Three weeks in and (some) things are becoming clear. What can you do to maximise your chances of winning new business? Here are six points we’d like to share with you.
1. Develop your ‘Agile Adjusters’
Identify and engage with those of your current pipeline most able to adapt and thrive in the current environment. Find ways to gently dig deeper to understand the full scope of their opportunities and challenges and then proactively work with them to establish the briefs that will build your revenue. More on Agile Adjusters here.
2. Focus on Those You Know
Your fastest way to new business is to reach out to the people and brands that already know you. You can therefore skip to an extent the chemistry necessity. Build a complete list of everyone you’ve worked with, met in the past and got on with, or who you pitched to, even if you lost. Remove the duds and then give the list to someone you can trust to manage your brand sensitively and intelligently and who has the energy and means to comprehensively work through it.
3. Using Video Conference Correctly
We've now had a lot of feedback from clients using video-conferencing with prospects. The main point is that it enables partial reading of nuance at best, but it does help build trust, as you can see what a person looks like and gauge reactions better than with a phone call. So the best way to use it is a closing tool once the logic of a supply-fit is already in place from prior email and phone contact.
4. Online Events Don’t Really Work
Prospects of ours have told us that in the online events they’ve attended, it was extremely hard to get into the normal flow where you can be sociable. It was very hard to read or engage people. But to create meaningful connections and generate business we’d advise choosing more workable routes.
5. Stay Front of Mind
Right now the agencies across the UK that are reaching out effectively by phone and email are connecting with brand decision-makers. Yesterday, for instance, we arranged a meeting for one of our clients to discuss a brief with Big 4 accountancy. After the initial madness of Lockdown Week 1 decision-makers are settling into their working from home routine and need help to realise their marketing plans. This will be a perfect time to catch many contacts, connect with them, talk about their business challenges, but more importantly, how they’re shaping up on the other side of this crisis.
6. Fresh Insights, Fresh Ideas
The commercial landscape is evolving faster than ever - so you need the best possible intelligence and to stay agile in your own approach and messaging. The Pearlfinders platform is essential as ever - this morning, for instance, their Media Spend Analysis briefing is enabling us to identify brands with OOH and cinema budgets in play and others that may now be considering swiftly deployed TV spots.
There will be new requirements from creative and marketing agencies in our changed world up ahead, but it’s not the temporary winners and losers that matter so much, rather the sustainable, long-term briefs that we are right now working hard to connect our clients with.
Rainmaker can help you engage with live briefs and create the new business relationships that will fuel your recovery and foundations for growth. As always, feel free to connect with me here or on email if you think we can help you or you’d like to discuss any of this further.