If you are an advertising, public relations, website-development, or graphic-design agency seeking to grow, today may just change the way you go about securing evermore-elusive new business. According to the ''2007 Agency New Business Development Manager Report'' released by agency lead-generation firm Reardon Smith Whittaker (RSW), nearly 85% of agencies continue to hire new business-development personnel internally, hoping that ''this hire will be the right hire,'' yet the vast majority in that position are gone within 18 months. The full study is available for free download at www.rswus.com and is filled with practical insights on bettering new business-development efforts.
Sneider said the perspectives provided in the new study will be of significant value to agencies seeking more-efficient growth and looking to better their overall new business-development programs-whether through the use of outside services or shoring up the efforts managed internally. “The belief that bringing a new business manager in-house is the only way to effectively get the job of prospecting done is a fallacy. The fact is, nearly two-thirds of the agencies surveyed that have hired a new business manager internally over the past three years have replaced that person at least once, and a staggering one-third have replaced them two or more times. It’s not the person, it’s the position. The survey clearly shows that it’s time for agency leaders to try something different.”
Nearly half say the last person hired for the new business manager position is no longer with the agency. The top reason cited for failure of new business-development managers is contained within the survey. Sneider added that the valuable and informative “2006 Agency New Business Survey” remains available for download at www.agencynewbusiness.com, and the agency brand-potency test can also be accessed at www.agencybrandpotency.com, where agencies can assess how their firms stack up against the competition in attracting new business.
About Reardon Smith Whittaker (RSW)
Reardon Smith Whittaker is a lead-generation and agency-branding consultancy that operates like a virtual new business-development group to help agencies build pipelines of qualified new business opportunities and more effectively position themselves in the marketplace. More information can be accessed at www.rswus.com or by calling (513) 898-0940. Sneider can be contacted at mark@rswus.com.