Ensure You Generate the Revenue You Want in the 2023 Economy

The market in the past 18 months has been good for agencies.  Generating new revenue has not been that difficult. Prepare now for what could be an economic downtown when opportunities will be fewer and competition greater.

 As we wrote when Prosper Group announced our NewBusinessRx service offering, regularly winning new business is critical to your overall success.  It provides a variety of assignments and career development opportunities for your team; allows you to attract and retain talent; and, importantly, ensures a financially healthy firm for your future planning.

 A typical explanation for those who don’t make it a priority is that “client work comes first.”  Nothing should interfere with keeping existing clients satisfied with your performance.  You want to retain and build on those relationships, and you want them to refer you to prospects.  But healthy firms have a model that also generates revenue from new sources.

TheProsper Group team of senior counselors has identified eight factors in business development that deliver a high degree of success.  They are:

1.     Set goals.  Determine the amount of new revenue you need to make a solid profit in 2023.  Include existing and new clients. Plan accordingly. Identify your current win rate and what it should be to justify the investment of resources. Ensure everyone shares the commitment to reach your goals.

2.     Review your brand proposition.  Is there a distinctive explanation for “WHY” your firm exists? What sets you apart from your competition? Leverage it in everything you do.

3.     Analyze your current new business operation.  Review all the elements from marketing to pitching. What’s working, and what isn’t? Who’s in charge and who’s involved? You need a growth culture that ensures a high-performing operation.

4.     Expand your network.  Everyone in the firm should be expected to connect to prospects and those who influence them. Make sure you have a process in place to leverage the all-important word-of-mouth. Target the categories and specific prospects you deserve to have as clients.

5.     Develop a marketing plan.  Accelerate the word-of-mouth with a comprehensive outreach plan to reach your targets.  Encourage them to come to you!  Create all the materials required to tell your story.

6.     Organize and manage your leads.  Turn prospects in to leads and leads in to clients.  Track a system of ongoing personalized outreach that involves your senior leaders.

7.     Prepare for the pitch.  Ensure you have the process, tools, training and people to present your thinking in a compelling manner—in person or virtually.

8.     Initiate follow-up.  If you win or lose, find out why.  Add it to your institutional knowledge. If you win, celebrate.  If you lose, it’s not over until you generate some revenue from your efforts.  Stay in touch with that prospect. Modify the pitch for another player in the category.

 That’s a “prescription” for winning.   Manage a healthy new business operation that ensures you meet your overall business goals.  Be ready for 2023.

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Prosper Group exists to help the owners of independent marketing communications agencies achieve their ambitions and maximize the value of their life's work.  

Our team of former agency leaders and owners focus their deep experience on implementing proven proprietary methodologies across our three practices of agency performance, owner exit planning and M&A transactions in order to drive owner and agency success.

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