7 Tips for Emailing Busy Prospects for Ad Agency New Business

July 28, 2011

E-mail is still relevant as a tool for ad agency new business but use it wisely because prospects are extremely busy just like you. 

With the popularity of my blog, I receive a large number of emails daily. I’ve learned to better filter all of the invitations to review, speak, advise and consult as well as the emails that pitch products, services and other opportunities. It isn’t unusual to receive well over a hundred of these type of emails daily.

What I’ve learned from my own experience, the type of email pitches that enlist my response, have helped me to be more effective in using emails for ad agency new business.

Below is an example of a great emailed invitation/pitch. One of the few that I personally responded to almost immediately. 

Dear Michael

I run a small events company in Johannesburg South Africa and we have had it on our radar to run an Advertising Innovation Day for some time, we have had good success with events dealing with Social Media and we have had surprisingly a number of delegates from advertising agencies attend a few of them. Please see our website www.classicevents.co.za to give you an idea of what we have run before, please excuse our site – it is due for an upgrade which I am busy attending to now.

I believe there would be a market for talks in Johannesburg and Cape Town and possibly Durban as well, these are the tree main centres where there are a number of agencies, the bulk of the agencies are Johannesburg and Cape Town based but Durban does have some smaller agencies and offices of the larger agencies. I could do some research for you and share lists of agencies here and possibly conduct a test to see if agencies are keen to attend.

Do you have standard speaker fees or would you entertain a profit share or delegate rate share. Please could you also give me an idea of when you could come across for a week or so, I’m guessing you’d surely want a couple of days to relax and see some of the country whilst here.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

NIGEL BROWN

Here are the reasons why this is such a good email that hopefully will provide some helpful tips as you reach out to your prospective clients using email. 

  1. Use a person’s first name. Personal is always better than formal when you are reaching out through email. Formal seems cold and indifferent, often appears spammy. Nigel starts off his email pitch to me simply with “Dear Michael.”
  2. Create a pitch letter that is concise and brief. My heart always sinks we I get a long email from someone. Even though it is much easier to bang out a lengthy email but it is also discourteous. Being short and concise take effort on the part of the sender but it is always appreciated and leaves a positive impression upon the person you are trying to reach out to. Nigel condensed his email down to 3 short paragraphs – perfect!
  3. The request is very clear as well as the invitation on how he would like me to respond.
  4. I can’t tell you the number of times that I receive requests like this and have to search for the contact info info. That is discourteous and leaves a negative impression. But it occurs more often than not. Nigel made it easy for me to follow-up by including all of the various channels that I can make contact with him. Though I didn’t list them here for obvious reasons, Nigel provided me with his email address, cell phone and direct dial office numbers, fax and Skype numbers and an active link to his company’s website.
  5. Don’t over pitch in the subject line. Nigel’s subject line was very effective in getting my attention: Query to explore you coming to South Africa for a series of talks. Who wouldn’t want an opportunity to visit South Africa. But also, Nigel’s invitation wasn’t salesy. It was a simple invitation to explore the possibility, a gauge of my interest. He left the response totally in my court. He didn’t use it as a precursor for a “warm call” that he would initiate.
  6. Nigel was proactive in providing information about his company. In the email he provided me with a hyper link to his company’s website knowing that I would want to investigate credentials.
  7. Don’t overuse flattery. The owner of the first ad agency that I ever worked for, used a lot of flattery in conversation’s with prospects.  It always came off as insincere, almost sleazy. Most of the time flattery can be implied without even stating anything and is more effectual.

Photo credit: Frank Gruber

2 Comments | Digital, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The Reader’s Digest Version of the Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

July 25, 2011

Steve Jobs is a master presenter and he provides some important lessons that are helpful to any ad agency pitch opportunity.

Carmine Gallo’s book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a must read. There’s much to learn from Jobs presentation tactics and style since delivering. Applying his simple formula can greatly improve any agency’s pitch and help them to stand out from the rest.

“You’re time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
– Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is not a natural presenter, he has to work at it. Carmine shares that, “for two full days before a presentation, Jobs will practice the entire presentation, asking for feedback from product managers in the room. For 48 hours, all of his energy is directed at making the presentation the perfect embodiment of Apple’s messages.” 

Nancy Duarte recommends that a presenter spend 90 hours creating an hour-long presentation with 30 slides. But only one-third of that time is spent building slides. Another third is rehearsing, but the first third is spent collecting ideas, organizing ideas, and sketching the story.

  • Thinking
  • Sketching
  • Building
  • Slides
  • Scripting
  • Rehearsing
  • 90 hours | 30 slides

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version from a live presentation delivered by Carmine and recreated through by Peter Walker in this Slideshare format.

3 Comments | Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, Pitches, Speaking | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Multitasking Kills Productivity and That’s Bad for New Business

July 22, 2011

Photo Credit Daquella Manera

Research shows that the more you multitask, the worse you are at it and that can be bad for ad agency new business.

In some situations multitasking is deadly. I recently read of a well-known plastic surgeon who was killed when he accidentally drove his car over a cliff while sending a Twitter message about his dog. Most of us understand the dangers of multitasking while driving but many don’t realize that multitasking can be killing productivity.

The term “multitasking originated in the computer engineering industry, referring to the ability of a microprocessor to process several task at the simultaneously. Our ability to multitask is not as efficient as we might think.

On the surface multitasking sounds like it would boost productivity but studies show just the opposite happens:

Professor Earl Miller, a neuroscientist at the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in multi-tasking research, says, ‘People can’t do it very well, and when they say they can, they’re deluding themselves,’ he says. ‘The brain is very good at deluding itself.’ 

Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell has gone so far as to describe multitasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one.” 

A study at the University of California found that multitasking impedes the brain’s ability to absorb information

Author of the book Distraction, Damon Young, says, “When we move from our job to an e-mail, it takes about a minute to recover our train of thought and then we get another e-mail, or an SMS, so our concentration is fractured. The result? We’re not really multi-tasking. We’re switching between tasks in an unfocused or clumsy way.”

Studies here in the US have shown that students who do homework while watching television get consistently lower grades.

“There is a cost to the way that our society is changing. Humans are not built to work this way, we’re really built to focus.” Russell Poldrack,UCLA psychology professor

Persons charged with business development for most small to mid-size ad agencies often wear multiple hats. That increases the likelihood that they do a lot of multi-tasking and are less efficient than they could be.

We are not made for multitasking and it actually hinders our productivity:

  • The time it takes to complete jobs increases significantly. People actually lose time rather than gain it. The brain has to restart and refocus. Switching attention is from one task to another, work may be faster but studies show that productivity is less.
  • Multi-taskers are prone to errors.
  • Multi-taskers are more easily distracted. The more they multitask the worse they are at it and the less they can focus on one thing.
  • Multitasking hurts relationships. Even though it isn’t intended, it makes clients, coworkers, friends and most importantly family feel unimportant.
  • Multitasking comes at a high price. It greatly increases stress,  even rage in adults and learning problems for children. You need to ask yourself, ‘is this the way I want to feel? Is this the way I really want to live my life?”

If you want to be productive it’s best not to multi-task at all. There is no downside to it. Here are 10 tips to overcoming multitasking:

  1. Embrace single tasking. Acknowledge the problem, “Hi, my name is Michael and I’m a multi-tasker.” 
  2. Manage your time better, do one thing at a time if at all possible.Schedule time to switch your attention from one task to another.
  3. Look for ways to create silence. I turn off any distractions and even use a set of noise canceling headphones to help me get into a focused state of mind.
  4. Turn off the cell phone and disable email alerts. Have set time to check voice mail and your inbox.
  5. Distractions on the internet are abundant. To bring strategy and focus to your online reading, use an RSS Reader such as Google Reader.
  6. Force yourself to disconnect. Take a break from social media and the internet.
  7. Create a To Do List for the day. Plan your day in blocks. Set  just a few primary objectives that you want to complete by end of day.
  8. Begin at in the mornings to complete your most important tasks.
  9. Amazing at how deadlines can keep things moving.  Give yourself less time helps hyper-focus your attention on the project at thand.
  10. Schedule in some periodic breaks during the day, such as going for a brief walk.

10 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, Time Management | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The number one reason ad agencies new business plans fail

July 20, 2011

Photo Credit DigitalNative

Why new business plans tend to fail and what you can do about it.

For ad agencies that have a new business plan, the majority fall short in its implementation. The reason? According to a poll conducted by Mirren Business Development , when asked “What is the primary reason new business plans fail?”, 57% responded that it was a lack of discipline/accountability followed a lack of team commitment – 21%.

Here are 20 tips to overcome the lack of discipline/accountability and team commitment assuring success implementing a new business plan for your agency: 

  1. Set goals that are realistically achievable within the culture and resources of the agency.
  2. You’ll need to convert your strategic plan into a game plan that includes Milestone Dates, To Do List, Resources, Assignments, etc.
  3. One person who is responsible. Have a new business director/manager who is held accountable for its execution. If “everyone” is responsible for your agency’s new business, in actuality no one is. But that doesn’t mean that others, particularly agency principals aren’t involved in the process.
  4.  Top management must be intimately involved in the process. No one in the agency feels the pressure to succeed more than the agency principals. Like it or not, they are the face of the agency. Their involvement is important for new business and they shouldn’t shy away from this responsibility.
  5. Determine what is needed to achieve your priorities: People, funding, equipment, space, training/development, etc.
  6. Get organized: Use a program such as Basecamp, an excellent, inexpensive online project management tool to help in the implementation process.
  7. Make assignments: clear communications with those who must help with implementation of the various projects is a must. Who is doing what and when. Make sure they know their assignment, due dates and be prepared to prod, poke and push for completion
  8. Look for ways to simplify your internal processes. From RFP responses, to new business reporting … always invoke the K.I.S.S. principle.
  9. It may also be wise to outsource some services when possible. For some agencies outsourcing certain aspects of their new business program to services such as Catapult New Business orRSW is the best option. I know of a large full service agency,with their own PR department, that chooses to outsource PR for the agency to keep it consistent.
  10. I say it often, you can’t improve it if you can’t measure it. Be sure to have measurements in place, but again, keep them simple.
  11. I would suggest developing a 1 page monthly new business report on activities and results.
  12. Be prepared to make changes. This is not an exercise in perfection –  Plans give you a road map to our goals, but you have to be ready to make adjustments, based on your experience in execution. Every plan will have obstacles. Don’t abandon your strategy at the first obstacle, create “work-arounds”, solutions, even temporary ones that will allow you to keep the process moving. Don’t let anything stop implementation.
  13. Create rituals for new business. If you are responsible for new business, you know how easy it is to get side-tracked within the agency environment. I would encourage you  to simply set up a routine in the morning that you do as soon as you wake up. This works so well because what you do early in the day often sets the context for your day. A bad start usually leads to a bad day.
  14. Consistency is a key component to ad agency new business. Remember that consistency is more important than perfection.
  15. Do the things that you dislike the most first and get them out-of-the-way. It provides me with an incentive to get to the tasks that I enjoy the most.
  16. Stay focused on the process. I’ve learned to maintain a consistency through the ups and downs by paying attention to the processes that I’ve created for new business. This makes me less prone to distractions and knee-jerk reactions. I know that if I consistently work the new business program that I have in place the results will come.
  17. Use simple reminders. I use reminders, either on a sticky-note, my computer DeskTop, pop-up alerts, to keep me on course throughout the day. I know what I want to achieve by the end of the day and I use a variety of tools to help keep me keep me on track.
  18. Celebrate successes. New business is tough. Especially in this economy. Life in the trenches for new business is nonstop hard work and often goes unnoticed. For the well-being of your new business team, it is important to stop, take the time to celebrate each new business victory.
  19. Resolve to stay the course. New business efforts are highly relational and take time to come to fruition.
  20. Incorporate “lessons learned” from accessing your accomplishments into the next year plan.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

5 Comments | New Business Plans, New Business Tips, Time Management | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Vacationing for Ad Agency New Business

July 18, 2011

Hopefully my personal experience can provide you with some ideas for you can keep your social media | new business program churning even while on vacation.

As I was preparing to write this post, I noticed that Edward Boches, Mullen’s Chief Creative Office,  had disconnected for a short period from his social media activity and described his experience in this blog article, “Random Thoughts from a Summer Vacation.”

Edward writes, “Ironically while social media connects us to strangers it isolates us from the people we’re closest to. I got a taste of my own medicine last week as I watched my daughter disappear into her Facebook and YouTube communities, half unaware of my presence. Now I know what my family feels like when I’m saying “uh huh,” but staring at one of my screens.”

New business is tough, especially in this economy plus the acceleration of communication’s technology, just keeping up can be exhausting. Life in the trenches for your agency’s new business is nonstop, hard work. For your family and your personal well-being, it is important to take some personal time off from the rigors of new business as well as a refreshing break from social media.

Recharging your batteries with personal time away is always good and often needed to avoid burn-out. But just because you are taking some much needed time off doesn’t mean your agency’s new business has to suffer. Utilizing social media, with a few select tools and tactics can keep your new business pipeline full even when you are away.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve cut back on my social media engagement, unplugged myself for a period to reflect, rewind and redirect my energies. I’ve spent less time online over the past couple of weeks than anytime over the past 4 years. But, even while I’m off unwinding and off the grid my social media program continues to churn out new business opportunities.

Here’s are a few tactics that I employ to keep my social media | new business program working for me while I’m away:

  • My blog continues to generate traffic throughout my off period because it is highly optimized for search. I was also able to repurpose my blog’s content through multiple tools through other social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
  • Schedule Guest Post for content creation for your blog while you are away. John Sharpe, CMO of the BOHAN agency, created this post that was used for FUEL LINES while I was on sabbatical: How did YOU get into ad agency business development?
  • I created my  email newsletter in advance and preset it to publish during my break time.
  • I use a variety of social media apps to add some personal touches to my social media stream using my iPhone and iPad. It only a few minutes of my time per day while vacationing. Most of my followers wouldn’t even know that I’m mostly off the grid during this time.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

Leave a Comment » | Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, Social Media, Time Management | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Reading Resources for Ad Agency New Business

July 5, 2011

the|G|™'s photo

The right reading resources can help fuel your agency’s new business.

The only constant in advertising is change and that change can dramatically impact your agency’s new business development. To maintain success, you have to keep up. That isn’t easy. Especially with this revolutionary change we’re experiencing in communications.

If you are responsible for new business, you know how easy it is to get side-tracked within the agency environment. I would encourage you  to set up a simple routine for reading, your personal ‘continuing educational program’, specific to new business.

I’ve identified some online new business resources for agency owners, management and new business directors. The following sites provide helpful new business tips, tactics and trends particularly for small to midsize ad agencies.

  1. Agency Reinvention | Robb High Consulting, Robb High Owner
  2. Blue Focus Marketing, Mark and Cheryl Burgess, Co-founders
  3. Mirren Business Development, Brent Hodgins, Managing Partner
  4. New Business Intel, Todd Knutson, CEO of The Listr
  5. RSW (Reardon, Smith, Whittaker/UK) , Adam Whittaker, Principal
  6. Sanders Consulting Group, Bob Sanders, President
  7. Second Wind, Anthony Mikes, founder
  8. The “ANB” Blog, Mark Sneider, Owner & President of RSW/US
  9. The New Business Dingo, David Curie, President of Catapult New Business
  10. Thunderclap Consulting Group, Steve Congdon, Principal

A good way to maintain a consistent reading program and keep up with the latest content from these sources would be the use of an RSS Reader such as Google Reader. RSS feeds allow you to easily subscribe to content you want to receive.

Here are a few of the benefits to subscribing to this content through a RSS feed:

  • Simplifies and focuses your reading into one convenient location, your inbox or RSS reader.
  • You can easily add or remove subscriptions and organize your reading into folders.
  • An easy way to keep up with the latest breaking news and trends.
  • Fresh content 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
  • An RSS feed will save you a ton of time.

If you have found additional sites that have been helpful for agency new business, please share them in the comment section below.

2 Comments | Agency Leadership, New Business Tips | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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