New Business is tough. The only reason Sponge NB exists is because YOU don’t want to make cold calls (we totally get it BTW - they suck). No one wants your cold call, especially when you’re the fifth ‘random’ to call out of the blue this week (maybe even today).
However, employing a new business agency is a proven way to keep your outreach at the levels required to bring in new business, and - as lovely as your existing clients are - new clients are the route to marginal growth that ultimately piles up and has a meaningful impact on your y-o-y growth plans.
So, here are three ways to get the most from your new biz agency:
1) Let them describe you to the outside world in the way that works for them, not just the way you like to be described.
Many agencies have a very specific idea of how they MUST be perceived in the outside world, and will instruct us to ONLY describe them in this way. It doesn’t help. We like to call your prospects and try to engage with them in a non-salesy way, letting the conversation flow in a more casual and natural way, exposing and exploring opportunities as they reveal themselves. If we’re preoccupied with making sure we get out key phrases and agency descriptions by your instruction it just gets in the way of progress. You’ve taken the leap of faith to pay us for our expertise, so now let us show it off a little.
2) Follow your agency’s instructions, especially when it comes to the ammo they need.
I’m mostly referring to creds here. If your new business expert asks for a tidy 8-page creds deck showing off a specific selection of case studies, trust them and do just that. If you return with a 20-pager because “we felt it was important to also show X and Y and Z and…” then you’ve taken the direction of an expert in the field (i.e. us) and gone against our best advice.
3) Don’t get hung up on numbers.
Successful new business IS (to a degree) about volume and tenacity, but that doesn’t mean there’s a direct and specific correlation between activity and results; there’s much more to it than that. So, if we made 70 calls on Wednesday and booked two meetings, don’t think that we get one meeting for every 35 calls we make (and therefore “can you make 90 calls a day to up the odds?”). On Thursday day we might book a meeting on the third call of the day. That doesn’t mean that on Thursdays we should ONLY make three calls.
Asking how many calls we made this week/month/year will waste valuable time as we compile meaningless reports for you - and just dump a lot of irrelevant data in your lap. Instead, chose your agency, and then TRUST them to do everything it takes to deliver the results they know will keep you a happy customer for years to come.
Happy hunting.