The World Of The Hunter

As humans we have always been ones to hunt to satisfy our basic needs – understanding where to hunt and what to hunt for is second nature.

But when it comes to new business development the majority fail to apply the same approach prior to making any initial contact with prospects. This leads to a failure to engage succinctly which can be soul destroying as, we all know, you get one chance particularly at a senior level.

So let’s apply the same approach over the generations to new business development – where to hunt and what to hunt for.

Where to hunt? Well let’s think of the ultimate new business opportunity as a Truffle. There are hundreds of species of truffles, as there are prospects, but the fruiting body of some are highly prized as a food. The 18th-century French gastronome Brillat-Savarin called these truffles "the diamond of the kitchen”.  These diamonds exist in new business and are as difficult to find but not as difficult as you would imagine.

If we imagine the online world as one large garden - some areas are rich in content, others lacking in any value. These rich areas can exist within the social media arenas where “chatter” can often unearth a particular frustration within an organisation often highlighting an immediate opportunity. The business networks also contain rich hunting ground with forums often containing a mine of information relating directly to an agencies experience and pedigree. These are two prime areas of fertile ground. There are others as well through traditional offline media but in this instance this can reflect news that is aged – they still offer insight into the mechanics involved within a particular company and their most recent channels of activity but the need to look beyond these to where a particular company might go next in developing their channels is where the clever agencies thrive and this is where the smart new business personnel make hay.

No one is saying that hunting for all this intelligence is easy but by focusing on a core target audience (the Tier 1’s as discussed in the previous blog) over, not necessarily, a lengthy period of time can pay significant dividends.

As before, if you want to learn more about our own approach, as a whole, please feel free to visit us online at www.mintconsultancy.co.uk or contact us for further insight into how the above approach works extremely well for our clients.

Thanks as always for reading.

Creating New Business Silos

In our ongoing series on developing the new business pipeline the smart developers will understand the methodology behind the following approach.

To start with we’ll reverse the approach into a real life scenario. When you see an advertisement, through whatever channel, it will create one of three silos in your mind:

·         Of no interest at all

·         Possibly of interest

·         Of definite interest

Based on the “possible” and “definite interest” silos you’ll then action a further interest approach by doing your homework as to where to go for the product and service and the most competitive price.

New business development is no different. If you apply the same logic to your prospect list you’ll create your own three silo scenario:

·         Prospects that have no relationship with your historical pedigree but you are aware of activity through word of mouth, network activity etc.

·         Prospects that have some correlation but do not represent the cream of the target audience

·         Prospects that have a direct relationship with the experience of the agency

These three silos will then become their own silos of activity:

·         Tier 3 – No relationship but you know of activity within the prospects that could offer a potential revenue stream

·         Tier 2 - The bread and butter clients – those that will generate a robust revenue stream which will act as the bedrock for new business activity

·         Tier 1 - Clients that, with time and effort, will transform the agency and are the “A” targets

So by working through this process you’ll then begin to develop strategic thoughts as to how to approach each silo which could typically be:

 

·         Tier 3 – Generic targets that might receive a traditional or viral related communication

·         Tier 2 – Again a viral/traditional generic communication but with the ability to reflect some form of correlation with the agency offering

·         Tier 1 – Targeted communication which reflects succinctly the pedigree you offer as an agency

The Tier 1 silo is where the clever approach is in terms of pre-contact intelligence and this will be an area we will cover tomorrow.

That’s one approach to new business – everyone will have their own thoughts but from a standing start it represents, we believe, a good point to make solid progression when developing the new business pipeline.

If you want to learn more about our own approach, as a whole, please feel free to visit us online at www.mintconsultancy.co.uk

Thanks as always for reading.

Getting Your Back-Office In Order

In our ongoing series on our thoughts on new business an area so sorely missed in the scheme of things is that of the back-office. Whether you have chosen the option of an outsourced partner for new business activity or are driving things internally if the basic systems and processes are not in place then activity will suffer.

Here is an outline on the main areas to focus on:

·         Email settings

o   If you are using an external partner make sure you have a pop account or webmail set up so that all communications being made are sent through your server. This ensures continuity of brand from your agency’s perspective  but also allows you insight as to what a partner is communicating – useful insight if they appear to be going off message.

o   If you are using a POP account make sure it works – we’ve had a number of issues historically where emails go out without issue but any incoming get lost in the ether. A major opportunity was lost down to just this.

·         Diaries

o   Ensure you have diaries that can be accessed in real time.  There is nothing worse than having an opportunity confirmed and then having to move it due to lack of communication in this area – it shows poor structure and, perception being what it is, if you can’t get the diary right what hope of delivery!

·         General Communication

o   Always ensure that communication lines are open at all times. The hungry new business professional will want to share the good and the bad at any given time – be a free sprit when taking a call. It engenders a good working relationship that will flourish as you get to understand each others expectations.

·         Collateral

o   The essential part of any back-office tool box – the supporting collateral. Try and ensure that all the channels you are pressing ahead with for new business having supporting collateral. The ideal scenario would be links to the various channels that a prospect can be directed to ie. a micro-site. These sites need only hold the equivalent of a truncated credentials but they are essential in securing what you hope will prove to be a positive opportunity.

That covers the main areas of contention – there are others of course but these we believe are key to a smooth new business process.

If you want to learn more about our own approach as a whole please feel free to visit us online at www.mintconsultancy.co.uk

Thanks as always for reading.