Generate opportunity flow

Each of the three words in this objective is key:

Generate

Most agencies have a new business approach that involves being a follower, waiting for clients to bring them opportunities:

• Waiting to receive enquiries, briefs or RFPs

• Waiting for a prospective client to respond to marketing campaigns

• Waiting for leads to be ready to need a new campaign/event/website/whatever the agency does and checking in with them regularly until they do

This makes an agency’s pipeline lumpy and unpredictable, because you’re not in control. You’re passive.

Healthy agencies want to be fully active and in control of their new business. They take the lead, creating opportunities for clients.

This involves knowing and understanding prospective clients really well (hence the focus of the previous objectives), being able to see ahead to what problems and opportunities they will face, educating them and showing the way, and then inspiring and leading them into acting.

Opportunity

When agencies start out, an opportunity is any potential client, with pretty much any request, offering them some money to do stuff.

As the agency grows and matures, that needs to develop into a more selective approach.

Healthy agencies have a very clear definition of what makes an opportunity for them, which may include:

• It’s a genuinely valuable opportunity for the client. Win-win, and the agency only wants to work on truly worthwhile things.

• The client and the agency already have a good relationship, and understand each other’s needs, expectations and approaches.

• The work requires the kinds of creativity and expertise that the agency excels at, so it is perfectly placed to be the best choice to do this work.

• The work will be interesting, challenging and fulfilling for the agency’s team members.

• The work will be an excellent example of what the agency does, and is likely to help win other future work as a result.

• The client and the work pass the agency’s ethical and other tests.

• The client values the work to be done enough to pay properly for it, and values the unique talents of the agency, so the agency will be well rewarded for its creativity and expertise.

They can then focus on generating opportunities that are true opportunities for them, and avoid wasting time and energy on opportunities that won’t be a match.

By creating the opportunities rather than simply waiting for them, it’s easier to shape them into being great opportunities.

Flow

New business for agencies is famously lumpy and unpredictable, creating the rollercoaster ride of income and profits.

This is often referred to as feast or famine, and that links nicely to our analogy of being farmers of new business rather than hunters.

By being proactive and sowing the seeds of our crops, we can plant various things that will be ready in different seasons. By growing more than we need in summer we can store some for the winter. We can also trade surpluses with other farms for different crops. That way you can eat well all year round.

And so it is with sales.

We want to achieve a consistent, sustainable flow of new business that you can rely on to achieve predictable income and profitability.

But because the outside world is unpredictable and we can’t make other people do things exactly when we want, we need to take the responsibility for designing that flow.

This includes: