The process of gaining new business is tough. In our seminars, we stress the need for being relentless about prospecting. It almost always takes more than one call to get a prospect to see you.
One Midwest agency principal was hot on the trail of a shoe manufacturer. Each Monday someone from the agency would call the prospect. Each Monday, the prospect would not take the call. Finally the prospect answered, but was not interested. Do you think that deterred the agency? No. They kept calling. Eventually, in what was probably desperation, the prospect consented to a meeting. That visit resulted in a project, and the agency was positioned for more.
Most agencies would have given up long before the prospect finally took the call, let alone continued calling after being rejected. The agency principal felt challenged to keep at it. Which brings us to the point: persistence pays. You must constantly work to convince companies to use your agency, whether for full service or projects. The process of winning business and building relationships is ongoing. Most agencies do not pursue new business with enough sustained effort. Set a standard and hold it.
The full court press
The way to accomplish this is through what we call the full court press. Your agency commits to a select number of top prospects who meet your established criteria for premium account status. From the moment you make first contact to the moment you achieve agency of record status, you never let them out of your sight.
This takes tenacity. Top prospects play hard to get. They can afford to. There are plenty of agencies pursuing them at any given time. But your pursuit has to be different. Most agencies are like gnats on a summer day. There are plenty of them, buzzing constantly. Prospects just swat them away. Your agency has to focus more like a bee and keep at the prospect until you can collect some nectar.
The full court press requires a plan for moving from step one to step two to steps three, four, and five with your prospect. Here is how that plays out.
When your calls yield a first meeting, follow the acceptance with a confirmation. At the first meeting, come prepared with questions about their industry and company that will get the prospect doing most of the talking. The goal of the first meeting is a second meeting. Make that your measure of success.
Apply the same discipline at every subsequent meeting. Do not leave one without making arrangements for the next. This sounds obvious. You would be surprised how rarely it happens. Most agency people leave meetings inspired but unscheduled, and the momentum dies.
Between meetings, stay present. Call with a relevant question. Share something you found while immersing yourself in their world. This requires doing your homework before you ever pick up the phone. Research the company, the competitive landscape, and the trade press. Listen to industry podcasts. Follow the voices in their space on LinkedIn. Subscribe to the newsletters their customers read. The intelligence you gather becomes the currency of every conversation that follows.
The mindset that closes
Agency people who use these tactics do something else that matters just as much as the tactics themselves. In their minds, prospects become clients the moment they meet. It is only a matter of time until the prospect realizes it too.
That is not arrogance. It is the kind of steady conviction that comes from genuine preparation and sustained commitment. If you begin thinking and acting like the agency of record, you are far more likely to become the agency of record.
Keep at it. The business belongs to the persistent.
