Notes

How to Find a New Business Agency
It is important to keep a good blast of customers and clients. It is very easy to get complacent if you have enough clients - but if one of those clients disappeared would your business feel the effect? Or worse would it crumble?? Working with a fresh Business Agency will let you win clients and grow your business. There is no denying that new business / lead generation could be time consuming, effort and expensive but overall it usually is worthwhile and affordable.

Many Creative and Marketing Agencies use New Business Agencies; it is an effective way to really get your work before companies you would like to use. I wrote this short article after to speaking to the Directors of Creative Agencies along with other Business Development Managers. This short article is for small Creative and Marketing Agencies not used to new business and seeking to work with a New Business Agency for the very first time.

I believe it fair to say in the world of home based business you do get everything you pay for. You may get a telesales person to call a large number of companies and pay a minor fee, or you can choose an agency that approach home based business intelligently. The second will be costly but can you afford not to?

HOME BASED BUSINESS Agencies specialise to find you clients to be able to grow your organization. Although agencies work in various ways, the long and lacking it is that, they will phone companies on your behalf with the view of establishing a gathering between you and the potential client. Sounds simple enough, but the new business process is more than simply cold calling.

Before you jump in at the deep end here are a few factors to note when choosing a New Business Agency. They are all different and will all have diverse ideas about the way new business should be conducted. Below are a few questions to ask your brand-new business agency before you use them?

Question 1 -Results or Numbers?

If a New Business Agency promises to focus on 500 companies a week and guarantees you five meetings, be aware. This is often a potential time waster for some agencies. If a New Business Manager is pressured to get you before x level of clients, they will. Whether the meeting is worthwhile or not, is not their problem they have to reach their targets.

If the individual handling your brand-new business account is a really good sales rep with a difficult sales technique they might be in a position to force a potential client to possess a meeting with you whether they have work, or you're suitable. They are good sales people, but they may not be producing qualified leads.

For example, if you're a design agency who specialises in content managed website s for small businesses, you do not desire to end up at a meeting to rebrand Kellogs. Yes, this would be a fantastic opportunity, however in competition with top branding agencies can you stand a chance? In the event that you only work with big brands similarly you may not want to arrive to a meeting to go over a �300 website.

A good New Business Manager ought to be keen and results driven but also able to evaluate a professional lead. By giving way too many targets you're ultimately pushing them into a corner to produce meetings. You don't desire to attend any old meeting. An ideal meeting is a potential client who's looking for a company for a particular project or seeking to change their roster of agencies. An excellent meeting is also a straightforward credentials meeting with one of your wish list companies, who you intend to impress with solid ideas.

Rather than an agency driven by numbers, consider a company driven by results. Unfortunately, but realistically, home based business isn't always about getting work now. It is about creating a pipeline and raising your profile. If your Account Handler has a good conversation with a Decision Maker in regards to a suitable project which is commissioned later that year, that is better than a credentials meeting. You can then keep in regular contact with the decision maker until that project comes up. By the time you have the meeting you will end up talking about a specific project rather than running through a portfolio.

Look at the pipeline as much as the number of meetings.

Question 2 - How Targeted is their New Business Approach?
Are you trying to reach as much companies as possible to offer your services to? For a few businesses this might work but I doubt if this works for most. A FRESH Business Agency which implies a highly targeted approach will more than likely receive better results. For example a design agency seeking to build up a client list does not desire to target 'any' business with "we do design" it really is not going to stick out, also it simply becomes a game of chance.

A web site design agency who mainly works together with restaurants producing content managed websites could contact other restaurants with a similar offer. However, you don't have to limit you to ultimately restaurants, always look to expand your market but do it with careful consideration. If you work with restaurants you can then aim at hotels, pubs, bars and clubs. Needless to say, it is possible to always expand your market but showing a potential client experience in your field will probably be beneficial. (My next article will go further into this subject).

Consider the size of the business - in case you have only ever worked with SMEs build this up gently don't suddenly shoot for Coke. Consider the location of businesses, do you have the time and money to travel from London to Glasgow for a gathering or should you stay local. An excellent New Business Agency will generate a database tailored to your organization capabilities. To be able to tailor a database you should initially work with your New Business Agency, they must be in a position to give advice to you. But you have to know which direction you're heading with your business, and where you sit, and would like to sit on the market place.

Although this may sound as if I am stating the obvious, some of the new business managers I spoke to told me stories of how their clients took little interest in the strategy and left to them to obtain meetings without direction. These clients then refused to leave London to attend meetings and refused any project under �5000 (although they had never completed a project for this much money).

Question 3 - Just how do they find the Decision Maker?
When your HOME BASED BUSINESS Agency is going to send your information to the company, how are they likely to find the right person? There is a lot of information available on the internet these days on Marketing Directors of companies. Though it would be wonderful to get a meeting with someone so high up in the business how likely is this?

The Marketing Director of Nike is not generally going to interview agencies for a microsite. In most cases it could be a waste of money and time attempting to reach them on the phone to set up a meeting. Aim lower. Nike is a huge corporation and it will take patience and careful research to get the person responsible for commissioning microsites also it will not be the Marketing Director.

Especially in recent years more and more new roles are appearing in companies, new media managers, advertising managers, mobile managers, interactive managers, account directors, creative directors - that are you looking to use? Shoot for less companies as research could be time consuming, but ensure your representative is talking to the proper person. Letters simply addressed to the Marketing Director are hard to check out up with a telephone call. Find out how and who your brand-new Business Manager will be trying to contact.

Question 4 - Who else may be the agency working with?

It is great to utilize an agency that has skills in selling everything you are offering, even better to get a New Business Manager with these exact skills. If a HOME BASED BUSINESS Manager is dealing with three Mobile Marketing Agencies is your account being kept separate? What is your agencies ethics of sharing potential clients?

Your new business account should be, if possible, separate to any companies. You do not want to spending money on someone else's new business. It is usually all too easy for a fresh Business Manager to get details of a company looking to rebrand almost all their marketing collateral... and keep two design agencies happy.

Question 5 - Who is your Account Handler?

Always ask to meet up the individual handling your account. It really is your business, and they are representing you, be sure you just like the way they come across. YOUR BRAND-NEW Business Manager shouldn't really read from the script and should be confident and knowledgeable enough to carry an in-depth conversation. If you are a fresh Media Agency does your brand-new Business Manager know their augmented reality from their rfId barcodes, and how far can they continue with this conversation?

In order to find common ground with a potential client it is good to learn about their business before having a conversation with them. This means your brand-new Business Manager must be proficient in the sectors they're targeting.

New Business Mangers ought to be versatile. They must be good researchers, communicators and able to pick up information quickly. Providing a New Business Manager has already established experience in marketing or creative agencies they will understand the processes and jargon and may generally adjust to other industries which have specialist interests. Someone however, who does not have any background in design, marketing or creative industries generally will probably find it harder to learn everything from scratch and discover about niche markets.

If your New Business Manager has built a relationship with a Decision Maker it may be an idea to take them along to the meeting as part of your company. Does your New Business Agency allow this? In an ideal world your Account Handler should feel they are part of your team.

It is important that you go to meetings prepared and know what is expected from you at the meeting. It really is down to you to give your brand-new Business Manager all the information they need. You understand your market also it never does any harm to keep them updated with your knowledge of industry events. Once you launch a fresh project let your New Business Manager know, keep them involved.

Question 6 - How can you prepare to utilize an New Business Agency?

Be prepared to be involved. Most New Business Managers spoken to for this article said, "The closer they have worked with clients the more likely they are to achieve results." Usually do not expect a fresh Business Agency to start out work and come back to you seven days later with lots of new work - it rarely happens like that. If your New Business Agency is starting conversations with the proper people be sure you have the supporting materials. Many clients will ask for a contact with links to work, PDFs, show reels or brochures - it is down to one to provide these. When attending the meetings, which you have essentially paid lots of money to get, be sure to are ready for the presentation. Your New Business Agency can only take you so far. Remember that if you run your business you need to really be the best person to undertake your new business as you know your organization inside out, your capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. If you cannot get hold of a �500,000 contract don't expect a fresh business agency to. Be realistic

Many creative agencies I spoke to had worked with at least several HOME BASED BUSINESS Agencies before finding the one they felt they might work with, hence the reason for this article. There are obviously many questions to ask before undertaking the expense of a New Business Agency but I hope this article covers several! Please see more advice on handling your own home based business on my website http://www.kerinewman.com.

Keri Newman - Freelance Web site design and marketing for smaller businesses.
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