1) Inducting new staff members into Alchemis.

I agree with your approach to introducing/inducting new staff. We take a similar approach and often our new staff members will attend our new business meetings as well as observe client meetings with the experienced New Business Managers. Internally, We also treat Alchemis as a client and use it as a training and induction tool. New sales people joining will be making calls and arranging appointments on behalf of Alchemis before they work on our clients. This gives them a thorough understanding of us, our ethos and our processes. We never lose sight of the fact that we are representing our clients and their reputations, hence NBMs only work on behalf of clients once we are 100% confident in their approach.

2) Inducting New Business Managers into a client and their proposition:

Often we are also asked by our clients if the New Business managers could attend credentials meetings with them. Traditionally, as I’m sure you will appreciate, time is the new business agency’s biggest challenge, but there is no doubt that additional investment in the relationship from both parties can only be beneficial, so it is about getting the balance right. Sometimes, clients don’t feel comfortable taking their new business person to a creds meeting/pitch, but I agree wholeheartedly with you that it is a great way to really get a feel for an offer and undoubtedly the enthusiasm a client will have when presenting their agency, as opposed to the boardroom environment of an internal briefing, will be infectious and rub off.

Our clients buy our time, so if apportioning some of that to attend a meeting with them is something that will benefit their campaign in the long run, then absolutely. Recently, New Business Managers have attended credentials meetings, manned stands at exhibitions and attended seminars where their clients are speaking, all receiving positive feedback from both parties. However impartial our processes and systems, at the end of the day, it is only human nature that our callers will want to ensure they deliver a great campaign for the clients that have invested that time and gone the extra mile to make them fee a valued part of their team.

When a new joiner comes with me to a meeting – they hear first hand my version of our elevator pitch, how I answer key questions about the agency and track record. Afterwards, have a coffee and let them ask you anything they need to clarify understanding. On the third meeting, get them to do the two minute introduction about the agency.

I let them make mistakes too and only correct the omissions in the meeting leaving the opportunity to have a discussion in the cafe afterwards about what was said and how it could be improved.

Would that fit with your business model?