Converse Digital’s detailed analysis of the 2023 RSW/US Agency New Business Report & our 3-Step plan to help agencies overcome the hurdles uncovered by the report.
...“Why don’t you write up a proposal to [deliver whatever a prospective client is about to hire you or your agency to deliver to them] with a budget and send it over to me to consider?” This one sentence creates more anxiety, angst, fear and self-doubt in the hearts and minds of freelancers, coaches and agency …
The human brain analyzes 11 million information inputs every second hence, why every moment of attention is a gift. We’ve all heard that the human attention span is now shorter than a goldfish (total BS, by the way, and here is the proof). Still, the truth is that humans today are overwhelmed with information, inputs, …
Embarking on negotiations is akin to stepping onto the dance floor. It requires finesse, intuition, and a deep understanding of the steps that lead to a dancing-with-the-stars quality performance. Welcome to Part II of my contract negotiation tactics and strategies series. If you missed Part I, Contract Negotiation Strategies: The Science Of Getting What You …
Contract negotiation – the very idea can send chills down the spine of even the most hardened professional. Images of high-stakes poker games and back-alley deal-making can fill the mind. But, as the renowned negotiation expert, Christopher Voss would say, a successful contract negotiation strategy is more akin to navigating a labyrinth than engaging in …
The Importance of Effective Networking Strategies You’ve probably heard it a thousand times: networking is crucial. But have you ever taken a minute to ask yourself why? Simply put, if you’re not constantly networking, you’re limiting your reach, your opportunities, and your potential growth.People who fail to “keep in touch” often find themselves feeling like they’re …
I recently listened to Barbara Winters, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, to discuss how Gen Z and Millennial B2B Buyers are reshaping the buying process and what companies should do to succeed with these buyers.And what she had to say, kind of blew me away. Honestly. Here’s why.When I wrote The Invisible Sale, I …
Today’s post is the final installment of our three-part series — LinkedIn Sales Prospecting for Introverts. If you missed the first post, Building Connections That Matter, or the second post, How To Leverage Content Marketing Strategies On LinkedIn To Attract Qualified Prospects, feel free to read those before continuing on to today’s post, Introvert-Friendly LinkedIn …
Today’s post is the second part of our three-part series — LinkedIn Sales Prospecting for Introverts. If you missed the first post, Building Connections That Matter, feel free to read it before continuing on to today’s post, LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategies for Introverts. It’s ok, I’ll wait . As an introverted business development professional, you may …
Introverts, rejoice! Sales prospecting doesn’t have to be a daunting task, and LinkedIn, like other social media sites, offers the perfect platform to help you build meaningful connections and leverage your introverted strengths. As a fellow introvert, I’m here to share a few practical tips that have worked for me and others in the business …
The world of sales prospecting has changed dramatically over the past decade. Traditional prospect badgering approaches to business development are giving way to digital sales strategies, especially virtual selling skills-based tactics, forcing businesses to evolve to succeed in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. This guide will provide the tactics and insights necessary to master digital sales …
As a business development professional, your PowerPoint presentations should communicate more than just information. They should aid your efforts to build a trust-based relationship with your prospects. Only some salespeople have ever been taught how to design a PowerPoint pitch deck that not only delivers information but also fosters a genuine connection with their audience. …
Networking has always been essential to growing your personal and professional brand. But for introverts like me, networking, especially the sales prospecting and nurturing variety, doesn’t sound fun. Luckily, the digital landscape offers many networking opportunities for introverts that want to connect with qualified prospects by curating and sharing high-quality digital content that your prospects …
In business development pitches, the right messaging combined with an effectively designed PowerPoint deck can make all the difference in closing a deal. But with so much competition and noise in the market, it can be challenging to differentiate yourself from the competition and connect with your best prospects. However, a recent Corporate Vision report titled …
Almost three years after the world shifted to remote and hybrid work, Zoom, Teams, and GoToMeeting continue as vital tools for agency owners and business development executives to connect with their prospects. However, presenting over these virtual presentation platforms continues to create agency business development challenges because agency teams still lack the vital virtual selling …
As we’ve discussed before,According to the WSJ, $250 million per day is wasted on bad, ineffectively designed PowerPoint Presentations. It still amazes us that companies continue to spend millions of dollars developing sales slicks, marketing campaigns, lead generation programs, etc., but spend little or nothing on the most utilized tool in their sales toolbox — PowerPoint …
My sons love to fish. I like to fish. The problem is, we don’t know how to fish — or better stated, we don’t know how to FIND where the fish are hanging out. And we’re not alone. There is an entire industry devoted to helping folks like us find and catch fish — charter …
At a minimum, social media, email, and texting are the new phone. They’re both inbound and outbound marketing tools to contact and communicate with sales prospects. Are they always the best phone to use for all contacts? Certainly not, but they do allow you to call more prospects in a day than you’d likely be …
Getting and maintaining a sales prospect’s attention is often the single hardest yet most important step in any sales process — but especially a virtual selling process. Traditionally, salespeople have simply bought prospects’ attention with free lunches, dinners, or drinks. Or maybe an invite to a ballgame or other event helped them achieve access. But in …
Competitive differentiation is crucial to delivering compelling sales pitches that close quickly and generate higher margins. When sales prospects view you, your organization, and your product or service as something extraordinary—and not just a commodity — you can avoid price concessions as your primary tool to win more business. Suppose you’re lucky enough to have a …
Accurate prospective client intel, in the hands of a skilled business development team virtually guarantees a successful outcome. But clients today prefer to remain invisible, talking to Google instead of your agency directly. That’s why successful agencies are leveraging the power of Content Marketing, Marketing Automation/Website Tracking Software and 2nd-Click Content to focus their business …
Do you long for the old days — where all of your major pitch meetings were held face-to-face vs being forced to present your team’s pitch deck via a Zoom Call? I don’t blame you, since we all know research shows it’s easier to make a good first impression via a face-to-face presentation than a …
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. And in the world of virtual sales prospecting, the punishment for failing to make a good first impression could just end up eliminating your ability to communicate with the person you’re trying to connect with forever. So, let’s talk about how to make …
The Reality: Your advertising, public relations, or digital agency gets most of your new clients via participation in RFPs — you spend your time showing prospective clients that you’re interested versus spending your time becoming interesting. Heck, even the late, great Prince sang about your biz dev troubles and how to fix them. The Problems this …
Do you hate selling but have no choice but to sell anyway? Are you responsible for finding new prospects for your agency? If you answered yes to both then you’re in luck, because this is the post for you.
...We just released a brand new 15-minute webinar specifically designed for advertising, PR and Digital agencies that want to learn how to combine my Painless Prospecting approach to building a consistent inbound pipeline of highly qualified, self-educated buyers that are pretty sure they want to hire you before you ever speak with them directly with …
What are the 5 most important questions to ask on a first sales call in order to write a winning proposal?
...This week RSW/US released its New Year Outlook 2020 Survey Report and based on the content, I think smaller, independent and/or specialist agencies will need to step up their biz dev game and learn to Sell Greatly this year or get left behind. Let’s talk about why. Clients Plan To Shrink Their Agency Rosters Charts …
Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of spending an hour with a group of men discussing gratitude — its role in our lives, how we should be teaching it to our children, its role in our religion (it was a prayer group) — and that got me to thinking about the role of gratitude in …
Prince wasn’t just a great singer, he was also a great sales prospecting philosopher. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at two of his songs and how he contrasts the painful traditional ad agency business development process vs a painless prospecting process preferred by agencies like Converse Digital. Traditional RFP Based Business Development Are you familiar …
