With AI adoption in sales skyrocketing, 81% of teams are now either experimenting with or fully embracing AI, and the impact is undeniable. For sales teams across agencies, adtech, sponsorship, and media, the right AI tools have shifted from “nice-to-have” to “must-have” status. The numbers speak for themselves: 83% of teams leveraging AI report revenue growth, compared to just 66% of those who haven’t yet made the leap.

AI and sales automation are transforming outreach, enhancing targeting precision, and streamlining workflows in ways that were unthinkable just a few years ago. And while nothing replaces the personal power of a skilled sales team, automation tools are freeing teams to focus on what they do best: building relationships and driving revenue.

In this guide, we’ll reveal the top AI sales tools for 2025 that will empower your team to work smarter, not harder. From automating repetitive tasks to delivering real-time, data-driven insights that sharpen strategy, these tools offer a tangible edge for any sales team ready to lead.

AI Sales Tools at a Glance

Let’s take a high-level look at the AI tools shaping sales strategies. From advanced automation platforms to data-driven analytics and personalized outreach solutions, these tools are designed to elevate sales performance and streamline operations. 

Our quick-reference guide offers a snapshot of each AI tool’s unique strengths, categorized by purpose to help you identify which solutions best fit your sales team’s goals.

Top AI Sales Tools
The Tool	Tool Type	Purpose
Winmo Personality Insights	Personality Profiling	Delivers personality-driven data to tailor messaging to individual preferences, improving engagement
Winmo Compose	Email Personalization	Generates personalized email content based on recipient’s communication style, tone, and preferences
Perplexity	AI-Powered Research	Delivers concise, source-backed answers for credible, time-efficient research
Waldo.fyi	Continuous Account Monitoring	Tracks accounts, trends, and competitors, providing curated, continuous intelligence in one place
Magnolia	Brand Strategy Insights	Provides insights into brand’s strategic goals and messaging to create highly relevant proposals
People.ai	Sales Productivity Optimization	Analyzes CRM and engagement data to identify optimal touchpoints and track relationship mapping
Crayon	Competitive Intelligence	Monitors competitor activities and market shifts to enhance positioning and proactive messaging
Copient AI	Conversational Training	Simulates customer interactions for unscripted practice with customizable scenarios and real-time feedback

Top AI Sales Tools for 2025

Securing meaningful business relationships hinges on understanding not just the who but the why behind each interaction. AI sales tools for company, contact, and context insights offer a transformative edge by delivering in-depth intelligence that goes far beyond basic data points. 

These tools equip sales and business development teams to build richer, more strategic relationships by tailoring outreach to resonate with individual decision-makers and company needs. Here’s our top picks for sales teams:

1. Winmo Personality Insights 

Sales is as much about knowing the person as it is about pitching the solution. Winmo Personality Insights provide sales teams with personality characteristics of their prospects as well as communication and close strategies based on unique traits. .

How Winmo Personality Insights helps improve outreach:

• Behavioral Insights: Offers detailed insights on communication preferences, decision-making style, and personality traits, helping sales teams craft messages that resonate deeply.
• Tailored Approach: Enables adaptation of tone, language, and approach to match each decision-maker’s unique style—whether they prefer data-driven pitches or warm, relationship-oriented engagement.
• Increased Engagement: Personalized outreach based on personality traits leads to 233% increase in response rates, advancing deals faster and more effectively.

2. Winmo Compose

Effective communication is at the heart of outreach. Winmo Compose combines AI and personality insights to generate email content that aligns with each recipient’s communication style, tone, and preferences.

Ways Winmo Compose can enhance sales strategy:

• Custom Email Drafts: Generates personalized emails in a few clicks, adjusting tone, language, and detail level to fit each prospect’s style.
• Time Efficiency: Saves time on email drafting while maintaining high relevance, enabling sales teams to focus on relationship-building.
• Scalable Personalization: Ideal for large pipelines, allowing teams to deliver personalized messaging at scale, driving higher response rates and fostering genuine connections.

3. Perplexity 

Accurate, reliable information is foundational for credible sales pitches. Perplexity is an AI-powered search tool that transforms complex topics into clear, source-supported insights, helping sales teams answer client questions with confidence.

Here’s how Perplexity enhances sales research:

• Concise Insights: Delivers source-backed, concise answers to complex queries, reducing research time and improving pitch relevance.
• Trustworthy Data: Ensures every interaction is based on accurate, verifiable information, building trust with decision-makers.
• Time-Saving: Ideal for rapid research on industry insights or target companies, enabling teams to stay focused on strategic engagement.

4. Waldo.fyi

For ongoing intelligence on accounts, trends, and competitor activity, Waldo.fyi serves as an AI-powered research assistant, delivering curated updates to keep sales teams informed.

Ways Waldo.fyi supports continuous engagement:

• Real-Time Monitoring: Tracks specified accounts, industry shifts, and competitors, organizing updates into a single, accessible feed.
• Custom Searches: Allows teams to set up tailored alerts for high-priority accounts or topics, enabling quick access to fresh, relevant information.
• Strategic Readiness: Empowers teams to engage prospects with up-to-date perspectives, building credibility and establishing a competitive edge.

5. Magnolia 

Magnolia provides deep insights into a brand’s strategic goals and marketing messages, enabling sellers to align pitches with each brand’s unique priorities.

How Magnolia enhances outreach customization:

• Brand Positioning Insights: Analyzes a brand’s public messaging to reveal core goals, such as innovation or sustainability, so teams can tailor their approach.
• Strategic Alignment: Assists in refining pitches to reflect brand values, whether it’s a focus on digital transformation or community impact.
• Increased Relevance: Empowers agencies, media sellers, sponsorship teams, and adtech providers to deliver proposals that resonate on a deeper level with brand decision-makers.
  

6. People.ai

People.ai leverages AI to analyze CRM and sales engagement data, surfacing insights on sales productivity and effectiveness while optimizing engagement strategies with each prospect.

How People.ai enhances sales engagement:

• Engagement Optimization: Tracks and analyzes sales team activity, identifying optimal engagement patterns and touchpoints, ensuring each outreach is timed for maximum impact.
• Relationship Mapping: Maps decision-makers and engagement history within target accounts, so sales teams can identify and prioritize contacts more effectively.
• Improved Conversion Rates: Enables adtech providers, media sellers, and agencies to refine engagement strategies based on data-backed insights, increasing the probability of advancing deals.

7. Crayon 

Crayon is a competitive intelligence AI sales tool that empowers sales teams by continuously monitoring competitor activities and market changes, providing insights that sharpen positioning and outreach strategy.

How Crayon boosts competitive intelligence:

• Real-Time Competitive Monitoring: Tracks competitors’ online activities, such as website changes, press releases, social posts, and ad placements, allowing sales teams to stay updated on shifts in competitors’ strategies.
• Market Insights: Provides insights into industry trends and competitor moves, helping teams to adjust messaging and positioning proactively.
• Enhanced Positioning: Allows agencies, media sellers, sponsorship, and adtech teams to fine-tune pitches based on competitor intelligence, positioning their offerings as distinct and strategically aligned with market needs.

8. Copient AI

Copient AI is an advanced training platform that uses conversational AI to simulate real-world sales scenarios, enabling teams to practice unscripted role-plays that mirror actual client interactions. By incorporating your organization’s proprietary learning materials, Copient AI delivers realistic, customizable training experiences that prepare sales teams to confidently lead discovery calls, demos, and client conversations.

How Copient AI strengthens sales readiness:

• Authentic Customer Simulations: Trains reps with AI characters that mimic real customer mindsets, enabling realistic practice to build confidence and adaptability.
• Customized, Scalable Training: Tailors role-play scenarios to your specific sales process and products, so teams practice relevant conversations that align with your strategy.
• 24/7 Access and Instant Feedback: Offers on-demand training with real-time insights, allowing reps to practice whenever needed and continuously improve their performance.

With Copient AI, sales teams are better equipped to engage prospects authentically and confidently, elevating their ability to drive more successful business development efforts.

Selecting the Right AI Sales Tools for Your Team

With over 10,000 AI tools available today, it’s essential to select those that best fit your team’s workflow, objectives, and budget. While AI-driven tools offer powerful ways to create personalized, impactful messaging, the right choice depends on your team’s unique needs. Below, we’ll outline key factors to consider and recommend tools based on different business development goals.

1. Budget and ROI

Decide on a budget that matches your team’s objectives and growth targets. Some AI platforms require a significant investment but provide robust, multi-functional features, while others offer targeted solutions at a lower price point.

2. Team Size

Your team’s size can impact which tools are most effective. Larger teams may benefit from tools that enhance collaboration and CRM integration, while smaller teams might prefer specialized solutions that streamline individual workflows.

3. Sales Process Complexity

Analyze your sales process to determine how complex and multi-step it is. Teams with intricate, multi-stage sales processes may need comprehensive AI tools that provide insights across all stages, while shorter cycles may benefit from tools that streamline outreach and follow-up.

4. Primary Use Cases

Define what you most need AI to achieve—whether it’s personalization, competitive insights, data accuracy, or automated content creation. Identifying clear objectives will help you focus on tools that directly support your team’s high-impact activities.

Elevate Your Sales Strategy with the Right Sales AI Tools

AI tools have become indispensable for modern sales and business development, helping teams connect more personally, gather precise insights, and stay ahead of competitors. But even the best tools are only as powerful as the team using them. Knowing how to integrate these tools into a cohesive strategy, execute with precision, and continuously refine outreach requires expertise, agility, and a market-ready approach.

That’s where Catapult comes in. As the #1 outsourced business development team for agencies, adtech, media, and sponsorship, we provide an experienced team and a proven framework to get your solutions to market in just 30 days. We don’t just leverage AI tools effectively—we bring a wealth of industry knowledge, strategic insights, and dedicated focus to drive your business growth. Contact us today to learn more. 

If you’re feeling the pressure to ignite growth, you may be wondering if an in-house business development rep is the solution. The decision is trickier than it sounds. Many companies dive in with high expectations, only to find themselves juggling hidden costs, lengthy ramp-up times, and the constant challenge of keeping that new hire engaged, effective, and aligned with the company’s goals.

Scaling business development internally often comes with unforeseen obstacles. From the high cost of recruiting top talent to the extensive training required to get them fully operational, bringing someone on board can quickly drain resources—and still not guarantee results. Even once they’re settled in, maintaining momentum, staying adaptable in a changing market, and achieving consistent results can strain internal teams and budgets.

Before committing to an in-house hire, you’ll want to weigh the risks, understand the full scope of investment, and evaluate whether internal growth truly serves your needs—or if there’s a more strategic way to reach your goals. In this guide, we’ll cover what you need to know to make an informed choice that positions your company for sustainable growth.

Defining the Role of a Business Development Representative

Before deciding to hire in-house, clearly define what you need from a business development rep. Let’s break down the key responsibilities, how to align the position with your company goals, and the skills and experience necessary for success.

1. Key Responsibilities

This role typically involves identifying and pursuing new business opportunities, building and nurturing client relationships, and developing strategies to drive revenue. It’s not just about cold outreach; it’s about understanding market trends, nurturing long-term partnerships, and finding innovative ways to unlock growth.

2. Importance of Alignment

To maximize impact, the rep’s efforts need to be tightly aligned with your broader business strategy. Whether you’re focused on scaling revenue, entering new markets, or deepening relationships with existing clients, a successful business development rep will tailor their approach to support your company’s specific objectives.

3. Skills and Experience

The best candidates for this role combine industry knowledge with strong communication and relationship-building skills. They should be skilled in negotiation, have a deep understanding of the sales cycle, and be adept at strategic thinking. 

Experience in your niche market – whether it’s agency new business, adtech, media, or sponsorship – is also critical to ensure they can hit the ground running and understand the unique challenges and opportunities your business faces.

The Financial Investment of Hiring an In-House BDR

Once you’ve clearly defined the role and the skills needed, it’s time to consider the financial investment that comes with hiring in-house. 

Bringing on a business development rep is more than just a salary, it involves a range of costs that can significantly impact your budget. Let’s break down the key financial factors you’ll need to account for.

1. Salary costs

A qualified business development rep in adtech, media, or sponsorship typically commands a competitive salary. Industry benchmarks range depending on experience and location. It’s critical to budget accordingly to attract top talent.

2. Benefits and perks 

Beyond salary, you’ll need to factor in benefits like health insurance, retirement contributions, and paid time off. These perks are essential for retaining employees and can add another 20-30% to the total compensation package.

3. Tech stack 

To enable your rep to perform efficiently, you’ll need to invest in tools like CRM systems, prospecting software, email automation, and analytics platforms. Tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator aren’t optional—they’re essential for success and come with ongoing subscription costs.

4. Additional overhead

Don’t forget about office space, equipment like laptops and phones, and ongoing training.These costs add up, especially if you’re scaling up your business development efforts.

Time Investment: Onboarding and Ramp-Up Period

Beyond the financial investment, there’s the often-overlooked factor of time. Hiring an in-house BDR doesn’t just cost money, it also requires a significant time commitment to get them up to speed and delivering results. Let’s take a deeper look. 

1. Onboarding time

Expect a new hire to need at least 1-3 months to get fully onboarded. This includes everything from learning internal systems to understanding your unique value propositions and sales approach. During this time, they’re not yet driving revenue.

2. Learning curve

Even the best reps will face a learning curve as they get familiar with your products, company culture, and specific sales processes. This adaptation period is essential to ensure they represent your brand effectively and build meaningful client relationships.

3. Expected time to ROI

Realistically, it could take 6 months or more before your new hire starts producing measurable results. Business development is a long game, and the time spent training and nurturing a new rep delays the return on your investment, making it crucial to factor this into your overall hiring decision.

The Hidden Costs of Hiring In-House

In addition to the time and financial investments, there are hidden costs to hiring in-house that can often be overlooked. These unseen expenses can impact your bottom line just as much as direct costs and should be a critical part of your decision-making process. 

Let’s dive into what these hidden costs look like and why they’re so important to consider.

1. The Possibility of Turnover

If your new hire leaves within a year, you’re left with the financial loss of their salary, benefits, and tools, but also the time spent training them. Plus, the need to start the recruitment process all over again can set your business back months, potentially leaving key growth opportunities on the table.

2. Time Investments

Finding the right candidate can be a lengthy process. Time spent on recruiting, conducting interviews, and onboarding is time taken away from running your business and focusing on growth. The longer this process takes, the more costly it becomes.

3. Misalignment Potential

If you don’t hire the right person, the consequences go beyond financial. A misaligned hire can disrupt team dynamics, underperform, and waste valuable time and resources. 

Worse, they might steer your business development efforts in the wrong direction, delaying your goals even further or damaging your reputation among key prospects.

4. Technology and Tools Required

Another critical factor that often gets overlooked when hiring in-house is the technology and tools needed to support a business development rep. Without the right systems in place, even the most skilled rep will struggle to perform effectively. 

Before making any hiring decisions, it’s important to assess the tools required and the additional costs they bring.

• Necessary tools: A successful business development rep will rely on a robust CRM system (like Salesforce or HubSpot), lead generation tools, and reporting systems to track progress. These are essential for managing relationships, staying organized, and measuring success.
  

• Licensing and maintenance costs: Each of these tools comes with licensing fees and ongoing maintenance costs. Depending on the size of your team, these costs can add up quickly, and they’re crucial to budget for when planning to hire in-house.
  

• Integration and onboarding: Ensuring your new hire is seamlessly integrated into your existing tech stack can take time. They’ll need to be trained on the tools you use and how they fit into your broader business processes, which can further extend the ramp-up period.

The Benefits of Hiring an In-House Business Development Rep

While there are significant costs and considerations when hiring in-house, there are also undeniable benefits that can make it a worthwhile investment for some businesses.

When done right, bringing a business development rep in-house can deliver long-term value and deeper alignment with your company’s vision. Let’s take a look at the top three pros of hiring in-house: 

1. Dedicated Team Member 

An in-house business development rep becomes a fully embedded part of your team, aligning closely with your company’s culture, values, and goals. This deep integration ensures they aren’t just selling your services but representing your brand in an authentic and consistent way, fostering stronger connections with clients that reflect your company’s mission.

2. Possibility of Long-Term Strategy 

Because they’re dedicated solely to your business, an in-house rep can focus on nurturing deeper, more meaningful client relationships. They have the time and space to understand your clients’ unique needs, building trust and fostering loyalty over the long term.

3. Direct Control 

With an in-house rep, you have complete control over how your business development strategy is executed. You can directly influence their approach, messaging, and tactics, ensuring everything aligns perfectly with your broader goals and vision for growth.

Is It the Right Time to Hire An In-House Business Development Rep?

With the benefits of hiring in-house clear, the final question to ask is whether now is the right time to make that move. Timing is crucial, and bringing on an in-house business development rep requires careful consideration of your current resources, growth stage, and long-term strategy. 

Let’s explore the key factors to determine if hiring in-house is the best next step for your business:

1. Consistent growth

If your business is experiencing steady growth and you need a dedicated team member to focus on scaling your client base, it may be time to bring someone in-house. An internal rep can provide the focused effort needed to maintain and accelerate this momentum.

2. Complex sales cycles

When your sales process is becoming more intricate and requires a deeper understanding of your services, products, and client needs, an in-house hire can offer the personalized attention necessary for navigating these longer sales cycles effectively.

3. Strong financial position

Hiring in-house comes with significant costs. If your company is in a solid financial position and can comfortably absorb the salary, benefits, and tech investments required, you’re more likely to be ready for this move.

4. Need for strategic alignment

If your current business development efforts require tighter alignment with your overall company goals and culture, an internal hire can provide the control and consistency needed to ensure your messaging and strategy stay on track.

5. Existing Team and Bandwidth

Consider whether your leadership and sales teams have the capacity to support, train, and manage a new business development rep effectively. Onboarding and ramping up a new hire demands time and attention, especially during the first few months when they’re learning your products, processes, and company culture. 

If your existing team is already stretched thin or lacks the experience to guide a new rep, you might face delays in achieving the results you’re aiming for. Ensuring that you have the internal resources to properly support this role is key.

6. Projected Growth

Lastly, assess your company’s projected growth and how a business development rep aligns with your long-term goals. If your business is poised for significant expansion, having an internal rep can help strategically drive this growth. They can focus on building relationships that support these future objectives, aligning business development efforts with your company’s vision. 

Additionally, a dedicated in-house rep provides the flexibility to adjust strategies as your goals evolve, ensuring that your growth initiatives are not only supported but accelerated by a team member who’s fully invested in your company’s success.

Outsourcing as a Faster Path to Results 

While hiring an in-house business development rep offers long-term potential, it also comes with significant investments of time, money, and resources. The ramp-up period alone can delay results, and there’s always the risk of turnover or misalignment. 

If you’re looking for a faster, more efficient path to growth, outsourcing can be a smarter solution. Catapult, with over two decades of experience and a proven team of experts, helps companies bypass the lengthy onboarding process. 

We deliver results quickly by leveraging our full suite of tools and industry knowledge without the hidden costs and challenges of an internal hire. Let Catapult accelerate your business development efforts and help you hit your growth goals faster.

In today’s sponsorship landscape, sellers are navigating an ever-evolving set of demands. Brands are no longer satisfied with just exposure; they want measurable ROI, clear alignment with their values, and impactful, purpose-driven partnerships. Facing intense competition for tighter budgets, sponsorship teams must deliver transparency, creativity, and flexibility like never before. 

Yet, many sellers remain trapped in a reactive cycle, racing to secure deals in shorter decision windows, often without the strategies or resources needed to stand out. With rising expectations for digital fluency, hybrid activations, and custom solutions, it’s clear that traditional approaches simply aren’t enough.

The solution? A proactive sponsorship sales strategy. By anticipating partner needs, crafting client-centered solutions, and prioritizing long-term value over one-off transactions, you can transform your approach to sponsorship sales. This playbook will guide you in shifting from reactive to proactive, so you can take charge of your sales process, lead the conversation, and drive sustainable growth.

Step 1: Define Your Sponsorship Assets and Value Propositions

Before you can start reaching out to potential sponsors, it’s essential to understand exactly what you’re offering and how it aligns with their business objectives. A clear foundation will help you craft compelling, customized sponsorship proposals that stand out in today’s competitive environment. This first step is critical—defining your assets and value propositions sets the direction for your entire sponsorship strategy. Let’s break down the key elements you need to get started.

1. Identify Your Sponsorship Assets 

Begin by cataloging all the assets you have available for sponsorship. This process should go beyond surface-level assets and dive into every potential touchpoint where a sponsor can gain value. Think about assets that provide tangible exposure and deeper audience engagement:

• Event Naming Rights: Offering premier branding through title sponsorships gives a sponsor maximum visibility and association with your event or platform.
• VIP Experiences: Exclusive access to VIP areas or meet-and-greet opportunities can offer high-value touchpoints that create lasting impressions for sponsors with key clients or influencers.
• Media Exposure: Think about owned, earned, and paid media—whether through broadcast opportunities, social media amplification, or digital ad placements.
• Unique Content Integration: How can a sponsor be naturally woven into the storytelling of your content, whether it’s through branded content, podcast mentions, or product placements? Content marketing is a growing focus for many brands, and an integrated approach can drive more meaningful engagement.
• Experiential Activations: These include pop-up activations, immersive brand experiences, or interactive digital events that can drive both in-person and virtual engagement.
• Data Access & Audience Insights: This can be an underutilized but highly valuable asset. Offering sponsors access to audience data (e.g., demographics, engagement trends) can help them refine their own targeting strategies.

By looking at your assets comprehensively, you’ll be better positioned to align your offering with what sponsors value most—be it visibility, lead generation, or audience engagement.

2. Understand Your Audience and Goals 

When sponsorship organizations outsource new business to Catapult, the first thing we do is develop a deep understanding of who their audience is and what sponsors can gain by exposure to this audience. This means doing homework on two fronts:

• Audience Demographics and Behavior: Who attends your events or engages with your platform? Break down your audience into clear segments (age, location, interests, buying behavior, etc.) and identify what makes them valuable to sponsors. Are they a niche, highly targeted audience, or do they offer massive scale? For example, a sports event may appeal to young, active consumers, while a business conference might attract C-suite executives.
• Sponsor Objectives: Dive into what potential sponsors want from a partnership. Are they looking for: 
  • Brand Exposure: Do they want wide visibility across multiple platforms?
  • Customer Engagement: Are they looking to create direct interactions with potential customers (e.g., sampling, experiential marketing)?
  • Reputation and CSR Alignment: Are they focused on associating their brand with a cause, such as sustainability or diversity? This is a growing priority for many sponsors.
  • Lead Generation and Sales: Do they need a partnership that helps drive tangible business results, like new customer leads or product sales?

Tailoring your approach to meet these specific sponsor objectives is key to standing out. Brands are no longer looking for generic packages—they need custom solutions that speak to their unique challenges and opportunities.

3. Craft a Value Proposition

Once you’ve identified your assets and thoroughly understood both your audience and the sponsor’s goals, it’s time to craft value propositions that clearly demonstrate why a sponsor should invest in you. A value proposition goes beyond listing features; it articulates how your sponsorship will bring the sponsor closer to achieving their marketing or business objectives.

Here’s how to craft an effective value proposition:

• Connect Assets to Outcomes: Don’t just state that a sponsor will get a logo on a banner. Frame it in terms of how that logo will reach 50,000 engaged event attendees, 30% of whom are in the sponsor’s target demographic.
• Quantify Benefits: Use data to make your case stronger. For example, explain that a sponsor’s branded content could generate an estimated 500,000 social media impressions, or a VIP experience could deliver direct access to 200 high-value potential clients.
• Solve Problems: Position your assets as solutions to the sponsor’s biggest challenges. For example, if a sponsor is struggling with brand trust or relevance, you could highlight how a partnership with your cause-driven event will position them as a leader in sustainability.
• Demonstrate Long-Term Value: Show that your sponsorship opportunity isn’t just a one-time event but can lead to long-term brand affinity, customer acquisition, or loyalty through ongoing engagement.

Ultimately, a strong value proposition answers the key question every sponsor has: “What’s in it for me?” The more clearly and compellingly you can demonstrate how your sponsorship helps them reach their goals, the more likely you are to close the deal.

Step 2: Build a Targeted Prospect List

Now that you’ve defined your assets and crafted compelling value propositions, the next step is identifying who to approach. Building a targeted prospect list is essential to ensuring your outreach efforts are focused on brands that will benefit most from your sponsorship offerings and align well with your audience. A well-researched, segmented list not only saves time and effort but also significantly increases your chances of landing high-value partnerships.

Let’s break down the key steps to building an effective sponsorship prospect list.

1. Research and Identify Potential Sponsors 

Begin by researching companies that have a natural fit with your event, platform, or audience. The goal is to find brands whose target markets, marketing goals, and values align closely with what you offer. Here are some strategies for identifying the right prospects:

• Look at Industry Verticals: Target brands that operate within industries closely related to your audience or event. For example, if you’re organizing a health and wellness event, look at companies in fitness, nutrition, and healthcare industries.
• Review Competitor Sponsorships: See which brands are sponsoring similar events or platforms. This can reveal companies that are actively investing in sponsorships and are familiar with the type of opportunity you offer.
• Search for Brands with Active Marketing Campaigns: Brands launching new products, entering new markets, or working on rebranding initiatives are often more open to sponsorship opportunities that can elevate their visibility.
• Explore Socially Conscious Brands: If your event or platform aligns with a social cause, seek out brands with a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focus. These brands often seek partnerships that highlight their commitment to sustainability, diversity, or community support.

The key is to ensure that there’s a natural overlap between your audience and the brand’s target market. This alignment strengthens the case that your sponsorship can help them achieve their marketing goals.

2. Segment Your Prospect List 

To maximize your sponsorship efforts, segment your prospects based on fit and potential for success. This ensures you’re targeting the right brands with tailored outreach, leading to more efficient and impactful results.

• Right-to-Win Prospects: These are your top priority—brands with a strong audience overlap and a history of sponsorship investment in your industry. They see immediate value in your platform and require minimal persuasion. Focus on brands that have sponsored similar events or align with your core values.

• Ideal Prospects: Brands that aren’t an obvious fit but have the potential for strong partnerships. They may be entering new markets, launching products, or exploring sponsorships for the first time. Look for those with growth potential or shared marketing goals that resonate with your audience.

• Long-Shot Prospects: Aspirational brands or industry leaders that could elevate your event’s profile. They might require longer-term relationship building but offer significant upside if nurtured. Think of brands launching new initiatives where your platform could provide a unique advantage.

3. Be Aware of Key Prospecting Triggers 

Identifying key triggers can help you reach prospects at the right moment, increasing your chance of success. Keep an eye out for:

• New product launches: Brands will look for sponsorships to boost visibility.
• Company expansions: Entering new markets often requires increased brand awareness.
• Rebrands or marketing overhauls: Companies seeking to change their image may need fresh partnerships.
• CSR or social impact initiatives: Align your sponsorship with a brand’s new purpose-driven campaigns.
• Budget planning cycles: Contact decision-makers during annual planning or fiscal budget cycles when new opportunities are being considered.

By focusing on these triggers and aligning them with your prospect segments, you’ll approach the right brands at the perfect time.

4. Utilize Tools and Resources

To streamline the prospecting process, leverage technology and resources that help you build and manage your targeted list. Here are some recommended tools that can make the process faster, more accurate, and more efficient:

• Winmo: Winmo provides detailed insights into brands, decision-makers, and marketing campaigns, making it easier to identify companies with active advertising budgets and sponsorship history. What sets Winmo apart is its ability to track prospecting triggers—such as new campaigns, leadership changes, or company expansions—alerting you when a brand is likely to be seeking sponsorship opportunities. You can filter by industry, budget patterns, and audience demographics, helping you tailor your outreach to brands craving the exposure you provide.
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for sponsorship prospecting. With Sales Navigator, you can build advanced prospect lists by filtering companies based on industry, size, and geographic location. It’s also an excellent way to connect with decision-makers directly and track updates on brands you’re targeting.
• CRM Systems: Tools like HubSpot or Salesforce help you manage your outreach efforts, track interactions with prospects, and segment your lists effectively. CRMs are crucial for organizing follow-ups, avoiding redundancy, and keeping your sales pipeline moving smoothly.
• Google Alerts & Industry News: Setting up alerts for industry news and announcements can give you real-time insights into companies launching new campaigns, expanding their markets, or making changes to their sponsorship strategies. This can provide perfect timing for reaching out with a relevant proposal.

Step 3: Create a Winning Sponsorship Pitch

With your targeted prospect list ready, the next crucial step is crafting a personalized, compelling pitch that resonates with each potential sponsor. A well-crafted pitch not only communicates the value of your offering but positions you as a strategic partner who understands the sponsor’s unique goals. When done right, your pitch can turn an initial conversation into a long-term partnership.

1. Tailor Your Pitch to the Sponsor’s Goals 

The key to an effective sponsorship pitch is personalization. Generic pitches fall flat, but a tailored approach shows you’ve done your homework and understand the sponsor’s priorities. Here’s how to tailor your pitch to different sponsor goals:

• Boosting Brand Awareness: Emphasize high-visibility opportunities such as event naming rights, media exposure, or digital amplification. Use audience data to demonstrate the reach and demographic relevance of your platform.
• Engaging a New Audience: Highlight ways your sponsorship can give them direct access to a new market segment. For example, propose custom activations, VIP experiences, or content integration that will allow the brand to interact with your audience on a deeper level.
• Reinforcing Brand Values: If a sponsor wants to align with a cause (e.g., sustainability or diversity), show how your event or platform can help them enhance their brand story. Tie their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals directly to your sponsorship assets, like cause-related activations or partnerships with nonprofits.

By aligning your assets with the sponsor’s objectives, you demonstrate the tangible outcomes they can expect. Remember, personalization is what turns a generic pitch into a solution-oriented conversation.

2. Outline of a Winning Sponsorship Pitch

A strong sponsorship pitch should be clear, concise, and engaging, following this structure to maximize impact:

• Introduction: Start with a compelling introduction of your event or platform. Establish credibility by briefly highlighting past successes, key partnerships, or any impressive statistics that give context to the strength of your offering.
• Value Proposition: Clearly outline your unique assets and what makes them valuable to the sponsor. This could include audience reach, engagement metrics, or exclusivity. The focus should be on benefits—how your sponsorship delivers on their marketing goals, whether through visibility, engagement, or alignment with values.
• Brand Alignment: This is the most crucial part. Show exactly how your sponsorship opportunity supports their business goals. Use specific audience insights and market data to demonstrate why your event is the right match for their brand. For example: “Our audience is 70% millennial, with a strong focus on eco-conscious consumer behavior—perfectly aligning with your sustainability campaign.”
• Call to Action: End with a clear next step, whether it’s scheduling a follow-up meeting or offering to send a detailed proposal. Encourage engagement to keep the conversation moving forward.

Keep the pitch focused and concise—busy decision-makers don’t have time for fluff. A well-structured, to-the-point presentation is far more impactful than an overwhelming amount of information.

3. Engaging Presentations

A visually engaging presentation can set your pitch apart. People process visuals faster than text, so leveraging visual storytelling helps sponsors see the partnership’s potential. Here’s how to make your presentation memorable:

• Use Data-Driven Visuals: Incorporate charts, infographics, and audience data to back up your claims. For example, show engagement statistics from previous sponsors, ROI projections, or audience breakdowns to illustrate why your event is a smart investment.
• Case Studies: Include success stories or case studies from previous sponsors. A concrete example of how another brand benefited from a similar partnership can be very persuasive.
• Bring the Experience to Life: Use mock-ups of branded activations, event photos, or demo videos to help the sponsor visualize how their brand will be integrated. Whether it’s digital ads, on-site branding, or product sampling, visually showing the potential impact makes it more tangible.
• Interactive Elements: Where possible, incorporate interactive elements—like clickable elements in a PDF, or live demos in your presentation. This keeps the sponsor engaged and creates a more dynamic, memorable experience.

Finally, make sure the presentation is polished and professional. Use clean design, clear typography, and a logical flow. The easier it is to follow, the more likely it is to hold the sponsor’s attention.

Step 4: Reach Out and Start the Conversation

With your targeted list in place and a well-crafted pitch, the next step is taking action by reaching out to potential sponsors. No matter how strong your offering is, success hinges on making the initial contact count and maintaining momentum through thoughtful follow-ups. Here’s how to approach this crucial stage effectively.

1. Strategies for Initial Outreach 

The way you initiate contact can significantly impact the success of your conversation. Selecting the right outreach method is key to getting a response and setting the right tone. Common approaches include:

• Cold Emails: These work well for introducing yourself and your offer in a concise, targeted message. Be direct, but personalize each email so it doesn’t feel generic.
• Warm Introductions & Social Touchpoints: Leverage mutual connections or industry contacts to facilitate an introduction. This instantly builds credibility and increases your chances of a positive response.
• Direct Phone Calls: A more personal approach that can lead to faster engagement. A well-timed, professional call shows you’re serious about forming a partnership and can stand out in today’s digital world.
  

2. Craft a Personalized Outreach Message 

Your outreach message should be tailored to each prospect and designed to grab attention. Focus on personalization by referencing their company’s recent achievements, sponsorship activity, or brand goals. Show that you’ve done your homework.

Keep the message concise but impactful. Lead with the value you’re offering, explaining how your sponsorship opportunity helps them achieve their goals, rather than focusing on what you’re looking for. The objective is to spark enough interest to move to the next step—scheduling a meeting or deeper conversation.

3. Follow-Up Strategies 

Persistence is key when it comes to follow-ups. If your initial outreach doesn’t get a response, don’t let silence stop you. Timing matters—follow up within a few days of your first message, and if you don’t hear back, try again after a week or two.

Be consistent without being pushy. Vary your follow-up methods—such as sending a follow-up email after a phone call or leaving a voicemail. This keeps the conversation moving without overwhelming the prospect. The goal is to show you’re committed to building a partnership while staying on their radar. At Catapult, our outsourced business development advisors often send emails with category insights to educate prospects, to provide “gives” alongside “asks.”

Step 5: Negotiation and Closing the Deal

Step 5 is where all your efforts start to pay off. This step is crucial because it’s not just about securing the deal but also ensuring that both parties get value from the partnership. Successful negotiation builds trust and sets the foundation for a long-term relationship. Let’s break down how to navigate this stage effectively.

1. How to Handle Negotiations 

Negotiation is about creating a win-win situation. Be clear on the value you bring and what you expect in return, but stay flexible to adapt to the sponsor’s unique needs. Here’s how to ensure successful negotiations:

• Know Your Value: Be ready to clearly articulate what makes your sponsorship opportunity valuable. Whether it’s the audience reach, engagement potential, or brand alignment, have data on hand to back up your claims. This builds credibility and trust.
• Flexibility is Key: While you want to hold firm on the core value of your offer, be open to adjusting deliverables or pricing to meet the sponsor’s specific needs. This could mean tweaking the package to better fit their goals, offering add-ons, or structuring payment plans.
• Focus on Long-Term Potential: Don’t approach the deal as a one-time transaction. Emphasize the possibility of an ongoing partnership and suggest ways to extend value beyond the initial deal. This could be through year-round engagement or exclusive renewal options.
  

2. Common Objections

During negotiations, sponsors may raise objections. Here’s how to address the most common ones:

• Budget Concerns: If the sponsor feels the price is too high, focus on the ROI and offer flexible solutions, such as scaling down the package, offering different tiers, or creating payment plans to spread out the cost.
• Uncertain ROI: Sponsors may worry about whether they’ll see measurable results. Provide case studies, testimonials, or data from previous partnerships to demonstrate the success of your offering. Sharing real-life examples of similar sponsors’ outcomes can alleviate their concerns.
• Timing Issues: If a sponsor says the timing isn’t right, propose flexible options like a phased partnership (starting smaller now with the option to scale) or securing a spot for future events, giving them more time to plan and allocate budget.
• Internal Approval Delays: Sometimes sponsors need internal buy-in from other teams. Offer to provide additional materials—like a brief case study or an executive summary—to help them pitch the opportunity internally. Be patient but persistent.
  

3. Key Elements to Include in Your Contract

Once you’ve aligned on the terms, formalize everything in a contract to avoid misunderstandings and protect both parties. Here are the essentials to include:

• Deliverables: Clearly define what you will provide, such as media exposure, branding opportunities, or event access. List all the agreed-upon deliverables to ensure expectations are aligned.
• Timelines: Set specific deadlines for each phase of the sponsorship, including promotional activities, content delivery, and event dates. This keeps the partnership on track and avoids last-minute surprises.
• Metrics for Success: Agree on measurable goals that track the success of the sponsorship. These could include audience reach, media impressions, lead generation, or engagement metrics. Both parties should know how success will be evaluated.
• Payment Terms: Outline the payment structure, including amounts, due dates, and any flexibility offered, such as installment plans. Transparency here ensures smoother financial arrangements.
• Exit Clauses: Protect both sides by including clear termination terms. This could cover things like event cancellation, unforeseen circumstances, or non-performance issues, providing a safety net for both parties.

Being thorough during this step ensures both you and the sponsor are on the same page and sets the stage for a successful, long-term partnership. By addressing objections, staying flexible in negotiations, and formalizing everything in the contract, you build a partnership based on trust, value, and mutual success.

Step 6: Deliver on Your Promises

Delivering on your promises is essential to building lasting relationships with sponsors. This stage is where trust is solidified and future opportunities are created. Meeting (or exceeding) expectations ensures long-term partnerships and continued growth.

1. Execution and Fulfillment

To maintain credibility and deliver on your commitments:

• Project Management: Use tools like Asana or Trello to track deliverables and timelines, ensuring everything stays on schedule.
• Clear Communication: Keep sponsors updated with regular check-ins and progress reports to avoid misunderstandings.
• Flexibility: If challenges arise, adapt quickly and offer solutions that still meet the sponsor’s goals.
  

2. Proving Value and ROI

Proving the value of the sponsorship is key to securing future deals:

• Post-Sponsorship Reports: Provide data-driven insights (e.g., audience reach, media impressions, and engagement metrics) to demonstrate success.
• Tangible Results: Use metrics like lead generation or media coverage to show the direct impact on their business.
• Exceed Expectations: Whenever possible, deliver beyond the agreed-upon goals to leave a lasting impression.
  

3. Nurturing the Relationship

• Post-Event Check-In: Schedule a meeting to review results and discuss improvements for future partnerships.
• Continuous Engagement: Keep in touch with relevant industry insights and potential future opportunities to stay top of mind.

By delivering on your promises and proving value, you create the foundation for long-term partnerships and ongoing growth.

Step 7: Measure Success and Optimize

Once you’ve delivered on your promises, the final step is to measure success and continuously optimize for future sponsorship efforts. This step is critical in tracking performance, gathering insights, and refining your approach for better results over time. By analyzing data and sponsor feedback, you can strengthen your sponsorship strategies and position yourself as a valuable, long-term partner.

1. Key Metrics to Track 

To measure the effectiveness of your sponsorship efforts, focus on these essential metrics:

• Revenue: Track total sponsorship income, growth over time, and ROI for each deal. Understanding which sponsorship packages drive the most revenue helps optimize your offerings.
• Repeat Sponsorships: The number of sponsors that return is a clear indicator of satisfaction and long-term potential. High retention rates show that sponsors see value in continued partnerships.
• Engagement Metrics: Measure audience reach, media impressions, social media activity, and the overall impact on brand visibility. These metrics show sponsors how well their message resonated with your audience and can guide future improvements.
  

2. Gathering Feedback 

Collecting direct feedback from sponsors helps you refine your sponsorship packages and sales process:

• Sponsor Surveys: Regularly survey sponsors after the event or campaign. Ask about their overall experience, the effectiveness of deliverables, and the outcomes they achieved.
• Identify Pain Points: Look for common suggestions or areas where expectations weren’t fully met. Addressing these issues can enhance your sponsorship packages and make future deals more attractive.

Sponsor feedback not only helps you improve but also shows that you’re committed to evolving the partnership for mutual benefit.

3. Leveraging Data

Data is your most powerful asset for refining your sponsorship strategy. Use it to:

• Spot Trends: Identify patterns in which industries or sponsorship types generate the most interest or highest returns. This can guide you in targeting the most lucrative markets or tailoring packages to specific sponsor needs.
• Refine Sales Processes: Analyze your sales pipeline to pinpoint bottlenecks or stages where deals often stall. This insight helps streamline your approach and make it more efficient.
• Tailor Offerings: Based on past performance, adjust your packages to better align with sponsor priorities. For example, if sponsors in a specific industry see high engagement with digital content, expand your digital offerings in future pitches.

Get Ahead with Proactive Sponsorship Sales

To stay competitive and build lasting partnerships, proactive sponsorship sales are essential. From delivering on your promises to measuring success and optimizing your strategy, each step plays a vital role in driving sustainable growth. 

But staffing an in-house sponsorship team isn’t always feasible. You need results– a strong pipeline, strategic outreach, and effective partnerships—but without the time, budget, or resources required to scale internally.

That’s where Catapult comes in. 

At Catapult, we specialize in outsourced business development for agencies, media, adtech, and sponsorship sales. Our team of experts can help you build and manage your sponsorship pipeline without the overhead of hiring and training an internal team. We bring the tools, insights, and experience needed to generate leads, accelerate your sales process, and secure high-value sponsorships that align with your business goals. Contact us to learn more.

As agencies navigate uncertain economic conditions and shifting consumer behaviors, building a strong pipeline and closing new business has never been more challenging. Speculation about what business development will look like in the future adds pressure to forecast accurately—especially when ghosting at various stages in the process has become an all-too-common obstacle. Coupled with the scarcity of large-budget opportunities, it’s clear that the agency landscape demands new, creative approaches to stay competitive.

For many, outbound efforts are evolving beyond the traditional sales pitch. The focus now is on fostering genuine relationships and providing value without the hard sell, all while balancing tighter budgets and delivering effective strategies at scale. 

In this environment, attending industry events has never been more critical. These events offer fresh insights into the challenges we face and the tools to overcome them, helping agencies tap into solutions that support consistent pipeline growth.

With consumer confidence and spending power down, agencies must be smarter about where they invest their time and resources. This guide will help you navigate the top annual events tailored to agency leaders looking to improve their business development efforts, scale creative solutions, and make the most of what promises to be a transformative year.

Let’s take a look at the top events that can help you meet these challenges head-on.

2024 Agency Events at a Glance

Event Name	Best For	Date
Mirren AI Conference	Agency new business professionals, executives	February (Virtual)
4A’s Decisions 2024	Agency leaders, thought leaders across advertising, business, and technology	February (Los Angeles) & March (Kansas City)
AI & Your Agency Atlanta	Agency leaders	March (Atlanta)
AdAge A-List & Creativity Awards	Agency executives, creative leaders	April (NYC)
Mirren Live: New Business Conference	Agency management teams, senior client leads, operations heads, pitch teams	May (NYC & Virtual)
ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference	Agency CFOs, revenue leaders, marketing procurement professionals	May (Orlando, FL & Virtual)
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity	Agency executives, creative directors, business development teams	June (Cannes, France)
VidCon for Business	Agency marketers, brand strategists, content creators	August (Anaheim, CA)
ANA Masters of Measurement & Analytics	Agency data analysts, measurement experts, marketing executives	September (Chicago, IL & Virtual)
Digital Summit 2024	Agency marketing professionals	August (Minneapolis, MN)
Advertising Week New York	Agency marketers, business development teams	October (New York, NY)
ANA Masters of Marketing	Agency executives, CMOs, marketing leaders	October (Orlando, FL & Virtual)
Brandweek	Brand leaders, marketers, agency strategists	September (Phoenix, AZ)
Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit	Programmatic advertising specialists, media buyers	December (Nashville, TN)

2024 Q1 Agency Events: January – March

As the year begins, Q1 events offer a crucial chance for agencies to regroup, recharge, and refocus their strategies. These events are more than just an opportunity to network—they’re where agencies can find early solutions to the challenges that will shape the year, like building a sustainable pipeline and navigating an increasingly unpredictable business landscape.

Whether you’re looking to gain fresh insights on creative strategies or connect with potential partners, Q1 events provide a launchpad for the months ahead. Let’s explore what each of these key events has to offer:

1. Mirren AI Conference 

February, Virtual

For agency new business professionals and executives, the Mirren AI Conference is an essential event to attend in 2024. As AI continues to reshape industries, this virtual conference goes beyond the hype, delivering actionable insights into how generative AI can transform not just creative output but also agency operations, strategy, and profitability.

Featuring a lineup of industry leaders and advanced agencies already leveraging AI, attendees will learn practical use cases that can enhance everything from client services and creative development to back-end project management and workflow optimization. For agency executives focused on profitability and operational efficiency, the event highlights how AI can cut down on time-consuming tasks and deliver more value to clients without increasing overhead.

New business professionals, on the other hand, will walk away with a deeper understanding of how to position their agencies as innovative leaders, able to offer cutting-edge solutions that resonate with clients seeking both creative excellence and cost-effective approaches. This conference provides a competitive advantage by showing agencies how to incorporate AI into their processes to improve client outcomes, enhance strategy, and streamline operations—all critical components for winning and retaining business in today’s fast-changing market.

2.  4A’s Decisions 2024  

Los Angeles: February & Kansas City: March

The 4A’s Decision event offers agencies an opportunity to explore pragmatic approaches to building for sustained growth. By connecting with thought leaders across advertising, business, and technology, agency leaders can learn strategies to drive results. The event focuses on real-world approaches to building long-term success, ensuring attendees leave with practical solutions they can immediately implement.

One of the key benefits of attending is the chance to explore how to optimize content, community, and culture to fuel commerce. As audience engagement continues to evolve with the rise of AI, personalization, and automation, this event helps agency leaders re-examine their strategies in these areas. Attendees will learn how to better connect with their audiences, adapting to new technologies while maintaining meaningful interactions that drive business results.

In addition, the 4A’s Decision event provides a platform to hear from industry veterans about the shifting demands of clients. As agencies face increasing pressure to deliver more personalized, efficient, and impactful campaigns, this event offers valuable insights into navigating these challenges while identifying new business opportunities.

3. AI & Your Agency Atlanta 

March, Atlanta

AI & Your Agency is the perfect event for agencies ready to catch up on the AI revolution. In this two-day event, you’ll gain insights into how AI can transform both your operations and the services you provide. 

Held at The Garage in Atlanta, the event equips agency leaders with the knowledge to integrate AI into their strategies for a more efficient and innovative future. Whether you’re looking to optimize internal processes or enhance client offerings, this event is a valuable opportunity to future-proof your agency.

2024 Q2 Agency Events: April – June

As we move into Q2, the focus shifts from setting the foundation to executing the strategies that will drive mid-year growth. This is the time for agencies to fine-tune their goals, ensure their plans are on track, and adapt to the fast-evolving industry landscape. Q2 events are critical for staying ahead of key trends, learning about the latest innovations, and uncovering fresh opportunities for growth.

These events offer valuable insights and networking opportunities that help agencies recalibrate for success, ensuring they maintain momentum and stay competitive through the rest of the year.

1. AdAge A-List & Creativity Awards

April, NYC

Whether you’re submitting work for an award or simply attending for the invaluable networking, the Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards is a prime opportunity to stay on top of the industry’s most innovative campaigns. This prestigious event celebrates the bold leadership and creativity driving advertising forward, offering insights into standout work and trends that are shaping the future.

For agency executives, it’s not just about the accolades—it’s about connecting with industry leaders, discovering fresh creative approaches, and exploring how top agencies are positioning themselves for growth. With new categories like B2B and sports/entertainment agencies, 2024’s event is more relevant than ever, providing an insider’s view of where the industry is heading.

Whether you’re looking to elevate your agency’s creative game or simply make valuable connections, this event offers a unique blend of recognition and opportunity.

2. Mirren Live: New Business Conference 

May, NYC & Virtual

Mirren Live brings together over 60 of the industry’s top innovators across 30 sessions, all aimed at helping agencies build a more efficient, profitable, and future-ready growth engine. With a focus on fresh strategies, industry forecasts, and leveraging the latest technologies—especially AI—this conference is designed to help agencies streamline operations, drive new business acquisition, and foster organic growth.

Tailored for agency management teams, senior client leads, operations heads, and pitch teams, Mirren Live provides actionable insights into evolving industry dynamics and practical steps to accelerate growth. Attendees will have access to workshops that focus on sharpening new business pitches, developing stronger positioning strategies, and creating new capabilities to meet client demands.

Whether you’re looking to boost your agency’s competitiveness, refine your business development approach, or collaborate with other leading agencies, Mirren Live offers a unique blend of forward-thinking strategies and hands-on learning, making it a must-attend event for those shaping the future of their agency.

3. ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference 

May, Orlando, FL & Virtual

The ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference is the premier event for connecting marketing procurement and financial professionals with agency CFOs and revenue leaders. It offers a unique opportunity for deep networking and thought-provoking discussions on key financial topics like sustainability, supplier diversity, and effective financial management in today’s advertising landscape.

For agencies, this conference provides crucial insights into the financial dynamics of the industry, helping you optimize financial strategies, improve profitability, and gain a better understanding of the broader economic forces at play. With a mix of client-side and agency-side perspectives, attendees will walk away with actionable strategies to enhance revenue, streamline operations, and drive greater value for their organizations.

This event is ideal for agency professionals looking to elevate their financial acumen and collaborate with industry leaders to shape the future of financial management in advertising.

4. Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 

June, Cannes, France

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, held each June in Cannes, France, is a premier event for ad agencies worldwide. Known for its prestigious advertising awards, the festival celebrates creativity, effectiveness, and innovation across the global marketing and communications industries. 

While known for showcasing top creative work, it’s also a top-tier networking event where agencies can meet brands seeking creative partnerships and expand their client base.

For ad agencies, Cannes Lions offers a rare opportunity to gain insights from industry icons and connect with leaders from the world’s most innovative companies. It’s the perfect environment to elevate creativity, explore the latest industry trends, and foster relationships that can drive future growth.

2024 Q3 Agency Events: July – September

As agencies push through the year’s second half, Q3 presents a pivotal opportunity to fine-tune strategies and make critical adjustments. With mid-year plans already in motion, attending Q3 events allows agencies to stay agile, ensuring they remain competitive and responsive to emerging trends. This period is crucial for those looking to optimize their efforts, refine tactics, and position themselves for a strong year-end finish.

For agencies aiming to finish 2024 on a high note, Q3 is the time to recalibrate, capitalize on new opportunities, and set the stage for success in the final quarter.

1. VidCon for Business 

August, Anaheim, CA

This Anaheim event brings together the vibrant community of digital creators, brands, and marketers to explore the future of digital media. This year, VidCon Demand enables attendees to access sessions from both VidCon Anaheim and VidCon Baltimore, making it easier than ever to engage with the conference’s industry insights.

VidCon offers agencies the chance to learn about the latest video marketing trends and discover how to leverage content effectively to expand client bases. Networking opportunities allow agencies to connect with top creators and industry leaders, fostering collaborations that can ultimately elevate their overall strategies.

Celebrating its 13th annual show in 2024, which welcomed 55,000 attendees, VidCon is a top event to attend with its rich programming and extensive networking potential. 

2. Digital Summit 2024 

August, Minneapolis, MN 

Digital Summit is a top event for agencies looking to accelerate their growth. With workshops and seminars led by top marketing professionals, attendees receive tactical, practical, and strategic insights to sharpen their marketing skills and overall strategy. 

Whether you’re managing all aspects of a brand or specializing in one channel, Digital Summit offers the opportunity to dive deep into an array of topics. The event also prioritizes networking, providing a platform to connect with peers and explore career opportunities, making it an ideal space for agency professionals seeking growth and new connections.

3. ANA Masters of Measurement & Analytics 

September, Chicago, IL & Virtual 

With a lineup of forward-thinking marketers and researchers, this event showcases the latest tools and solutions driving business growth. Attendees have the opportunity to explore AI’s impact on measurement, evolving TV dynamics, audience insights, and outcome-based metrics.

Agencies looking to enhance their data-driven marketing strategies will without a doubt find value in this three-day conference. Sessions focused on leveraging tech and data for client acquisition and retention will provide actionable insights to help agencies stay competitive. The main goal of this event is to equip agency leaders with the knowledge needed to make informed, strategic decisions that fuel growth.

4. Brandweek 

September, Phoenix, AZ 

Brandweek is a premier event designed specifically for brand leaders, stewards, and enthusiasts within the advertising, marketing, and media industries. This event focuses on driving business growth by helping agencies develop distinctive brand identities for their clients, emphasizing the crucial link between branding and business success.

This event highlights the change and change makers who are redefining how brands fuel business success. Leveraging ADWEEK’s editorial expertise, Brandweek offers a rich program filled with sessions and discussions that inspire innovation and strategic thinking. 

2024 Q4 Agency Events: October – December

As the year winds down, Q4 events are essential for agencies looking to assess their performance and set the stage for a strong start in 2025. These events offer a prime opportunity to reflect on what worked, identify areas for improvement, and gain insights into the latest industry trends that will shape the upcoming year.

By attending Q4 events, agencies can connect with influential leaders, explore innovative solutions, and refine strategies that drive growth and strengthen client relationships. It’s the perfect time to gather fresh perspectives, recalibrate, and ensure your agency is well-positioned to hit the ground running in the new year.

1. Advertising Week New York 

October, New York, NY

Celebrating its 20th edition, Advertising Week New York 2024, from October 7-10, promises an expanded program in the vibrant heart of Manhattan. Held at The Penn District, this milestone event offers agencies an unparalleled blend of education and business opportunities, featuring thought-provoking panels, insightful talks, and high-value networking sessions that focus on the future of advertising.

With new themed zones, dedicated networking lounges, and community meetups, agencies can connect with potential clients and collaborators in meaningful ways. Industry leaders will share actionable sales and growth strategies, helping agencies refine their approaches and drive success in the evolving ad landscape.

Plus, with an expanded Great Minds Stage and exclusive VIP experiences, this year’s event is bigger and better, making it a must-attend for agencies looking to stay ahead of trends and build key relationships for 2025 and beyond.

2. ANA Masters of Marketing 

October, Orlando, FL & Virtual

The ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, featuring the Global CMO Growth Summit, is a premier event for ad agencies to attend in 2024. For its seventh consecutive year, this summit will unite CMOs from leading global brands to engage in structured networking and explore critical growth priorities. 

Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in deep dives into the marketing strategies that matter most, gaining insights into client needs and the actionable steps required to achieve specific outcomes in the coming year.

For ad agencies, attending this conference is an invaluable opportunity to connect with top marketing leaders who are actively seeking innovative solutions and partnerships. By gaining insights into client needs and effective marketing strategies, agencies can align their offerings with industry demands and build relationships that drive growth.

3. Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit 

December, Nashville, TN

The Digiday Summit is a must-attend event for agencies focused on programmatic advertising, offering insights into new strategies for driving ROI for clients. As the industry navigates changes following Google’s decision to postpone the phasing out of third-party cookies, this summit will dig deeper into key trends and innovative approaches that programmatic specialists need to adopt.

Key topics will include leveraging first-party data, harnessing AI and contextual targeting, prioritizing privacy through emerging technologies, adopting alternative identity solutions, and implementing fraud prevention measures. 

By participating in the Digiday Summit, agencies ensure their campaigns remain effective and compliant in the post-cookie era.

Conclusion: The Must-Attend Events for Agencies in 2024

Attending conferences, summits and workshops is one of the best ways to fully immerse your agency in relevant topics, acquire new skills, and learn from industry leaders. We hope this list serves as a guide for which events suit your team’s needs best. 

As you plan your conference schedule, focus on events that align with your specific growth goals in order to maximize ROI and drive meaningful results for your business. 

If you’re looking for additional channels of growth, reap the power of connections that Catapult can bring to your business. Our team works to grow your business in a strategic direction, and are ready to partner to navigate the complex new business development process together. 

Learn more about how we can help your agency grow today! 

As a marketing agency, you know you’re capable of delivering exceptional results for your clients. Yet, one of the biggest challenges is landing new contracts and expanding your client base. 

To secure new business, it’s essential to pitch your agency effectively, and that’s where a strong capabilities presentation comes in. A well-crafted agency capabilities deck not only highlights your unique services and expertise but also showcases how you can elevate a potential client’s business. 

It gives prospects a clear picture of what sets your agency apart and why you’re the right choice to meet their needs. Whether you’re meeting with a new client, delivering a pitch, or responding to an RFP, a capabilities deck is a vital tool for demonstrating your value and building trust. 

Not sure what to include? Let’s explore the key components that make a marketing capabilities presentation a successful sales tool.

What Is an Agency Capabilities Deck and Why Do You Need One?

An agency capabilities deck is a concise, strategic overview of your agency’s services, expertise, and proven success. It serves as the “north star” for showcasing what your agency can deliver, how you deliver it, and why potential clients should choose to work with you. 

By summarizing your key offerings and highlighting relevant case studies, it provides a clear picture of your strengths and positions your agency as the ideal partner to address client needs and drive results.

Why Are Agency Capabilities Deck Important?

When executed well, a capabilities presentation can offer a significant competitive edge. However, if not crafted carefully, it can come across as a lengthy, uninspiring sales pitch that’s easy for prospects to overlook. 

Having a strong agency capes deck provides your agency the opportunity to:

1. Gain Credibility 

By presenting a well-crafted capabilities deck, you not only showcase your expertise and services but also demonstrate your commitment to transparency and client success. Trust forms the foundation of any effective partnership, and when clients see that you prioritize their needs and understand their challenges, they are more likely to engage and invest in a long-term relationship.

2. Differentiate Your Agency  

A clear and concise presentation not only reinforces your credibility but also emphasizes the client-focused benefits you offer. In a crowded marketplace where many agencies claim similar capabilities, your presentation showcases your unique approach and proven track record, making it clear why potential clients should choose you over the competition.

3. Prove You Can Solve the CMOs Greatest Challenges

Addressing prospect pain points is a crucial step in demonstrating your commitment to solving their challenges. Explain why your agency is well-equipped to deliver the ideal solution, focusing on how your expertise aligns with their specific challenges, rather than making the conversation solely about your agency. This client-centered approach fosters trust and positions you as a valuable partner in their success.

When to Use (And Not Use) An Agency Capabilities Presentation

A capabilities presentation can be a powerful tool in winning new business, but it’s not something to be used indiscriminately. Knowing when to present your agency’s capabilities—and when to hold back—can be the difference between engaging a prospect and overwhelming them with unnecessary information. By understanding the appropriate context for using your capabilities deck, and customizing it for each scenario, you ensure that your presentation resonates, adds value, and positions your agency as the ideal solution for the client’s specific needs.

When to Use an Agency Capabilities Presentation

• Formal RFP Responses: Responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) or competing in a pitch? A capabilities presentation gives you the opportunity to present a well-rounded view of your agency. However, this is where customization is critical—address the client’s specific goals and pain points to stand out. A generic pitch won’t win the day in competitive scenarios.
• Networking or Industry Events: For shorter, more general settings like events or conferences, your capabilities presentation needs some customization. Focus on how your agency’s offerings align with industry trends or the particular needs of the event audience, providing a brief yet compelling overview.
• New Business Opportunities: When approaching new prospects, customize your presentation to highlight how your agency can meet their distinct needs. Generic overviews are not as effective as capabilities decks that focus on a specific solution your agency can bring to the table, backed up by relevant case studies.

When Not to Use an Agency Capabilities Presentation

• Established Client Relationships: With long-term clients, you don’t need to present your overall capabilities—they’re already familiar with your strengths. Instead, focus on tailored solutions for their ongoing or future needs. Here, customization means shifting from broad capabilities to specific, solution-driven discussions.
• When You Haven’t Done Your Research: If you don’t fully understand the prospect’s business or pain points, skip the presentation for now. A generic capabilities presentation can do more harm than good. Do the research, understand their unique needs, and then customize your presentation to directly address their challenges.
• Early Casual Conversations: In discovery calls or informal discussions, jumping into a full presentation can feel too scripted. Customize your conversation by asking questions and gaining insight before showing a customized deck later. Let the conversation guide how much of your capabilities you reveal.

8 Components That Make a Great Agency Capabilities Deck

A capabilities deck is more than just a showcase of your agency’s work—it’s your chance to communicate your unique value, expertise and approach in a way that resonates with your audience. A great capabilities presentation goes beyond listing services; it tells a compelling story that connects your agency’s strengths with the specific needs of the client. It’s about making your agency memorable and giving the client confidence that you’re the right partner to help them achieve their goals. 

Let’s dive into the essential elements that transform a standard capabilities presentation into a powerful tool for winning business.

1. Clear Value Proposition 

With thousands of agencies to choose from, what makes yours different from the rest? 

Once your potential client has a basic understanding of who you are and what your agency offers, it’s time to shift your focus to their specific needs and how you can address their challenges.

2. Tailored Approach 

To customize your presentation for a prospect, start by researching their business and industry challenges, which helps tailor your message. Engage them with questions to foster discussion, and present metrics that highlight your success in similar contexts, building credibility and showing the potential impact of your services.

3. Proven Expertise

Nothing demonstrates your point more effectively than a real-life example. Share a success story that illustrates how you’ve helped a client similar to them achieve their goals through your unique approach. Including evidence such as quotes and metrics enhances your credibility and strengthens your case.

4. Services Overview 

Start your services overview with a brief introduction to your agency, highlighting who you are and the range of services you offer. This initial context helps build rapport without making your agency the sole focus of the presentation. 

Provide just enough information to give the potential client a clear understanding of your expertise and capabilities, ensuring that the emphasis remains on how your services can address their specific needs and challenges.

5. Measurable Results 

As you explain why your company is the ideal fit for the client’s needs, incorporate testimonials and case studies from previous clients with similar requirements. Present clear, easy-to-understand data that illustrates the value you provided and its positive impact on their bottom line.

By presenting hard data and metrics, you can effectively showcase the ROI you’ve delivered for past clients, providing potential clients with tangible proof of your ability to drive results. 

6. Visual Appeal

According to research, 100% of people think a presentation slide should include visuals, and people prefer that about one quarter of the slide be composed of text at most.

A visually engaging design, characterized by professional aesthetics, minimal text, and impactful imagery, helps capture and maintain the audience’s attention. This approach not only enhances understanding but also reinforces your message, making it more memorable.

7. Strategic Process

You don’t need to reveal all the secrets behind the curtain, but providing insight into your process fosters trust and authenticity, ultimately helping prospects in their decision-making. 

Outline your business processes so they can visualize the experience of working with you. Highlight any unique aspects of your process that differentiate you from the competition. By doing so, you not only build confidence but also demonstrate your commitment to transparency.

8. Client Testimonials

72% of customers trust a business more after reading positive reviews and testimonials. Client testimonials are a powerful addition to your deck, offering genuine proof of your agency’s success. By featuring quotes or video testimonials from past clients, you build trust and authority, showcasing tangible results that resonate with potential clients. Here’s a few tips to encourage more referrals and testimonials for your agency.

How to Structure Your Agency Capabilities Deck

Now that we’ve explored the key components of an effective agency capabilities deck, it’s essential to understand how to structure your presentation for maximum impact. By thoughtfully arranging your content, you can effectively highlight your strengths, address client needs, and create a compelling case for why your agency is the right choice.

1. Introduction and Value Proposition 

Provide a brief refresher on who you are, highlighting your years in business and the qualifications of your team, which serve as easy wins to establish credibility. This initial overview should reinforce your expertise while emphasizing the client-focused benefits, ensuring that the prospect understands why engaging with your agency is a worthwhile opportunity.

2. Client Pain Points 

Focusing too much on your agency can lead to an awkward dynamic, where the prospect feels sidelined. By recognizing their specific needs early in the presentation, you demonstrate that you value their concerns and have tailored your approach accordingly. 

Since they are already familiar with your agency from their research, discussing their pain points reinforces your relevance and sets the stage for how you can effectively address their challenges.

3. Core Capabilities and Services 

Highlighting core capabilities and services is the perfect opportunity to ensure alignment with the prospect’s needs. When presenting your core capabilities and services, organize them logically to create a clear narrative that aligns with the prospect’s needs. 

Focus on highlighting areas of expertise that are directly relevant to the client, ensuring they can easily see how your offerings can address their specific challenges.

4. Case Studies and Proof Points 

By showcasing real-life examples of how you’ve solved challenges for past clients, you help potential clients visualize the outcomes they can expect. When presenting case studies, be sure to include specific details such as the strategies you developed, any brand audits conducted, and key metrics of success—numbers that illustrate the impact of your work. 

Highlight any substantial growth the company experienced as a result of your efforts. The more evidence you provide, including client quotes and measurable outcomes, the stronger your case will be. 

5. Process Overview 

Demonstrating your process helps manage expectations about what collaboration will entail. In your process overview, clearly outline your unique approach to delivering results by breaking it down into simple, digestible steps. 

This structured format helps potential clients understand how you navigate projects from start to finish, highlighting the thoughtfulness and strategy behind each phase. By simplifying your process, you make it easier for clients to visualize their journey with your agency.

6. Results and Metrics 

Let your numbers do the talking. Include specific examples such as percentage increases in sales, improved conversion rates, or reductions in costs. By providing these concrete metrics, you not only demonstrate your agency’s effectiveness but also help potential clients envision the tangible benefits they can expect from your partnership.

7. Call to Action 

Finally, outline the next steps for collaborating with your agency. This may involve sharing details about your onboarding process or explaining the decision-making timeline on their side. 

Ensure that everyone involved in the meeting understands these steps to keep the momentum going, and establish an actionable timeline for all stakeholders. Clarity at this stage is crucial for facilitating a smooth transition and moving forward.

Crafting a Compelling Agency Capabilities Deck to Win Clients

Key components of a successful capabilities deck include a clear value proposition, a tailored approach to addressing client needs, proven expertise through relevant case studies, and measurable results that demonstrate your impact. By organizing your presentation logically and incorporating visual appeal, you create an engaging experience that resonates with prospects.

Ultimately, a well-structured capabilities presentation equips you to confidently showcase your strengths, address client pain points, and outline a collaborative path forward, making it a vital tool for any marketing agency looking to expand its client base.

If you’re looking to elevate your agency’s business development strategy, but find yourself with little to no time for securing new clients, that’s where Catapult comes in. We identify and engage potential clients, ultimately finding new business wins – let’s talk about how our team can help your agency grow! 

When it comes to growing your business and hitting sales targets, the conversation often revolves around lead generation—getting potential clients into the pipeline. But here’s the thing: lead generation can’t exist in a vacuum. Without demand generation—strategic marketing efforts to create awareness and interest—your leads will dry up fast. 

Marketing doesn’t just help get your name out there; it fuels your entire sales process. From building credibility through blogs and social media to having an impressive website and creating compelling sales collateral. Demand generation and lead generation go hand in hand. The real question isn’t which one you need—it’s how well these two critical components are working together to drive your sales.

Let’s dive into the difference between demand generation and lead generation—and why you need both to fuel sustained growth.

Understanding Demand Generation

Demand generation is the strategic marketing function focused on creating awareness and interest—or “demand”—for your services. Its core purpose is to engage your target audience with valuable, educational content that sparks curiosity and gets prospects to “raise their hands” and reach out for more information.

Rather than pushing a hard sell, demand generation nurtures relationships at every stage of the customer journey. It’s designed to build trust and familiarity with your brand, making it more likely that prospects will convert into high-quality leads. In fact, leads converting from demand generation efforts tend to have higher conversion rates because they’re typically more informed and engaged than those generated through traditional outbound sales efforts. By the time they reach your sales team, these prospects already know, like, and trust your brand, making them more likely to close.

Demand generation operates at the early stages of the sales cycle, using a mix of tactics and channels to reach and engage potential customers:

• Organic social media
• Paid social media
• Email
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Earned media (e.g., PR, influencer mentions)
• Paid media (e.g., ads, sponsored content)

The goal is to get your brand in front of the right audience and create a steady stream of inbound interest. Once a prospect engages, it’s the sales team’s job to convert them into customers. But because demand generation leads are already warmed up with brand knowledge, they’re far more likely to buy and even refer your services to others.

Understanding Lead Generation

While demand generation is about attracting prospects to your business, lead generation takes a more proactive, outbound approach. It’s the “boots on the ground” strategy, where a dedicated team or individual actively seeks out potential customers and initiates contact. Lead generation requires focused effort to build targeted lists, conduct ongoing outreach, and engage prospects directly. Instead of waiting for prospects to come to you, lead generation is all about going out and finding them.

Key areas of lead generation include: 

1. Targeting ideal clients

The first step is identifying your ideal customers—those who are most likely to need or benefit from your products or services. This involves understanding their needs, pain points, and industry, and then crafting a tailored approach to engage them.

2. Cold calling/emailing

This is the traditional backbone of outbound lead generation. Reaching out to potential customers via phone or email introduces them to your business and opens the door to further conversations. It’s not just about volume; it’s about crafting messages that resonate and capture the attention of your ideal prospects.

3. Networking

Industry events, trade shows, and professional gatherings are goldmines for lead generation. Face-to-face interactions allow for personal connection and relationship-building, which can significantly increase the likelihood of converting prospects into leads.

4. Sales pitches and presentations

Tailored presentations and sales pitches are often necessary to convert high-value leads. Whether over the phone, in person, or via video call, the goal is to showcase the value of your offerings in a way that speaks directly to the prospect’s needs.

5. Market expansion

Sometimes, finding new leads requires exploring new markets or sectors where your business can expand. Lead generation often involves researching and identifying untapped opportunities, whether geographically or within new industries.

6. Partnership development

Building relationships with other businesses can lead to mutual benefit, creating opportunities for referrals, co-marketing initiatives, or joint ventures. Strategic partnerships can become a powerful lead source when both parties are aligned.

The goal of outbound lead generation is to expand your business’s reach, keep your pipeline full, and increase sales. This approach is especially effective when paired with demand generation efforts, ensuring your team has a pipeline of warm, informed leads ready to be engaged.

Why You Need Both: The Synergy Between Demand Generation and Lead Generation

Demand generation and lead generation are two sides of the same coin. While they have distinct functions, they work together to fuel a complete business development strategy. Relying solely on one over the other can leave gaps in your pipeline, but when they operate in harmony, they create a powerful synergy that drives sustainable growth. Here’s why you need both:

1. Building awareness vs. capturing interest 

Demand generation creates the awareness and interest necessary to prime your audience. It’s the top-of-funnel activity that ensures your target market knows who you are, what you offer, and why they should care. On the other hand, lead generation captures that interest and turns it into actionable opportunities for your sales team. Without demand generation, your outreach efforts will likely fall flat as potential customers won’t know who you are or trust your brand. Without lead generation, the awareness you’ve created will struggle to convert into tangible business outcomes.

2. Long-term brand building vs. immediate engagement

Demand generation focuses on long-term brand building. It’s about creating a consistent presence in the minds of your audience, nurturing them over time with valuable content and engagement. Lead generation, meanwhile, provides short-term wins by identifying prospects who are ready to engage now. Combining the two ensures you’re not only building a pipeline for the future but also securing opportunities in the present.

3. Warm vs. cold prospects 

When demand generation is working effectively, it warms up your prospects before they enter the lead generation phase. By the time your sales team reaches out, prospects are already familiar with your brand, your value proposition, and are more likely to be receptive to further conversation. This reduces the time and effort spent on cold leads and improves conversion rates, as you’re now talking to a more educated and interested audience.

4. Efficient sales process 

An aligned demand and lead generation strategy streamlines your sales process. Demand generation ensures that the leads coming into your funnel are high quality—meaning they have a genuine interest in what you offer. Lead generation then takes these warm leads and drives them toward action. This reduces wasted time on unqualified leads and allows your sales team to focus their efforts where it matters most: on prospects that are already primed to buy.

5. Fueling consistent growth

A healthy business development strategy needs both consistent inbound interest and targeted outbound efforts. Demand generation feeds the top of your funnel with a steady stream of interested prospects, while lead generation actively pushes qualified prospects through the sales pipeline. Together, they ensure that your funnel remains full and that opportunities are constantly moving forward.

Building a Well Oiled Business Development Arm

The debate between demand gen and lead gen isn’t about choosing one over the other, but rather understanding their complementary roles in a successful business development function. While lead gen focuses on capturing individual leads, demand gen creates broader brand awareness and engages prospects at every stage. 

By integrating both, companies can take a more holistic approach to marketing that maximizes engagement and ultimately drives higher conversion rates. The challenge isn’t just recognizing the importance of both demand gen and lead gen – it’s about executing them effectively. 

Many companies find themselves lacking internal resources or struggling to align these critical functions. That’s where Catapult steps in. We’re not just about managing demand gen and lead gen – we’re about ensuring their seamless alignment and success. If you’re ready to propel your business forward, let’s build a unique growth plan for your company!

Time kills deals.

Every new business person feels this statement in their bones. They all walk a fine line of pushing to get a new client on board while remaining patient. Most hate to be considered pushy. Given the current state and trajectory of the market though, prospects are going to ask for and take extra time to think and decide before taking action on signing a new agency. In fact, what we have seen in the past and are already seeing this summer is a change in how buyers make decisions.

Slower decision-making does not need to slow down your sales process

With budgets being reconsidered, revenue projections changing, and more scrutiny around every dollar spent, it’s no surprise why the buying process for services is slowing down. In a recent study by Forrester, they found that 43% of business buyers said they would “reduce the number of suppliers they use.” This stat should give any salesperson a bit of a pause, both anxiety over churn and excitement for opportunity. So what does this mean for you and your agency?

It means that you must be thoughtful in engaging prospects and clients. The process will take longer, so you need to be prepared for that mentally and with your own processes. It also means that you can’t just rely on one key touchpoint or interaction. You need to create a process and system that will keep you in front of your prospects, even if they aren’t ready to buy today.

Supporting their buying journey

The best way to do this is by helping and providing value in every interaction. Whether that’s sending them an article you think they would find interesting, or sending them a point-of-view (POV) on an industry trend, make sure that your interactions are about them and not just about trying to make a sale.

New Business people also need to be ready to ask the tough questions about their prospect’s buying process. It can sometimes be an awkward conversation, but the way people have signed an agreement in the past with a small group or single decision-maker is probably not going to be the case in the current market.

Here are some questions all should ask before you get too deep in the sales process:

• How has your buying process changed over the last 60 days?
• Who should we include in a review of these proposals?
• Is there any customization I can provide on your Statement of Work (SOW) or Proposal that will better help you sell this to your team?

The key behind these questions is to make sure you are coming along the same side of the table as them to help them better understand, represent, and sell your service to the rest of their team. You don’t want to give the impression that you are bypassing them as the decision-maker. Instead, you want to help them come prepared to sell this to the collective buying group. By being prepared for a longer sales process, better understanding their decision process, and by being helpful and consultative at every interaction, you will be in a much better position to win new business…even in an uncertain market.

We heard a lot of things this year at the Mirren New Business Conference. Aside from all of the excitement and thankful words about being at a conference in person, there were some very consistent (and important!) messages being sent from the myriad of expert speakers about new business strategies to grow your revenue this year. 

Here were some of the key new business strategies we enjoyed this year:

Pacing outbound sales efforts

Outbound sales takes time. If you want to build a proactive pipeline of opportunities that you have the highest likelihood to win you’ll need to treat this like a marathon, not a sprint. If you are looking at new business in 3-month segments, you aren’t ready for a new business program. You should be viewing new business in 18-month plans. Agencies that have been really successful have built their process and plans around this 18-month timeframe. Remember, planting a garden on Monday doesn’t feed your family on Tuesday, so continue to tend your garden, expand it, and in time you will reap the rewards.

Recruiting top talent

New Business is key to retaining and recruiting talent. During the Great Resignation, what could be more important than finding great talent to work at your firm?  Driving positive, exciting new business will not only help your revenue and bottom line, but it will help ensure that people actually want to build their careers with your team.

Diversifying your client base

Q1 and Q2 have been slower for many, and you are not alone in feeling like inbound pitches have slowed from what we all saw in 2021. While we have seen reports that brands continue to plan to spend more in the 2nd half of 2022, many have felt the crunch of stalled projects and reduced scopes. It’s time to further diversify your client base to protect against these forces.

Expanding work with your current client base

Organic growth can be proactive as well. You don’t have to wait until a client tells you they need more, you can help them find new solutions that expand on your scope of work. The agencies that really separate themselves from the pack are the ones that not only win a piece of business, but they consistently grow that piece of business throughout the years.

Staying in front of your prospects

“Brands are always looking, but you never know when they are actually looking”. A confusing sentence to be sure, but the point is, you always have to be there if you want a brand to find you. There are no days off when it comes to new business and keeping your agency in front of the brands that you most want to connect with.

Building your lead gen engine

There are a lot of channels for growth, outbound does not work alone. Inbound can define who you are because in order to have an effective inbound program you have to create specific, valuable, expert content that will attract the exact types of prospects that you want to work with.

Acing the discovery call

The objective of your new business call is not to sell your prospects, but simply to learn enough to get to the next meeting. People want to work with people they like, and what people like are people who listen to them and understand their problems.  Two ears – one mouth…use that ratio when deciding whether you talk or listen at that first new business call.

Taking on project work

Be willing to earn the right to the retainer…many agencies want to jump right into the marriage, they want the Agency of Record (AOR) and retainer relationships, but there are many brands that just don’t have those needs immediately. Allow yourself to be open to projects that can organically grow into those retainers in the future.

 

These are just some of the highlights from Mirren Live in Kansas City this year. While Catapult has always been at the forefront of proactive new business strategies, it was exciting to hear agency experts of all sizes continue to reinforce the value that proactive sales can offer to agencies. Want to continue learning more about proactive new business development? Join Catapult’s email subscription Insights with Catapult to receive monthly content like this one. 

It’s no secret; the business development process is grueling.  Even Digiday reported in an article earlier this year, “‘Never not on a pitch’: Staffers feel burnout amid agency pressure to pitch new business with fewer resources.” Staffers are, now more than ever, constantly pressured to pitch new business with fewer resources. All of this pitching is leading to one inevitable place… burnout. Agency new business has never been more competitive and things won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

How can agencies avoid this burnout and grow?

The answer in many cases is simple: be more selective. Easier said than done, right? To be more selective, you first need to clearly define who you want to work with. This means being very strict about who you absolutely do not want to work with.

Prioritize your pitchable brands by:

• Choosing those within your agency’s Right to Win.*
• Ensuring there is a passion for the brand (vertical, consumer type, etc).
• Knowing which services and scopes are actually profitable.
• Finding scopes that matches your expertise.

*What do I mean by Right to Win?
If you can say that there is a “right to win” then you can prove it through case studies and past work examples. When you show prospects this, they will want to work with you just as much as you want to work with them.

Stay Out of the Waiting-On-The-RFP Game

If an RFP comes across your desk that doesn’t fit within these parameters, leave it alone. I know it’s hard to turn away from a potential payday, especially when a feeling of uncertainty surrounds your new business pipeline, but you can be risking profitability or employee churn by putting your teams on projects they aren’t passionate about. Once you have set these parameters, do not stray! Agency new business is a lot like dating. If you know what you’re looking for, you’re more likely to find it, so stay out of the waiting-on-the-RFP game and get into the proactive biz dev game.

Just like in your personal life, being proactive vs. reactive will always lead to better results. Get out there and start hunting for new prospects that fit your agency’s Right to Win. Utilize email, social, and resurgence of in-person events to connect with those brands that you are most passionate about and focus on planting the right seeds of growth with them. 

They may not be a quick fix for cash that some of these ill-fitting RFPs may inject, but what they will do is set your team up for long-term business development success. Happy employees lead to happy clients, and eventually more rewarding work for your agency.

 

So there you have it. A few tips to avoid pitch burnout and set your agency up for new business success. Agency new business is a process, but if you’re strategic about it, the right clients will partner with you when you need them most.

We’re rounding out 2022 new business trends with a focus on Experimental Budgets. Those elusive and magical dollars are set aside to try new things and open new channels for brands.

We know that marketers’ budgets for testing are continually increasing, but now more than ever is a time when these budgets are no longer afterthoughts. The Pandemic’s disruption colliding with a huge diversification of media and an acceleration of new consumer behaviors means that marketers are having to try new things and look for new creative avenues and media channels to put their budgets. They are doing this too with full knowledge that a large portion of these budgets may not get them a Return on Investment (ROI) immediately.  

Skip the Procurement Approval Process

The ROI conversation is a big one because when you are in a testing mindset, as these brands are, you are willing to look at ROI differently in order to evaluate a campaign more holistically. Rather than just “did sales increase?”, marketers are exploring how else these campaigns may affect the brand image/recognition as a whole. This open-mindedness opens new opportunities for an agency to get their foot in the door.

We have seen this play out over the past 12 months in a number of ways. Recently, one of Catapult’s clients was speaking with a direct-to-consumer mattress company about their 2022 growth goals. They had already set their performance marketing budgets for the year, but what they set aside was $150k/month to try new channels. Because they already have these dollars budgeted, the marketers themselves can sign off on new partners without having to go through the typical CMO/procurement approval process, saving a massive amount of time and energy for our agencies. While $80k may not be a huge initial project, that is a monthly budget, so the calculus is that the program you are running is going to be fantastic and you are going to be able to continue all year – totaling closer to an overall $1 million client.

What the Data Tells Us

If these budgets are easier to get signoff, how do we know they are out there happening at an increased rate? We looked at the data. In 2021, we looked at the number of new agency relationships added to the Winmo database vs agency relationships ended in the database. You would expect these to be close to a 1:1 ratio if you assume these are retainer relationships, one agency wins a new piece of business, and as such another loses. 1 new win, 1 new loss. What we actually saw though was that new relationships happened at double the pace of ending relationships. Essentially, brands are hiring more agencies for projects and experimental work at an increasingly fast pace.

Further evidence to this was looking at our select group of over 50 agencies within the Catapult group and we found that 72% of our agencies’ new work started last year was in the form of an initial project, not a retainer. There are certainly retainers out there to be had and won (and increasing RFPs back that up), but the quicker decisions being made by marketers right now in mass are those with a project background.

We aren’t saying that you only consider project work moving forward. What we are saying is that when you go into an initial fact-finding call with a new brand, be aware of these experimental budgets and keep it in the back of your mind as they talk about opportunities that do or do not exist currently. While they may not be out there searching for a new Agency of Record, we are sure they are looking to find a new way to break through to different audiences and there is money to be spent.