The 3 step plan for agency growth

This article is based on an interview by Trent Dyrsmid  with Tony Mikes at Bright Ideas.  Tony is the founder and managing director of Second Wind, a network of 800 small- to mid-sized ad agencies, design studios, PR firms, and digital agencies worldwide.  SecondWind gives their customers (these agencies) resources and services to compete effectively in the 21st Century.  Tony is also a former advertising executive with 25 years of experience in managing graphic design studios.

This article is about what Tony Mikes believes works best for small agencies to grow their business. For Tony, the basics of getting new customers are:

1. Be interesting.

This means that you should use your creative talent in ways that position you as an agency of interest You want your agency to be one that a prospect would want to talk to.  To be interesting, make your personality speak for yourself. Remember that interest comes from the knowledge of your prospect’s businesses. Have a third party endorse and recommend your agency and especially have unique ideas.

Great ideas are the most important facet customers look for from an agency.  The best ideas come from brainstorming and also from insight. These insights come from facts and facts come from good research. Ideas do not just strike you; you need hard work to come up with them. Good knowledge of the prospect’s business  will help to bring results and give clues on how to implement them.

To ignite growth, process your ideas. This will make you different. You will become a valuable agency for your current customers and a very interesting agency for prospects.   If you have a valuable idea for a customer and you are able to transmit it to them, you will be able to get to work with them.

2. Use shameless self-promotion, traditional PR, blogging, speaking, SEO, SEM, brand development, and activation as well as making warm calls instead of cold calls.

In order to grow, you have to use all means you have and go out of your way to promote your brand.  You have to seek opportunities so that your prospects hear about who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. That way, when you speak with them, they know who you are.

Things to remember when contacting a customer:

1. When making a call, don’t talk about yourself. Be prepared to talk about them , their issues, their problems, and what they’re looking for. Before the meeting or call conduct some research and be prepared to ask three to four very smart questions. Your prospect should think, “These people are smart and they know what they are talking about”.
2. Have ready some nuggets of information for the meeting/call. These are just little pieces of information that will interest your prospect and show that you know what you are talking about. It can bring real value to the interaction. Use these nuggets of information strategically throughout the conversation to transmit your expertise and the degree to which you can help them.

3. You make a plan and work the plan:

The two points above will not work unless you make a plan to implement them. You must follow through with it and execute it well.  Make a plan on who to call, when to call, and what to say when you call to win the business.  In the plan, include how you are going to follow through after the first contact. After making the plan, stick to it.

Tony’s strategy to ignite growth can be summarized by:

1. Being interesting by having great ideas.
2. Promoting yourself by all means so your prospects either contact you or at least know who you are when you contact them.
3. Make a plan and follow through with it.