New clients are the lifeblood of any agency. However, sales for an agency is quite different from other businesses. For starters, the product is intangible, you're selling the skills of your colleagues. To garner business usually depends on your track record and the ability to craft a solution that's tailored to each client and the campaign you're working on. How do you pursue a new business development if every potential client and their product varies?
In a recent study, 76% of clients expect companies to understand their particular needs and expectations, and believe it's easier than ever to take their business elsewhere. With that in mind, there are strategies you can draw upon every time to ensure you're putting your best foot forward to initiating the strongest pitch to your prospective client every time:
As an agency, you're not selling physical products, but instead designing an expert plan. This requires setting goals and expectations. It's also key for the team doing the pitching and selling to be closely aligned and involved with the team who will be overseeing the delivery. Consistency is mandatory and expected when building a strong relationship with potential clients.
Remember, it takes a village! Your business is made up of all-stars departments. Draw upon the expertise of those who you normally tag in for the delivery. Bring your project management team onboard in the sales conversation. They ensure promises made in the beginning are met, and your prospective clients are getting what they signed up for. Those who are executing the plan can realistically scope the project and prospective clients can meet the individuals they will be working with. Not only does it make a great first impression, but it shows how much you appreciate their potential business, partnership and collaboration.
A pivotal piece to nurturing a new business development is making sure your internal processes and the technology you use also shapes how smoothly you work together. Sales automation tools aren't a great fit for most agency's business teams. They're too focused on quotas and widgets instead of the relationships and solutions. Most of all, they're disconnected from the project and delivery teams that actually need to do the work.
With cloud-based platforms like Accelo, access all major components necessary to run your business in one central platform. Have complete visibility into the sales pipeline and a real-time view of any communication between your agency and this potential client to ensure you never miss their inquiries or repeat responses with your other team members. When teaming up with a delivery point person, like the project manager in the initial conversation, they have the ability to demonstrate just how unique their project planning can be with customizable features like Gantt Charts, milestones, and task templates to streamline the project, track the progress, and meet deadlines.
A majority of clients are now expecting a much more personalized experience from the get-go and expecting the businesses that they work with to have a high understanding of their needs. Accelo helps you to go develop relationships with clients, making it easy to earn their trust and generate recurring business.
Sign up for a trial to see how our integrated platform can get you and your clients working smoothly together to do the work that you love.
