A friend of mine recently shared a Harvard Business Review blog post  that defines these profiles, and then goes on to suggest the “challenger” profile is the most successful one. Yours truly read this article, put on his agency new business cap, and then thought you, you, you might find value in understanding how a “challenger” perspective might be used to win new business.

Fair warning, these guys are selling a book. But the authors found the “challenger” profile to be defined by three key capabilities. What follows are excerpts from the post (that you should definitely read) as well as some agency-speak from yours truly:

“Challengers teach their customers. They focus the sales conversation not on features and benefits but on insight, bringing a unique (and typically provocative) perspective on the customer’s business.”

Agency new business translation: Uh, yep.
Sure, these sentences elegantly capture the mission of many a finals presentation. Agencies identify insights on what’s happening in the prospect’s category, with their consumers and the brand. Typically, we share the insights, then the implications of that observation. These implications can be strategy, creative, media, yadda yadda…

But to me, agencies shouldn’t forget a little of the feature/benefit idea. You must do this because more than likely you are in a competitive situation. Tell the prospect WHY and WHAT your thinking can do for their business. The benefit of your thinking. Paint the picture of success. In many cases, it could be showing them the money.

Also, who says this kind of thing should be reserved for later rounds? This idea of having unique insight can be used in any stage of the new business wooing process: credentials; RFPs; initial meetings; prospecting efforts…

In prospecting, for instance, an easier way to get a meeting might be to have some piece of agency-developed intellectual property that can be used to generate awareness and initial interest.

Stick around. Later this week we’ll explore two other capabilities of challenger profiles and discuss implications around them that will sharpen your new business acumen.

• Why not share that knowledge before you pitch?
• Why not tell then you’re going to do it and get some input so that the learning will be more valuable to them? (And you get credit for doing it.)
• Why not get an additional opportunity to talk with the prospect and learn a bit more about their challenges, their personality, the company’s culture and climate, etc.? You know – identifying the intel that will help you win.

Why not, indeed. Sure, this idea or little approach can’t work in every pitch. Particularly those run by procurement or by an over-protective search consultant who, unfortunately, denies access to the decision-makers.

But what do you lose by trying?

At the worse, you might risk being labeled as interested, willing and passionate about being an agency partner. And you’ve already read a few of the benefits that give you a competitive edge. And every little bit helps…

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What you didn’t read there is a phrase that came up in my noggin. The phrase was: “practice Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.”

What, exactly, does this mean?
It’s from a classic book. Yours truly first heard it back in the day, when I worked in new business in the Chicago office of what was then Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB). I interpreted it to mean “enjoy the ride.” Not bad advice in new business, right? After all, you ain’t gonna win all the time. So, you might as well enjoy the experience of pitching. Realizing that over time, if you pay attention and learn from your mistakes, you’ll get better.

But you know what? That only seems to cover one aspect of the book. The motorcycle maintenance part. What about the “zen?”

Per Wikipedia and Amazon, the book was published in 1974 and tells the story of a father-son summer motorcycle trip. Here’s a nice bit from Wikipedia description: “With this, the book details two types of personalities: those who are interested mostly in gestalts (romantic viewpoints, such as Zen, focused on being “In the moment”, and not on rational analysis), and those who seek to know the details, understand the inner workings, and master the mechanics (classic viewpoints with application of rational analysis, vis-a-vis motorcycle maintenance) and so on.”

So, what about this zen bit?

And how does it relate to being billable?

With a little imagination, a few pieces of advice emerge you can apply to your next new business pitch:

Simplify
Cut your presentation in half. Identify the small handful of reasons you should be the prospect’s new agency and stick to those. Advice you read a few days ago can be seen in a new light when you think about this phrase. Meaning, it’s all fine and good to have a process, brief or roadmap to pitch. Just don’t lose focus of the big messages that will convince the prospect you are the right choice.

It’s not your zen. It’s the prospect’s.
While you may think I am sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat, wearing a robe, chanting these words… I am, in fact, cranking out a few hundred for you. Getting it done, quickly, so I can get back to getting paid to think about new business for billable clients. My zen is early retirement, on a beach, with an umbrella drink. But who cares, really? While yours and my “zen” is terrific and all, let’s not forget it doesn’t matter nearly as much as your prospect’s.

Zen and asking why
Some might see zen as understanding a bigger picture and being mindful of it. In a pitch, this can mean continuing to ask a simple, one-word question…”why?” This method of laddering up can identify emotional insights that can lead to winning pitches.

Surely there are more. But my legs are getting stiff sitting in this lotus position! Thanks for your time. Hope it helped.

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But what about the problem no one wants to admit they have? The one that people deny all the time.

I’m talking about losing. You earn the pitch… move through the RFP phase and credentials… get more excited as each round goes by and you face fewer competitors… only to lose at finals.

What happened?! Ya got me. I wasn’t there. But here’s a list of common culprits:

• Failure to market the agency throughout the process
• Non alignment around the presentation
• Lack of key inside insights and intel around decision-makers and/or company
• Incomplete brief to team (beyond the client’s challenges, what are the messages we need to communicate that convince them we’re better than our competitors?)
• Poor presentation construction
• Inability to make the human connection (“chemistry”)
• Entering finals as an also-ran (not a true competitor)
• An inefficient method for pulling together pitch content and context
• Failure to connect the work to the needed client impact
• Ensuring all have a shared new business skill set
• Poor search consultant management

So, there are lots of reasons why your agency lost. And the thing of it is that your mileage could vary on each and every trip. Er, pitch.

And while it might be easy for you to read that your solution to solving the kinds of challenges listed above by hiring your friendly ad agency new business consultant, let’s be a little less self serving.

So, one solution that can help with many of the above challenges?

Build and follow a process
This concept can take many forms. It could be a brief, that addresses the prospect’s marketing problem AND details intel around the decision-makers. Or maybe it’s a roadmap that lays out the deliverables over time and how you can marshal the team to win each deliverable and leverage the time in between. Whatever it is, the process could build in the energy for you to focus on a particular challenge your agency has around winning. So you can avoid easily made mistakes.

Very easy to get carried away with something like this, though. Complications can just as easily muck things up. There is an art to it, though, which yours truly just realized will make for a nice little post sometime. So, c’mon back when you can.

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Maybe what you need to win this business is a brand backgrounder. Available on a first come, first served basis, these intelligence briefs can ensure your agency can not only get on the radar screen, but win the business.

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But the royal we of Thunderclap digress!

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Their new CMO has digital marketplace experience, hailing from Newegg and PC Mall.

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I also happen to be a Netflix stockholder, and have been extremely disappointed lately. Here’s a Youtube link to Netflix stuff.

But wait, there’s more. Turns out there has been a change in management, too. Leslie Kilgore is stepping down as CMO. She will remain on the company’s board of directors.

If you’re interested in new business, this is worth checking out. Here’s some of the why and how:

It’s got legs. JWT kicked this off at the recent CES. So, the agency has many high profile people at one place. So, it’s cheaper to produce, easier to get interviews, easier to develop a SERIES of videos, etc. Name the great big trade shows that happen over a year, and you just might see Mr. Jeffrey there this year. On a strategic level, this is a platform that enables discussion of many topics relevant to the target.

It’s a door-opener. Of the highest caliber. So far, JWT has seemed to interview a handful of brands and media channels. I don’t know if the brands they’s interview are clients or not. But probably are. Many prospective clients – particularly those with a global reach and influence – have healthy, strong egos. It could be flattering for them to have a platform to share their perspectives. This is an emotional insight on a new business prospect. In my humble opinion, the best new business ideas stem from personal insight and relevance to your target. 

It’s on-brand. Looks like JWT’s latest brand story is Worldmade.” When I simply look at the video, see all these city names zip by, and then their global leader speak, I tend to think JWT is a global leader. Worldleaders.  Worldmade… Call me crazy. But you can see where this is going.

It’s online. Here’s an introduction to the series. It’s fairly standard and will give the viewer an overview of what Worldmakers will be. What struck me about this was not the video itself, but the page it was on. It’s chock full of interesting little video bits prospective clients would love.  Great ways time-starved professionals can be inspired and get an insight or two. Like their top ten trends for 2012 bit. There’s an opportunity to build an online community here.

I have followed JWT’s new business efforts on and off for years. And look forward to seeing how this will help their efforts. But from YOUR perspective, gentle reader, don’t think for a minute you can’t do something similar. If you have ten people in your office. Or ten thousand, spread across the world. Here are two quick thoughts:

Your one-office brand is in a specific city and region. Is there a spin you can bring to that? A series of interviews you might conduct? Keep in mind it doesn’t have to be a highly produced video. Could be a service of whitepapers or blog posts. Or…

Do you have a specialty? A target? A category? A specific business challenge? Don’t make me pull this car over to help you think this through. On second thought, gimme a shout. Papa’s got a mortgage to pay.

Anywho, hope this inspires you to find some new ways to develop relationships and build awareness for your agency. Thanks for reading. And keep on coming back.

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I first heard about them when I needed to get smarter on the latest trtends in loyalty marketing. Our Canadian neighbors offer us a lesson in packaging and positioning agency-like services that enable a company to make new money from new markets. What follows, naturally, are a few observations about this company that can get you thinking about new ways your own firm can make money.

LoyaltyOne has six units; each centered around interesting vertical offerings. Airmiles is centered around direct marketing and analytical services in the airline business and could easily be extended into other loyalty-heavy categories with reward programs.