For marketing, PR, and creative professionals, new business meetings are sometimes an unwelcome, if necessary, addition to already busy schedules. Factor in research, prep-time, and execution, and you’ve created a lot of extra work.

Agencies pour their heart and soul into client work. I’d wager they can sell their clients better than they can sell themselves. But for agencies to thrive in an increasingly competitive market, they must sell themselves to prospective clients as effectively as they sell their clients.

Authenticity and commerciality are essential here, helping win trust in a process that depends on honesty and transparency.

From my experience supporting agencies and brands, I’ve compiled a list of areas agencies should focus on to convert new business meetings into revenue.

Think like a brand

Being an extension of brand teams is the real value-add proposition for agencies. That means understanding their market, the challenges stakeholders may face (personal, team, business etc.), and discussing solutions.

Put your commercial hat on and consider a few key questions brands will genuinely be intrigued to hear answered. These could include:

• What are the challenges and objectives of the prospect, the wider team and the business at large?

Don’t be afraid to ask ‘Why?’ when confronted with a prospect’s objective – often you’ll get a far clearer idea on the business goals as a result.

• What's moving in the sector?

Where does the commercial opportunity lie in that movement?

• Is there any interesting and relevant brand news?

New product developments, internal movement, competitor activity?

Importantly, going to each meeting with opinions on the sector opportunities will engage CMOs & Marketing Leads far more than any creds deck will.

Demonstrate your agency’s commerciality and market expertise that anticipates sector challenges, rather than reacting to them.

Not all agencies have constant capacity for dedicated market research, and it’s something our clients often come to us for to stand out in their new business meetings.

Be authentic

It may seem obvious, but being true to who you are is more effective than any performance.

Our online webinars and masterclasses, hosted in collaboration with agency clients, demonstrate this perfectly. We get the best audience response following speakers who clearly love their work and are unafraid to show their real personality.

If you don't enjoy what you do and what you produce, how is someone you might work with supposed to get excited?

As the saying goes, “to err is human, to forgive divine”. Mistakes are fine. They show you’re human, and no one will hold them against you. Be yourself and demonstrate how the brilliant work you produce is aligned with your character and values on a personal and business level.

Clarify next steps

The purpose of any new business meeting is to discuss a brand challenge and showcase your value in solving it, with the aim of progressing to the next stage.

To determine buyer intent, it’s worth having consistency in the questions you ask at the end of your meetings. This helps to qualify prospects and whether the scope for work is more immediate or long-term.

If there seems to be scope for work, set up a 2nd meeting that delves deeper into this brand challenge. Clarify the timescales and next steps. It may be worth having other team members on both the brand and agency side who can bring their area of expertise to help further the conversation.

Demonstrate value, build trust

Don't be a stranger if there is no immediate scope for work!

You've formed a new connection and an exciting new business friendship, so keep in contact and stay on their radar. Signal your interest in their brand by sharing relevant content or sector news.

Listen to what brands want and provide the service they require. It helps foster long-term relationships because it shows you can listen, understand, and deliver – qualities any budget holder values.

Not every meeting will lead to an immediate brief or pitch. Trust is built over time. Consistently sharing a drumbeat of news, content, and updates CMOs and Marketing Leads will find useful proves you care and can provide value. Having a new business team that nurtures these relationships is essential, so that contacts in the ‘warm’ pipeline receive the right content at the right time.

One of the services we offer at Ingenuity is providing brand briefing packs before agencies undertake their new business meetings. This includes sector, brand, marketing, and prospect insights that we collate using available online data as well as our internal insights that we gather from across our ecosystem.

For more information, or support with new opportunities, please email Emma Robson at emma.robson@ingenuitylondon.com.