The sooner you get on with it, the sooner things will happen. And the sooner things happen, the better you’ll do.

Happy hunting.

EPILOGUE:

1) Meatloaf was wrong (two out of three IS bad)

2) Funny how you can’t think of the word ASSEMBLE without picturing Captain America, isn’t it?

3) I got the “Triple A” rule from a PlayStation game. I knew they wouldn’t rot my brain (mum).

Getting better at being remote.

As I write, industry events are starting back up again and people are gradually becoming confident returning to their more mobile ways of doing business (I wonder if my Oyster Card still works?)

When we all got locked down, the likes of Zoom and Teams were a god-send, allowing us to still meet, pitch and converse with team members, clients and prospects. As time passed they became very much the norm, ultimately transforming into a bit of a “meh” way of working (I even had some prospects ask if we could just ‘have a phone call’ to break up the Zoom schedule monotony).

The question is, what do we do now? Are we all just abandoning Zoom and going back to sitting on trains for hours to take a 30 minute meeting before heading back home, or should we look to do a better job of making virtual meetings still work for us?

A smart blog on www.alliancebernstein.com - “Mastering the Virtual Practice: Virtual vs. Face-to-Face Meetings“ suggests that “Face-to-face meetings activate thousands of years of social instincts“ postulating that face-to-face meetings present a greater opportunity for a salesperson to affect another person’s decision-making. It also said “… a person feels an instinctive social obligation to pay full attention“ in a face-to-face meeting, which I find particularly interesting as I’ve actually found that people often seem more tuned in when they know I’m staring down the barrel of their webcam rather than swinging their feet in capacious “Meeting Room C” of their very familiar office surroundings.

Though body language cues and practices aren’t so available in a virtual meeting, we can do something to improve our interactions. Think about a real meeting… you greet, you swap cards, you make a little small talk and discuss the weather. We can’t discuss the journey anymore, so let’s discuss favourite green screen backgrounds and audio set ups problems. Maybe even tilt the camera down to reveal the needy dog with its head on your leg wondering why you’re talking to ‘the telly’. These shared experiences can still be used to build rapport and bring the human element to a virtual meeting.

It’s been a tough time for sure, but I’ve personally seen a huge increase in efficiency, simply because I just have to put on a shirt and sit upright to make a pitch. No District line, no Kings Cross, and - more importantly - no 12 hour days ‘out of office’ to complete what can do done with two 45-minute Zoom calls.

Don’t give up on the virtual just yet; it might still be our saviour.

Agency New Business: THE meritocracy

My first full-time job was at a well-known high street chemist. I was in one of the larger stores selling records and stereos (if you’re under 25, please ask an adult what ‘records’ and ‘stereos’ are or you’ll have no context).

I was told that a management role was definitely a possibility, as long as I was prepared to work there for the next 55 years and wait while everyone above me retired or died. It was at that point I thought it might be better to find a more meritocratic company to work for.

Being rewarded and progressing based entirely upon your merit has always worked out well for me, but anyone moving into business development might have a tough time initially. The interesting thing about new biz is that the only way to go about it and expect results is full steam. Being ‘part-time’ or ‘when I have time’ about cold channel prospecting will most certainly fail.

The challenging part of new business (both to companies and individuals) is that you can be doing an absolutely top job on paper and yet see nothing in the bank for your efforts. It’s demoralising and forces you to constantly wonder ‘am I doing this right?’. Until you start converting cold channel outreach into wins you’ll ALWAYS doubt yourself (and even once you trust your methods, it only takes one dry patch to send you spiralling back down into self-doubt again).

So, if you plan to attack new business, then do exactly that - ATTACK. Don’t ‘have a go’ or ‘spend a little time on it’. All you’ll do is have a bad experience and give yourself a thin reason to believe that cold new business doesn’t work. It does work - it just takes a lot of sustained effort.

Good luck.

The Data Doughnut (TM)

Yeah yeah… go ahead and snigger. So I’ve got a ‘thing’.

I accidentally said it one day… and then liked it enough to use again in conversation (multiple times). But you mind my words (sonny boy) once I take you through The Data Doughnut (TM) you’ll be eating your words. Your delicious doughnuty words.

I should also quickly point out that though I’m aware there’s a way to get a proper trademark symbol to appear, I like to simply put the letters T and M into brackets to show that I’m not precious about it (use it, however, without prior permission and I will hunt you down and kill you).

Anyway… The Data Doughnut (TM) is a FANTASTIC visual representation of your database. A mistake I see often is people building a database, starting to work on the database, and then, when not even halfway round ‘the ring’ (as we call it) adding a bunch of new prospects. So, just as you were approaching 6 o’clock (yes, I know I’m mixing metaphors - don’t tell me how to live my life) you’ve sudden expanded the ring and sent yourself back to 4 o’clock.

And then off you go, continuing round this slightly larger doughnut, and then… BAM! - you add even more data! You’re taking what was a manageable, well-thought-out and reasonably-sized database, and warped it into an unmanageable monster. And while you think you’re doing a dandy job of ‘augmenting’ your database, the data sitting at 11 o’clock is getting older and mouldier (and further away). You’re sabotaging your own doughnut you lunatic!

I am of course assuming you did a good job of building your database in the first place, so now just focus on working it. As data is removed (taking ‘a bite’ if you will) don’t replace it, just continue round the ring. Give all this freshly-baked data a chance to bear fruit (again, don’t worry about the metaphor - it’ll be fine).

Some of the doughnut will require a second pass (maybe even three) but that’s the nature of a new business prospect database - it takes time and tenacity. Only once you feel you’re chewing on the same bits over and over should you think about building it back up with fresh entries.

Anyway… data, rings, doughnuts, trademarks. I’m sure you get the idea.

Good luck and goodbye.

You're not alone. Ish.

Steve and I were recently asked to guest present on an Agency Hackers’ video training session (check them out - there are some incredible agencies in their community), talking to agency owners about smart ways to improve their own business development. As lovely as it is to be asked to do such things, the part I actually enjoy the most is the Q&A session at the end.

Apart from it being a nice opportunity to interact with the many many faces floating on the screen, it’s also always interesting for us to hear which part of ‘new biz’ trips them up the most.

The kinds of questions we got asked on this occasion included:

How big should my database be?

How should I approach our ‘dream clients’?

What email platform should I use?

As you might imagine, we had a lovely time addressing all of these questions (no, I’m not giving you the answers ‘for free’ here – you’ll have to give us a buzz for those gems) but more important/interesting is that you get to see how – with just a simple prod in the right direction – the weight lifts from some seriously-intelligent people who just happen to not know where to begin when it comes to business development.

So… you’re not alone! If you know you should be doing some/more/better business development but don’t even know how to get beyond a napkin with a few prospects scribbled down, fear not; lots of other smart people are in exactly the same boat.

It took the SpongeNB collective many years to feel confident enough to host such a video session, so there’s no way you’re going to get everything right in your first few attempts to reach out into the (never-forgiving) cold channel.

And before you ask, no, I don’t have a copy of the video to share (but I do have a VHS of Robocop if that’s any use).

Trick yourself (and get some work done)

As someone who gave up office life more than 15 years ago, it was interesting to watch the entire nation deal with something that I had to address back then: working from home.

If you have a dog, a ukulele, a biscuit barrel, a PlayStation, a garden, Candy Crush, Netflix or perhaps a keen interest in adult entertainment, working from home can initially prove challenging when it comes to staying focused. Without a boss calling you into their office or staff wandering by your screen to keep you honest, it can be hard to self-discipline and stay on-task with so many distractions around you (and no one to stop you from doing whatever you fancy).

Ironically, if you can stop your eyes twitching to something more interesting, you’ll be stunned at how much work you can get done (though there’s no one hassling to keep you working, there’s also no one hassling to STOP you working). Tea and coffee intake will initially go through the roof (you don’t have to make ANYONE else a cup!) but once you get control of that obsession you should find a more productive WFH balance is entirely achievable.

I enjoyed a blog by Rachel Degginger at Heinz Marketing, offering “4 Tips to Improving Your WFH Experience”. In the blog Rachel talks about improving her WFH situation by mimicking her old work setup (down to an office-replicating raised laptop, external keyboard, second monitor, etc.) to ‘trick’ herself into entering her own personal ‘office space’ with the right mindset.

Though workers are already returning to offices, many are still working from home, and who knows if we’ll all be sent home again in the coming months and years. It’s for this reason that it’s so important to get your WFH workspace arranged in a way that allows you to enjoy the benefits of working from home (no commuting!) without compromising your productivity.

Now close that Incognito window.

Agency new business. What works?

There are so many ways to build a sales campaign for an agency. Many agency bosses don’t want to be seen as needing to sell, but once you’re past the honeymoon phase and it’s time to scale-up beyond what falls in your lap, you’re going to need to have some outreach strategy.

Cold-channel business development is, when considered in isolation, inefficient. But there are ways to make it work better. It takes discipline and you have to throw out any ideas you have about high-volume telesales campaigns or mass-email outreach. Forget transactional selling (for at least 95% of the process) and sell something that has huge relevancy to your prospect. A recent Dun & Bradstreet report showed that 67% of b2b buyers see “relevant communication” as a top influence for choosing one vendor over another.

But it’s more complicated than that. A Gartner report found that the number of people in a company buying decision has increased from 1-2, to 7-8 in a small business (up to 500 staff). Each level of decision-maker will have a different idea of what is relevant.

Luckily, it’s not just the direct outreach that can create that relevancy. Your content marketing is part of what makes you relevant. A Forrester report from a while back (2014) found that even back then, half of b2b prospects will view at least 8 content pieces during the buying process. 80% of them looked at a minimum of 5 content pieces. This is all part of the selling process and your direct outreach should dovetail nicely with the content you produce. Sadly agencies’ content is all too often the sort of thing that impresses other agencies rather than prospects.

The reason agency new business endeavours are so frustrating at times is the need to maintain relevant contact with a large number of prospects, who have rarely been profiled and segmented properly. And if you get busy, you drop new business. And if it doesn’t bring in new clients quickly, you drop new business. And that’s why it becomes cyclical. You blame everything in turn. Your proposition. Your creds. Your Business Development Manager. A new business agency. The prospects. Your website. You. Another new business agency. You might be right (about one or two of them), but the chances are that nobody has ever really explained how cold-channel outreach works. It’s literally the opposite of winning through referral. It’s very, very hard. But it can work.

I’ll finish with some insights from Hubspot – their survey of buyers said that the top things that lead to a positive sales outcome are:

-          Listening to the prospect’s needs (69%)

-          Not being pushy (61%)

-          Providing relevant information (See!) (61%)

-          Responding in a timely fashion (seriously, it’s such an easy win – and so many agencies screw this up) (51%)

We can help with all of these things. We can consult with you on your agency’s many value propositions, selling personas, positioning statements, outreach strategies, and content strategies. We can do the outreach for you. You’ll feel it move under your feet and you’ll finally be able to tick “get the new business sorted” off your to-do list. Let’s have a chat.

7 ways to stop making dreadful sales calls

First, let’s get something clear: we do a lot more than make phone calls for our clients. Today we’re just addressing the fact that most new business calls are remarkably bad. We don’t claim to have a magic wand, nor do we promise ridiculous results from our work. We do however make sure we avoid wasted opportunities. The phone call is a prime example of where waste can occur over and over in a single day. In a single hour. At a new business agency like Sponge NB, we see this affect outcomes directly - so we’re strict.

1 - Research it

The first compliment you can pay your prospect is having taken the time to research them. Even a little bit. It’ll make all the difference to your confidence. It’ll make all the difference to how receptive they will be. You don’t need to know their dog’s name (though if you do, please find a way to mention it without sounding like a stalker (on second thoughts, you will sound like a stalker. Probably keep it to yourself)), but knowing where they have worked before (Linkedin will help with that) or which agencies they’ve hired before (trade press can yield that information) will show that they’re not just a name on a list. You’d be stunned at how many BDMs don’t do the simplest research.

2 - Make it different

Most agencies’ new business calls open with something like “We’re Crunchy Frame Creative and we’re a creative agency and we’ve worked for Channel 6, Harbinsons’s Jam and Nevaslip Prophylactics. Can I have a minute to talk about your marketing?”. Other than the fact that you’ve already started talking to them without establishing that they are okay with having an agency badly described at them, it’s just dull. You’re an agency? With clients? Wow! When can we brief you? If you’ve done your research and you’re smart enough, you’ll be able to open with a question that prompts some conversation. Some of our team are sometimes guilty of not using their research to spark natural conversation – it makes the call far harder to get anything from. Nobody in any marketing department wants to know who you’ve worked for or what type of agency you are until you’ve created a compelling reason for them to desire that information. You might create that compulsion through your clever questions, your knowledge of their company or simply your genuine, carefully directed enthusiasm.

3 - Stick to what you say you’ll do

If you tell someone you’ll send them information straight away. That means moments after the call. If you’re not going to send it immediately, then tell them when they’ll get it. If you tell them 3pm, make it arrive at 3pm.

4 - Follow it up properly

Your prospects get a lot of calls. If you’re going to build any relationship with them then you will need to stay in touch. If you don’t then despite how amazing your agency’s work is, they won’t remember you. There’s a fine, nay (nay?) invisible line between “staying in touch” and “pestering the heck out of someone”. Stay on the right side, but don’t convince yourself that they’ll call when they need you. Too often they won’t. If polite contact from time to time is enough to annoy them then they weren’t going to hire you anyway.

5 - Don’t offer outs

“Can we respond to your next advertising brief, or……..”. This “or”, hanging off the end of the sentence is like a comfort blanket to new business people. In fact I’ve heard it from salespeople of all types over the years. Listen to your new business calls. If you hear that, then stop doing it the way you’re doing it and hire us (quoting SNB_OURPREVIOUSNEWBUSINESSCALLSWEREAWFULSOPLEASEHELPUS for a 7% discount). Don’t offer exits along the way. If the prospect doesn’t like your approach, or if your questioning uncovers the fact that they don’t want you, then they’ll find their own exit. You ought to be looking for the next best thing, all the time. When are they reviewing? How long is the current agency contract? Are there ever projects that fall outside of their current agency’s remit? But don’t roll out the red carpet to the exit door, or why did you call in the first place?

6 - Don’t immediately mention something you sent

You sent information and now you’re calling. You mention it, right? Let’s look at the possibilities:

1)      You call, saying that you sent the information about your amazing work on Harbinson’s Jam. The prospect remembers this information. But the prospect also remembers seeing it and not calling or emailing you. Otherwise you wouldn’t be calling them, eh?

2)      You call, saying that stuff about the PDF about the jam guys. The prospect doesn’t remember seeing it, or didn’t have time. Now you’re back at square one, but the prospect now views you as the guys who sent the information that he instantly forgot, or couldn’t be bothered to read.

3)      You call, use your research and intelligence to ask questions, building on the previous information that led you to send information. If the prospect doesn’t mention it, then you can send it as if they’ve never seen it. If they now remember it of their own volition, then their image of you is rather stronger – they remembered your jam work unprompted.

In case it’s not clear, number 3 is best. So if you sent info, don’t mention it. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it isn’t about your ego, it’s about creating a compelling reason for a prospect to hire you.

7 - Close, boldly, openly and honestly.

There are loads of different types of closes – the assumptive close, the Ben Franklin, the negative close. Bin them – they’re too prescriptive. How about something like:

“I hope I haven’t interrupted your day too horribly, but if I did then here’s the short version: we’re a cracking new business agency and you’re an agency that could do with a long-term, coherent, effective new business campaign. How can we do some work for you?”. Too prescriptive? Of course it is. The conversation should guide the words you use to close. Do close though. It’s the bit that’ll start your stomach churning but when it works (and if you follow all of the above, it’ll work more often), it results in those lovely highs that make the new business slog worth it.

We’re Sponge NB and you can hire us to do ALL of this for you. Call 01708 451311 or email Steve on steve@spongenb.com