Most agencies build prospect lists around rational criteria. Budget size, industry fit, geographic proximity, financial stability. All of those filters are necessary. The one that almost never appears on the list is the one that often makes the most difference: genuine passion.
When an agency person has a deep personal connection to a category, the work is different. The briefing conversations are sharper. The strategic questions cut closer to the truth. The creative comes from a place of authentic understanding rather than researched approximation. Clients in those categories sense it immediately, even when they cannot articulate why.
The energy people invest in accounts they feel personally connected to consistently exceeds what they bring to accounts whose primary qualification is the ability to pay invoices on time. That gap shows up in the work, in the relationship, and eventually in the results.
Passion as a new business criterion
Most agencies build prospect lists around rational criteria: industry type, client location, advertising budget size, financial stability, and category knowledge. All of those criteria matter. What gets overlooked is the dimension of personal knowledge and genuine passion.
When an agency person has a deep personal connection to a category, whether through a hobby, a lifestyle, a community, or a long personal history with a product or service, that connection translates into a competitive advantage that is genuinely difficult to replicate. Clients in those categories sense it immediately. The briefing conversations are different. The strategic questions are sharper. The creative work comes from a place of authentic understanding rather than researched approximation.
Finding what already exists in your agency
Call a meeting and find out what skills, passions, and deep personal knowledge already exist among your people. The results are often surprising. One informal survey of a twenty-person agency turned up enough shared interest and expertise in three specific areas, crafts, mountain biking, and Mexican culture, to make credible pitches to potential clients in each category. None of those competencies had ever been considered as a new business angle before the conversation happened.
The same exercise at your agency might surface an avid cyclist who knows the cycling retail market better than most category specialists. A team member who has been involved in local arts organizations for fifteen years. Someone who grew up in a farming family and understands the agricultural market from the ground up. A parent who is deeply embedded in youth sports and knows the youth recreation consumer in ways no amount of research can replicate.
These are not incidental details. They are potential new business advantages sitting unused.
What to do with what you find
Add a passion and personal knowledge dimension to your agency's new business targeting criteria alongside the rational filters. When building or refining the prospect list, ask not just which clients can afford the agency and fit the agency's capabilities, but which prospects align with the genuine enthusiasm and personal expertise that already exist in the room.
The agencies that win the most interesting accounts are not always the ones with the most relevant case studies. They are often the ones where someone in the room clearly and genuinely cares about the client's world. That is something worth deliberately looking for and building around.
What potential competencies can you discover among your agency people?
