My role as a New Business Manager has taught me a great deal about how we are marketed to. From research, to strategy, through to delivery of marketing campaigns, and more importantly the depths to which brands will go to tap into our emotions.

Over the past 5 years I have seen a growing interest in “emotional advertising” with recent trends in brands looking at things like behavioural economics at the research stage, which includes looking at the emotional factors in the consumer’s buying decisions.

Music has long been a huge factor in guiding emotional decisions in advertising, and these days it’s almost impossible to turn on the TV and not witness the marriage of music and commerce.

There have been many studies and theories on the emotional effect music has on our purchasing decisions, but perhaps one of the most popular papers on the the effects of music in advertising was Gerald J. Gorn’s experiment (Gorn, 1982). He paired a light blue or a beige coloured pen (neutral stimulus) with both well-liked and disliked music (unconditioned stimulus). 79% of the subjects chose the pen with music they liked – a conditioned reaction.

Music also enhances the recall for a product, even if the emotion evoked by the advert is hatred. Take Go Compare for example, it drives me insane but the brand is burned into my brain whether I like it or not.

Equally, a massive number of car advertisements we now see are 90% music. An inspiring piece of music is sometimes all it takes to stimulate us to feel something toward a car and associate it with a better way of life. An American advert for Honda Odyssey I came across does just that, and although I don’t have a driving license nor in fact any kids to need a people carrier, I can see how this ad would evoke a positive emotion with parents wanting life to be this serene when driving their kids about.

The emotional stimulus aside, products advertised are identified much quicker with a certain piece of music. In some cases it’s the music alone that makes the brand identifiable. Take Bach’s Air on a G String for example… Cigar?

Influence of music in consumer advertising is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The following statistics and many more like them are readily available on the web and point to the fact that we as consumers are using handheld devices more and more in order to do what we used to do on a PC or laptop; shop, compare prices, access social networks, view product reviews, book tickets, give opinions, the list goes on and on.

• The number of mobile subscribers is going to double in the next year
• Predictions suggest that mobile internet usage will outpace desktop by 2015 – Google believe that this could happen by the end of 2012
• 85% of the world’s population has wireless access
• There are currently 23 million UK mobile internet users
• 15% of the UK population only have a mobile phone at home
• 68% of mobile phone users use their mobile in retail stores
• 24% of mobile users intentionally carry their mobile phone for in-store price comparison
• 79% of online advertisers don’t have a mobile optimised site
• 28% of people who see a mobile ad take action
• Amazon has already recorded four billion mobile sales
• A third of flowers sold on Mother’s Day were through mobile devices
• Around 12% of traffic within the online travel and finance industries is through mobile devices
• Facebook pages drive 80% of newsletter sign-up’s through mobiles

 The key for brands and retailers who want to tap in to this huge opportunity is to realise that mobile shouldn’t be viewed as separate from other parts of their overall marketing plans. Instead, it should be integrated into a broader digital strategy that marries great user experience with fantastic visual design. An app that looks pretty but doesn’t allow you buy what you want to buy is as bad as walking into a bricks and mortar shop and finding out there’s no staff to serve you at the till.

As an agency, whether a mobile specialist or one that operates in the broader digital space, the key to winning new business is getting in front of the right people in the right companies and demonstrating that you understand how to make mobile part of the bigger picture.

We’ve been doing this successfully on behalf of agencies for several years now, so if you want the benefit of our experience in this ever-changing marketplace give us a call….

2012 – The Year of Mobile? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

There are lots of reasons why a Marketing Director will dedicate an hour of his time to finding out what an agency that he’s never heard of before can do for him.

One of the key differentiating factors between the many “sales calls” that will be rejected as a “waste of time”, and the rare “interesting call with an agency worth meeting with”, is the ability of the person who is calling to have an intelligent conversation – i.e. a conversation that focuses on something that is relevant, that makes good business sense, and that is with someone you enjoy talking to.

There’s no big secret:　

• be clear about why you are calling and what you want to get out of the conversation
• be curious
• ask relevant questions (get the prospect to open-up and focus on relevant issues)
• have a genuine interest in the person you are talking to
• listen
• listen
• listen
• resist the urge to tell the prospect everything about what you do and why you are the best thing since sliced bread
• listen
• listen
• listen
• make sure you understand what the prospect is telling you
• let him know you can help
• ask for the meeting!

Although you don’t need to be an “expert” in everything you are talking about (other people are there to sort out any technical details after all), it’s important to know what’s happening in the market/sector that you are targeting, understand the issues that prospects are faced with and be able to demonstrate how your client can help with their priorities.

Which is why it takes a special breed of people to make the kind of calls that will stand out.

Nobody wants to receive a call which is scripted and goes over a list of services offered; that’s just “another bloody cold call”!

Any agency that wants to seriously stand out and win new business needs sales people who can think on their feet and can engage prospects in an intelligent fashion and on a personal level.

Winning new business is not rocket science; it’s hard work, but it can often be fun and interesting if you have the right attitude!

Making intelligent new business calls is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

We had a great start to the year with 2 of our clients confirming decent sized wins in the first 2 days back, so long may that continue.

I’m personally looking forward to 2012; firstly, I’m one of the lucky few with tickets for the Olympics (the diving no less, so I’m getting ready to cheer Tom Daley and the rest of the team on) but I’m also going to keep my eyes open for more tickets – so if anyone knows anyone…

On a business level, I remain confident about this year. I know we’ve probably not seen the worst of it yet, there’s a double dip coming etc but this isn’t like the early 1990s recession when everyone stopped spending on Marketing. In this competitive marketplace, brands and companies will almost certainly die a death if they DON’T spend, albeit wisely and in a well researched and planned/ targeted manner and increasingly on digital and social media.

According to the latest research from the AAR the number of new business pitches in 2011 declined by 13% .

However, Kerry Glazer said that there are a few encouraging signs, that the decline in advertising appears to have bottomed out for example, which could be grounds for future optimism.

Also of note is the fact that the trend for large clients to hold integrated pitches disappeared in 2011.

Most of our clients prefer us to get them ‘under the radar’ to start a relationship rather than chase pitches, so these facts will not have much impact on our core business, but we do keep an eye on any trend in the marketplace as forewarned is always forearmed.

Hello 2012 is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

We know personally of several agencies who have had to shut their doors this year, never good news, particularly when staff have been laid off.

Interestingly, most of the agencies we know who’ve gone under have blamed themselves rather than ‘the market’. They attribute their demise to leaving it too late to respond to the changing needs of clients and their marketing budgets. Examples include:

• not developing a serious digital offer whether through acquisition or partnership
• not having a clear offer and/or targeting strategy for business development
• a lack of investment in proactively looking for new clients and/or markets

On the other side of the coin, we’ve added over 600 new agencies to our already extensive agency database and more of our clients have won business this year than for the last 5 years.

Out of interest, here is a breakdown of client wins by discipline:

• Research: 19%
• Digital: 17%
• Full service/integrated: 17%
• Design/branding/packaging/corporate com: 17%
• BTL, PR and media planning &buying: 30%

As a glass half full kind of person, I always look forward to the forthcoming year with the hope of more and better! I wish this to all my readers!

Goodbye 2011 is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

As a pro-active new business agency, Alchemis generates leads and qualified appointments through intelligent conversations. Much has been reported about how the rise of digital communications has/will impact on the business-to-business (B2B) sales process, but our strongly held belief is that communication needs to include a good level of human interaction (i.e. phone calls and meetings).

Alchemis works specifically with marketing services agencies so we undertook research into our client base, examining key successes over 2011. We also investigated wider and more generic research into all B2B markets in order to quantify the significance of personal contact in the sales cycle and how best that should be deployed.

Our key findings were:

• Human Interaction remains vital, both for activating a lead and nurturing it through to business conversion. The key benefits of personal contact include:
  • The ability to identify a true need
  • Enabling an opportunity to be accurately evaluated to see if it is right for your business
  • Ensuring opportunities are not missed
  • Increasing conversion from opportunities
• The value of the ultimate sale does not dictate the frequency of human interaction required to convert business
• Email and digital tools are useful, but suit some industries more than others. However, a general trend indicates effectiveness is declining (research from Marketing Sherpa taken from a survey of 1745 marketers, showed SEO and email saw a 50% decline in their overall effectiveness in 2011 versus 2010)

All of these points are covered in more detail throughout this document.

It is worth highlighting that the report is based on identifying the importance of human interaction. Whilst we compare other B2B marketing and sales techniques, to evaluate each area in detail would be a much larger undertaking.

We have looked at the frequency of interaction and how best to manage that contact. We hope that this report proves useful and insightful in demonstrating how human interaction allows you to get a true picture of YOUR target market and how it is central in selling your product or service effectively.

The Report

Approaches to B2B sales are varied and the spread of digital media shows no sign of slowing down – but have they really changed the psyche of the purchaser and how much influence do digital (or other) communications really have in buying decisions?

This report seeks to establish the key routes to market for B2B companies, through the examination of various research papers cross-referenced against our own data.

It also crucially examines if personal contact and interaction remain an important part of the business development process or if new, online and digital techniques are taking over.

Figure 1 below illustrates how B2B spend has been spread across all channels in 2011.

Figure 1 – B2B Marketing Expenditure:

Source: Marketing Sherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey

A recent paper by the SCi Sales Group investigates the influence of digital techniques on the B2B sales cycle versus that of human interaction and the Marketing Sherpa Benchmark Report examines current patterns and trends within B2B marketing as well as making forecasts on future activity.

Both papers cover generic B2B sales techniques and processes in many different markets. Our data is based solely on marketing agencies and it is interesting to compare this specific market against the wider SCi and Marketing Sherpa findings.

Figure 2 – B2B marketing challenges versus priorities:

Source: Marketing Sherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey

To break down the whole process and examine every facet of the sales cycle would be too involved, but there are two key areas to look at based on the challenge versus priority graph above:

1. Lead generation and establishing initial contact with a prospect
2. Nurturing and converting a prospect from initial contact to sale

Figure 2 highlights that lead generation is a key priority for most companies, but that conversion to business remains the biggest challenge.

Initial Contact/Lead Generation:

It is clear from the graph above that lead generation is both a high priority for B2B marketers as well as a big challenge.

As a small business owner, I know how we as an organisation make decisions on new products or services based on the following simple criteria:

• Requirement either to replace an existing or to invest in a new product/service
• Cost
• Upheaval and risk factor of change

But, how does a company engage with myself and my fellow owners of Alchemis and establish our interest in the first instance?

As highlighted above, the primary routes taken in B2B sales to establish initial contact include:

The SCi research reports the findings of B2B Marketing Magazine, who asked 211 executives their thoughts on each channel. The most interesting points from a human interaction perspective were that, despite the difference in spend in each area:

• 8% cited email as the least effective
• Only 1% highlighted telemarketing as the least effective

As these figures are across all industries, an element of caution needs to be taken. Each approach will differ in its effectiveness depending on the market within which it is being deployed.

What the statistics do not show is the reasoning behind the choice. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses.

• Email is cheap, but is becoming increasingly competitive and crowded
• Events are a good way to meet face-to-face, but a) there is no guarantee you will meet the decision maker and b) at an exhibition, the prospect is more interested in selling themselves, rather than listening to you sell yourself
• SEO/PPC gives you volume of traffic, but can you guarantee the quality?
• Direct mail is expensive
• Telemarketing is comparatively expensive, but it allows you to establish a direct interest quickly. It identifies buying signals and allows you to drive the conversation

Hence, it is worth viewing this from a different perspective. i.e. which approach makes the prospect feel most valued?

The SCi report breaks “value” down in a human way – at the end of the day, B2B sales are based on communicating to humans. It asks, if it were your birthday, what action from your friends would make you feel more valued?

1. A text message
2. An email
3. A card
4. A phone call
5. A visit/meeting

The answer is obvious, so when 100 managers were asked which marketing channel made them feel most valued, face-to-face meetings and telemarketing came top with 81% between them.

Within the marketing industry, adding perceived value versus your competitors or the incumbent is a crucial element in any sale, so as an industry it is suited to the more personal approach. It is often very difficult to identify genuine USPs or points of difference from agency to agency, so in terms of developing new business, the initial contact to establish an interest is vital. Ultimately, agency experience (and therefore agency personnel) will be a major reason for selecting a partner and that initial call needs to reflect that agency personality effectively.

Human contact allows you to do this in a way that email, websites and direct mail never will.

A survey of our clients found that approx 65% have used email marketing as a tool. The main reasons cited being:

• It’s cheap
• It can be tailored to specific customers
• It’s traceable and therefore measurable
• It’s a good way to remain in touch with prospects

However, the main reason for engaging a new business agency has often been as a result of poor responses and conversions from either sporadic or regular emailing campaigns.

Prospect Nurture:

Once contact and interest have been established, communication will be via telephone, email or face-to-face meetings (inclusive of online video meetings).

SCi researched a group of buyers across a wide range of markets and the group were asked if they had either had a telephone conversation or meeting with a company before placing orders on their last 3 purchases.

The result was that 70% of buyers had received either a call or had a meeting prior to purchase, aside of how the initial lead had been generated.

Alchemis cross-referenced the SCi findings against our own over the course of 2011 to see if there are any patterns that may help our clients develop new business.

Our data examines a broad mix of clients across different marketing disciplines in order to establish trends. We have examined where and why clients have won business and surveyed each conversion to establish frequency, type and timescale of communication/touch points from initial contact through to conversion to business.

Size/budget of new business win is a key factor in how much personal contact is required with any given prospect.

The SCi findings were that:

• Average order value with human interaction was £22,734
• Average order value without human interaction was £1,242

However, these figures covered repeat and new orders. The key was that 100% of new purchases required human interaction, even as low as £300.

Within Alchemis’ client base, 100% of all conversions arise as a result of at least an initial telephone call to generate interest and in almost all cases, further face-to-face meetings have been required in order to secure the business. We do have a handful of cases where business has been won over the phone from conference calls or online demonstrations of a product or service, but this is very much the minority.

More important is the frequency of contact with any given prospect once the initial call has been made.

Whilst some clients have converted business from just one meeting and subsequent calls and emails and others have attended 5 face-to-face meetings, on average clients are being required to meet the prospect face-to-face at least twice before the contract is signed.

The table below shows the number of actual face-to-face meetings required to convert business, based on the value of the opportunity.

It is clear that the number of meetings required don’t differ wildly based on the budget of any given project. There are anomalies where business of £70k plus has been won purely through email and phone correspondence and indeed, comparatively low value wins have taken 60 weeks and 5 meetings.

So what does all this mean?

It appears to be a common theme that a lot of new business is lost as people give up on the process after 4 or 5 points of contact (email, phone and face-to-face). From the statistics above, this means that potential opportunities are being lost. There is no doubt that the most successful of our clients are those who are prepared to follow each step in the right way and at the right time.

It is hard work!

This is highlighted by the example mentioned above, citing 5 meetings required for conversion. The full process was:

• 12 calls in total
• 5 face-to-face meetings
• 9 emails

The end result was a win with a value of £30,000.

The reality is that the company has the potential to be an agency changing client and this is just an initial foot in the door project, but it does highlight the dedication to business development any marketing agency needs to have.

Another area is the time frame from initial contact to securing the business. This differs depending on the timing of the initial contact. If your timing is right and there is an opportunity on the table, the lead-time may be much shorter. However, based on our client conversions, that does not always mean less interaction. It just means it is squeezed into a shorter timeframe.

Whilst not covered by either the SCi or Marketing Sherpa data, it is worth looking at target universe coverage. On face value, email allows you to cheaply cover a vast number of new business prospects and advertising and PR will get you coverage, but the reality is none of these can guarantee:

• Direct interaction
• Prospect qualification
• Prospect nurture

Ultimately, the initial contact with telephone calls can take longer, but a call does allow you to cover all of these areas. It allows you to eliminate the non-interested and focus on those that have a requirement and to agree the best contact strategy directly with the prospect, which may be a combination of calls, meetings and emails.

Often our clients may have a defined number of target prospects. A key reason for using Alchemis is to:

• Identify key decision makers
• Establish contact and interest (eliminate if not interested)
• Create a contact strategy

Once interested parties are identified, we will build a strong rapport with a prospect over the phone and arrange meetings when appropriate. Often prospects will be spoken to 10+ times over a long period before any appointment or opportunity is identified.

To highlight this, it is worth looking at a case study from a client who commissioned Alchemis in January 2009. From a list of 279 companies, we have:

• Identified decision makers and had conversations within 251 of the companies (89.9% coverage)
• Had 943 conversations with the target audience
• Arranged 121 meetings
• Created 13 new business wins

The conversions/wins are shown to demonstrate how effective telephone marketing campaigns can be, but the important part is that we now have a direct relationship with almost 90% of their target audience, that we understand their current situation and requirements and that we have established a contact strategy with all of them. That will include further calls, but will also include emails.

No other approach would allow you to do that.

Conclusions:

Every business is different and all B2B marketing and sales techniques have a role to play. However, within the digital field I do believe that they have led to an element of complacency and laziness in proactive prospecting. Certainly within the marketing agency space, they are, all too often, being used as the easy (but not necessarily the right) approach and often in isolation, without follow up and to little effect.

Building relationships is key and human interaction through the telephone call or meetings is crucial. As covered in the initial summary, telemarketing and subsequent meetings allow you to:

• Identify a need
• Make the buyer feel valued
• Accurately evaluate an opportunity
• Fully explain a proposition with no chance of misinterpretation (a common problem with emails)
• Build rapport
• Handle objections and barriers
• Enhance client/customer service
• Identify areas for cross/upselling

Email and digital communications suit companies and industries with huge target audiences and specific (usually product based) offers. They are a great way of remaining in touch with prospects and keeping “on the radar” once initial contact has been established and often we/our clients use them to good effect in this manner.

Research by BrandScience in 2010 suggests that using 3 channels in a campaign may enhance ROI by 700%. The reality is you need to do what is right for your company in the context of the industry you are in. This may well include more than one approach and a good new business campaign will often use a blend of channels, but don’t under estimate the value of human interaction.

Why personal interaction is vital in generating new business is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Running from the 29th November through to the 3rd December, it will be held at The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea Park. Admission is free to the general public, but any donations to the charity will be most welcome.

The opening night will be Monday 28th November from 6.00pm onwards and there will be an auction night on Friday 2nd December from 6:30pm - with none other than yours truly as the auctioneer- where some celebrity phoneography along with top work from the exhibition will be sold to raise money for Kids Company.

If you would like to attend either of these nights please send an email to info@createhive.org with subject header – “Auction night” or “Opening night” (or both if you can make it) along with your name and company name.

It’s in support of an amazing charity reaching 14,000 children across London providing practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people, in particular those with severe emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, resulting from significant experiences of trauma and neglect.

Please feel free to bring along friends and partners and do forward this invite on to everyone and anyone, the more support the better!

Thanks, and I hope to see you there!

 For further details on the exhibition please click here.

Pixel This – A phoneography charity auction for Kids Company is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Entitled ‘Add value, don’t give away your thinking for free’ it will focus on how to reclaim the high ground in client relationships and abandon free pitching.

The series this year has delivered some hard-hitting truths and insights into business development and client relationships from a design agency perspective – if you missed any of them, they will be available online from January 2012.

Designers Breakfast on Thursday 24th November is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

When I say cold calling I mean intelligent, well targeted approaches to prospective clients who meet all the agreed quality criteria of profile, budget, size, location etc rather than the ‘let’s hope some of it sticks’ scattergun approach.

In fact, a significant percentage of the calls we make are to cultivate existing contacts so are follow up calls rather than cold calls.

However, that’s only part of the picture and as an owner or partner of a creative/strategic/digital//communications/research agency you should never knowingly delegate new business entirely, either to an in-house person or to a specialist business development agency like Alchemis.

The most successful new business campaigns in our 23 years experience are those where the whole agency embraces the concept and practice of ongoing business development, from using your own personal contacts to keeping your eyes open for appropriate brands and companies for your agency to approach.

Here is a list of the ten activities that should form part of your longer term strategy (in no particular order) even if you only have the time or money to do only some of them now or at any given time:

1. Cold calling (always use an expert, don’t expect your creative team for example to either have the time or the inclination to do this!)

2. Always make time to treat all incoming enquiries with respect; a £5k brochure today could lead to a £250k account in 2 years time

3. Cultivate and proactively develop your referral base; find out where your current clients are going when they move and don’t be scared to contact them in their new role – they used you once for good reason and if you don’t ask…..

4. Make a wish list of brands/companies you would love to work with; be realistic and also think about why they would like to work with you

5. PR – this doesn’t need to be through a PR agency, if you’ve got something to say, make your own noise, pick up the phone and speak to that journalist at The Grocer  or whoever

6. If you’re an agency of a certain size or have a specialism, then the marriage brokers such as the AAR, Haystack or Oystercatchers can play an important role in recommending you to clients who register their briefs with them

7. Maximise the business networking sites such as LinkedIn; you would be surprised how small this world is and a referral or a personal contact can go a long way

8. Make sure your website is SEO friendly and that it reflects the core pillars of your offer; it’s not good if we’ve talked about some great work you’ve done to prospects on the phone if those case studies aren’t reflected on your website

9. Maximise your relationship and therefore the referral power of your business partners; we’ve had several referrals over the years from our IT support partner for example

10. Don’t forget your existing clients and always try to develop more business from them. Be careful that you’re not ‘put in a box’ and always treat all meetings with current clients as an opportunity to talk about other potential work

In summary, new business should be part of the fabric of your agency, it’s your lifeblood and frankly, it’s also very exciting when you win a new client!!

10 steps towards successful business development is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The gist of it is that there is an increase in the number of smaller, more specialist breakaway PR agencies forming, coupled with the consolidation of some of the bigger firms. The good money is on these smaller specialist agencies taking business from larger PR firms, as more and more brands are starting to think they are over-paying their current mid-large size incumbents. Equally, the larger firms are all merging, thereby hoping to secure more global accounts from multinational brands.

What struck me most about the article is that we have been sending out mailers to agencies for several years with similar messages – certainly since the rumours about economic slowdown started circulating prior to the 2008 recession.

This practice of forming breakaway specialist agencies crosses many other marketing disciplines in times of recession, as the tide of accounts flowing between agencies doesn’t just stop – brands will always need to get their messages out there in one way or another.

If anyone reading this has formed a new agency and would like advice on how to maximise your potential to win new business, or similarly if you feel you are one of the agencies in danger of being left adrift then help is at hand, so give us a call.

New business opportunities for specialist agencies is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

A documentary into the dark heart of product placement, advertising and marketing in films and TV shows would be right up my street as you’ll see from some of my recent blogs.

However, does the fact that the BBC can’t have any product placement (except for Tom’s curved nail file in The Apprentice and all their senior reporters wearing Berghaus jackets) mean that it will never be able to screen it or will the fact that it’s a documentary mean the rules don’t apply?

Also, with a film like this, I’d imagine the brands that funded it wouldn’t be too distressed about people using torrent sites to download it for nothing as viewers are going to see the product placement either way. Not sure that the studios would be too chuffed though.

So, my plan to solve the issue of piracy (that the film industry constantly claim has virtually reduced it to poverty) is to have ALL future films funded by brands via product placement and advertising on a pay per click basis. As these brands would be paying for the films, they will probably want to influence the script too, so they will need to employ entire departments of screenwriters and editors to make sure the viewers are getting the right message in the right circumstances at the right time. The viewer can download it for free and then the film studio gets a fee from the brands for each download– a bit like a sponsored link on Google.

Everyone’s a winner – as long as you never want to see anything that’s actually any good.

New business salvation ideas for impoverished film industry is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

My previous blog had predicted a world something akin to Total Recall where brands would tap into everyone’s psyche with incredibly clever positioning of their products at perfectly timed moments resulting in a new business avalanche for the brand owners.

Even my colleague Dan managed to write something about product placement in his recent blog – thus implying he must have at least some level of excitement about it – and we never usually get excited about the same type of things (from his blog you’ll see he said he likes chick flicks and rom-coms or something).

I so hate being wrong about the next big thing in marketing.

Then I got to thinking three things:

1. It’s early days yet. Maybe all the brands are waiting for someone else to make the first move, rather than be the guinea pig themselves.

2. Maybe there aren’t enough agencies with a product placement offer (would make sense, seeing as it wasn’t allowed on TV until recently) so brands aren’t really being encouraged into it.

3. Maybe there are enough agencies that offer it, but they aren’t doing enough to win new business.

So, to anyone in any position to influence the points above I would say this to you:

On point 1 – “he who dares Rodders, he who dares”

On point 2 – “oh look – here’s a relatively untapped sector to expand your offer into. I see a gap in the market”

And as for anyone who falls into point 3….

Well, don’t worry – we can help you out with that one.

Product placement ponders new business disappointment is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

It is entitled ‘Expand your horizons: getting business overseas is easier than you might think’

UK design talent is even more in demand internationally so now is a great time to seek opportunities overseas.

The panel is made up of design agencies who have recently won business abroad, some of whom have done it on their own and some with help from UK Trade & Investment.

Click here for ticket information

Designers Breakfast – generating new business overseas is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Following the recent positive feedback from our last White Paper which looked at why prospects agree to meet with creative, strategic and digital agencies, we decided to cut the new business cake a slightly different way and analyse success rates within the most widely targeted markets by our clients in 2011.

Success is determined for us and our 60 clients in several ways – the greatest of which is winning new projects and clients. For the purposes of this analysis we focused on our ability to set quality meetings for our clients with the right decision maker at the right kind of company where there is a current or future need for the services our clients offer.

We took the overall conversion rate (defined as setting a quality meeting from a number of decision maker conversations and represented as a percentage) from each of the 11 most widely called markets in 2011 (see the table below) and compared this overall conversion rate to the conversion rates by marketing discipline. We concluded that any discipline showing an above average conversion rate for that market was deemed to be well received by the decision makers in that market. For example, if the average conversion rate within leisure overall was 8%, and a digital offer within leisure was 9.5%, then we concluded that digital was well received within leisure.

This is a good indicator of the receptiveness of these markets to these offers, but is only based on our calling activity this year and isn’t a defining piece of research. There are a number of other contributory factors that influence the success of the call, including the agency’s relevant clients/case studies, specific proposition etc.

New business campaigns are most effective when the marketing services/disciplines offered are the ones a prospect wants/needs. We would recommend that targeting is based on one or more of the following key factors:

1. Those markets where the agency has in-depth experience (eg. retail, leisure, fmcg)

2. Those companies who are facing the kind of challenges/problems that the agency has experience of solving (eg. decreasing footfall)

3. Those companies who target specific demographic groups who the agency has experience of communicating with (eg. youth)

4. Those companies who are most receptive to certain types of solutions (eg. search, social media)

Here is a table of the 11 most frequently called markets this year based on a total of 107,000 calls made to prospective clients.

The percentages reflect the amount of calling we’ve made to each of these markets – the remaining 28% of our calling is split between other markets such as Automotive, Building & Property and B2B.

Comparison to 2007:

When we compared these most frequently called markets in 2011 to our calling in the same period in 2007, in pre-recession times, there are some interesting observations which reflect the market as a whole:

1. There is more calling now in those markets relying on consumer discretionary spend compared to 4 years ago; markets such as leisure, youth, travel and luxury

2. There is less calling now than in 2007 in high value, business related/long term investment areas; for example, finance, automotive, IT and property are all significantly down in terms of calling compared to 2007

3. Some markets remain constant irrespective of what’s happening in the economy, for example food & drink. There is no significant difference between the amount of calling we did in 2007 versus the amount of calling we did in 2011 in fmcg.

4. Interestingly though, although basic brands remain almost recession proof, retailers are fighting for business and need to differentiate themselves through a range of marketing channels. This is reflected in the number of calls made to retailers this year which is twice the amount in 2007.

Our bespoke software that drives our database enables us to look at the main disciplines within each of these market sectors and analyse the conversion rates from decision maker conversations to setting a quality meeting.

Here are the main disciplines that we used in this analysis:

The percentages next to each marketing discipline represent the breakdown of our calling on behalf of these disciplines since 1st January 2011. The remaining 13% of calling is divided amongst other specialist disciplines such as retail design and media buying.

We have summarised our findings in two ways:

1. By market sector – for example, if you’re looking to target financial services, which disciplines/services are most likely to have traction within that market, thereby making it easier for us to set quality meetings for you

2. By discipline/service offer – in other words, if you’re a digital agency, which markets are most receptive to your offer

Please don’t forget that this research is limited to our client base and to our calling in the markets listed above on behalf of the disciplines listed above and is by no means intended to reflect the entire market. However, it is based on some robust statistics from our database.

Another caveat is that the lines between disciplines are becoming more and more blurred; for example, in the table above, it states that 13.4% of our calling activity this year has been on behalf of digital as a discipline – this is only part of the story as most creative and integrated agencies will also offer digital as part of their overall proposition. The 13.4% refers to those exclusively digital agencies we represent.

The disciplines that are currently being well received in the clothing market are creative, digital, integrated and research. Any brand or retailer will be using all of these disciplines to help them understand their target demographic better and communicate with them via the most effective and relevant channels.

Financial Services: (includes banks, building societies, health insurance, fund managers etc)

This continues to be a tough market to penetrate as decision makers within finance companies prefer to meet agencies with in-depth experience in their market. However, this isn’t as important as it was 4-5 years ago and they now like to meet agencies with experience of other markets as this can bring alternative thinking to their marketplace.

The most successful discipline in finance is research as it is widely used by the major banks and building societies seeking to understand their consumers better. For example, tier two companies in this market are looking to take advantage of the criticisms being levelled at the big boys and are therefore looking to run customer satisfaction surveys.

We have also helped our clients secure business from smaller companies within this market, such as fund managers.

FMCG: (includes food and drink, personal care, pet food, household products)

Although this is difficult market to get through to decision makers (partly because a lot of agencies are keen to work with consumer brands and so voicemail is a common problem and equally because decision makers change jobs fairly regularly in this market) this continues to be a fertile market across all disciplines, particularly in digital, sales promotion, research and packaging design. Research is particularly important for early product and campaign development.

The increase in BOGOFs and price led promotions has been used by FMCG brands to sustain sales during the recession. This is reducing their profit margins and can cheapen the brand; customers get used to buying the product for less and then stop buying it when the price returns to its previous level. Brand owners are therefore looking for ways to promote their brands whilst at the same time boosting the value of the brand, thereby justifying charging a premium price. Thus, they are looking to work with agencies who can deliver value added or partnership campaigns/promotions.

FTSE 250/Top 1000 corporates:

These lists obviously have a mix of companies from all markets, so it’s quite difficult to draw any firm conclusions.

We often target these larger companies as we know that they have the right kinds of budgets. However, a fair percentage of these top 1000 corporates will have been covered off by the statistics from the other market sectors.

Integrated, creative, research and below-the-line (particularly DM and Live Events) seem to fare best in this market. We have also helped our clients win business from corporate/stakeholder communications in this market, helped by having an angle, such as sustainability.

Home: (includes consumer electronics, home improvements, gardening, white goods etc)

Generally a receptive market all round with all the disciplines doing well, particularly creative and BTL. The only exception in this market is research (due to our current research clients not prioritising this market)

IT/Telecommunications: (includes a range of businesses including Dixons, Ericsson, Garmin, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Motorola and Nokia)

The service offers with the most traction in this marketplace are Direct Marketing, Channel Marketing and Research. Research is always needed in a highly competitive market and a lot of IT/Telecomms related products and vendors use DM.

Success in this area tends to be with the commercial/consumer end of this market rather than with hardware/software vendors for example.

Leisure: (includes bingo, cinemas, gyms, pubs, restaurants and attractions)

This has been a productive market for our clients over the past 2 years with a significant number of the wins we’ve generated for our clients coming from this sector. The core disciplines with most resonance in our study are all of them except PR (again, this is probably due to the fact that we haven’t done much calling in this market on behalf of our PR clients.)

A key discipline for this market not mentioned in our list in retail design consultancy who do very well in the leisure market, branding and designing bars, restaurants etc.

The biggest issue for the UK leisure market is how to capture a larger portion of people who are staying in England for their holidays, thus they are particularly interested in agencies who can help them build loyalty and get repeat visits, which will involve DM and digital marketing.

It’s really important for restaurants for example to stand out on the High Street with better branding and signage for example, thus the need for retail design specialists and leisure branding experts.

Professional Services: (including accountants, civil engineers, management consultants, solicitors and representative bodies)

The most productive calls in this market are on behalf of creative, BTL and corporate communications agencies. This is probably because traditional B2B firms such as Accountants still have a need for traditional paper based communications/sales tools such as brochures and direct marketing.

Retail: (includes department stores, online retailers, supermarkets, mail order, off licenses)

This is another productive market for our clients across most disciplines, particularly creative, below-the-line, corporate communications, digital and research. Again, specialist retail design consultancies (although not in our core list) do well in this market, unsurprisingly!

The main issues for retailers are the changing habits and behaviours of consumers, for example, UK shoppers have spent £31.5 billion online so far this year, which is up 19% on last year.

Retailers therefore need to rethink how to understand and communicate with their consumers, thus the constant need for research. They need to embrace multi-channel marketing such as digital, social media, m:commerce, thus why they are receptive to meeting digital and social marketing agencies. They also need to constantly improve the shopping experience such as pop up stores, interactive window displays, thus why they are receptive to seeing genuinely creative agencies.

Success in this market also tends to come from agencies with a specialism, such as POS or local marketing.

Travel & Transport: (includes airlines, airports, trains, hotels, tourist boards and travel agents). The most effective disciplines in these markets, resulting in us setting a quality meeting for our clients to attend are BTL and research.

Summary by marketing discipline:

Here is the same information but presented by discipline. I have extended the discipline list to include, for example, Direct Marketing separately from the overall BTL discipline, whilst still keeping BTL as a discipline. I have also added in others like retail design and packaging design

I have added in some additional markets such as Automotive and Building & Property for example where there was a significant trend. 

Best sectors for new business by marketing discipline is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Although it’s written by an American ex military guy, it got me thinking about the reasons why creative marketing agencies dislike the thought of using a new business agency.

Here’s the number one reason to start off the debate – I’ll follow up with more reasons and my response to them in future blogs…..

“I went all the way to Hull to meet a 22 year old who didn’t really understand marketing, who didn’t have a decent budget and who wasn’t sure why I was there”! Ring any bells?

Poor meeting quality is probably the most commonly cited reason for not wanting to use a business development agency and is either based on personal experience or anecdotal evidence from friends or colleagues in other agencies.

We’ve all experienced meetings that are a waste of time and it’s why Alchemis focuses so heavily on ensuring that all our meetings adhere to some very strict quality criteria, agreed up front and in conjunction with our clients.

These quality criteria include the market sector, size, location and profile of any prospects we agree to target on our client’s behalf and the potential spend and need for our client’s service offer.

Our New Business Managers’ incentive scheme supports this approach by rewarding our team on quality meetings attended and not on the meetings they set.

This ensures that the focus on the phone is on engaging with decision makers and having a serious 2 way conversation about their current marketing/design/digital/research/communications challenges and priorities rather than haranguing them with ‘sales lines’ just to secure a meeting.

Things I hate about new business #1 is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog