The New Business Dingo

I’ve posted plenty of thoughts around the ongoing new business challenges that agencies face, but there is none more frustrating to hear each day than the one that is so simple to identify and ultimately to solve – ‘right fitting’ people for positions.

Agencies spend tens of thousands of dollars with recruiters and placement services to find new creative directors, copy writers and account directors. They spend hours upon hours scrutinizing resumes, portfolios and reels, and partaking in grilling interview sessions, but rarely have I seen the same level of ‘right fitting’ or effort applied to finding the right solution to the new business equation.

More than a few times this week (and it’s only Tuesday), I’ve fielded calls from frustrated agency owners who’ve reached a breaking point with their new business person / resource, and need to find a better solution in 2010, if not sooner.

Through evaluating their needs, many times it becomes clear that the new business position was a ‘forced fit’ for the organization, rather than a strategic decision, handing the new business torch to someone internally who had recently lost billable client hours, or who had even the slightest sales background on their resume; essentially setting them up for failure.

As an industry we can do better.

If you plan on growing your agency through new client acquisition, and need help to supplement what you've possibly been struggling to do alone, or if you'd like to pass the baton, look to find and hire an experienced and successful salesperson and apply the same levels of scrutiny to the business they have won, how recently they have been winning it and what their plan would be to do that for you.

There are plenty of solid, experienced and successful new business people out there looking for a ‘right fit’ - I’ve met many of them. The challenge that they seem to face today appears to be a reluctance of agency management to make an investment in their agency’s future, taking a calculated risk by bringing in a pro, rather than getting by with a “that’ll do” solution that sadly can end up being death by a thousand cuts for the organization.

You’re putting your agency brand at risk every time a call is placed or an email is sent by someone who’s inexperienced and/or ill fitted for the position; someone who may very well be an introvert who trembles at the very thought of making a call to a stranger.

Let’s get real. Make an investment in the future of your organization, get a real rainmaker than can proactively hunt out those elusive opportunities, can talk and understands the business need, and has the proven ability to win it.

So now what you ask?

In ‘right fitting’ your new business role, there are two options that fit most cases;

1. Invest in a pro new business director. Hire a recruiter and spend the time getting the right solution for you.

2. Invest in a complete outsourced solution; full of new business pro’s with a proven track record like Catapult New Business.

Right fitting. Simple right?

If you'd like to lean more about the outsourcing option, drop me a line at david.currie@catapultnewbusiness.com or on 404-574-1972.