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!

In the fast-paced world of adtech, speed to market can make or break a company’s success. As an adtech company, you may have the most innovative product, a deep understanding of market needs, and a clear vision for growth. But without a dedicated team to drive new business, your go-to-market strategy could falter before it even begins.

Why Outsource New Business?

Outsourcing new business efforts isn’t just a stopgap measure—it’s a strategic decision that allows you to focus on what you do best while leveraging the expertise of specialists who know how to penetrate the market quickly and effectively. Here’s why outsourcing new business has been a game-changer according to several firms we’ve worked with:

1. Expertise Without the Overhead

Building an in-house sales and business development team is time-consuming and expensive. From recruiting to training, the costs can quickly add up, diverting valuable resources from other critical areas of your business. By outsourcing, you gain immediate access to a team of seasoned professionals who bring a wealth of experience in navigating the complex adtech landscape.

2. Faster Time to Market

In the competitive adtech industry, timing is everything. Outsourced firms are equipped with the tools, processes, and connections to hit the ground running. They can quickly identify and engage key decision-makers, accelerate your sales cycle, and get your product in front of potential clients faster than an in-house team that’s still finding its footing.

3. Scalability and Flexibility

As your business grows, your needs will change. An outsourced new business firm offers the flexibility to scale efforts up or down based on your current objectives. Whether you’re launching a new product, entering a new market, or doubling down on an existing strategy, your outsourced partner can adjust their approach to meet your needs without the challenges of hiring or downsizing staff.

4. Focus on Core Competencies

Your team’s expertise lies in developing cutting-edge adtech solutions—not in managing the intricacies of business development. By outsourcing new business efforts, your internal team can focus on innovation and product development while your external partner takes care of generating leads, building relationships, and closing deals.

5. Data-Driven Insights

Outsourced new business firms bring a data-driven approach to sales and marketing. They leverage advanced analytics and CRM systems to track every interaction, providing you with valuable insights into what’s working and where adjustments are needed. This level of visibility allows you to make informed decisions and refine your go-to-market strategy for maximum impact.

Choosing the Right Partner

Not all outsourced firms are created equal, so it’s essential to choose a partner who understands the adtech industry and aligns with your company’s goals. Look for firms with a proven track record of success in your sector, a deep understanding of your target market, and a commitment to transparency and collaboration.

Outsourcing new business efforts isn’t just a practical solution for adtech companies lacking internal resources—it’s a strategic path to accelerated growth. By partnering with an experienced firm, you can go to market faster, scale efficiently, and stay focused on what you do best: driving innovation in adtech.

If you made it this far, Catapult offers a complimentary consultation to determine if outsourcing is right for your business. It’s not right for everyone, but Catapult can help you weigh the pros and cons.

From figuring out this whole AI thing, keeping up with the ever-growing demand for integrated tools and strategies, and the big one, consistently adding value to our client relationships– there are a variety of areas sellers need to navigate in the new year to remain competitive.  

That’s where this blog comes in – think of it as your friendly guide to help you prepare to navigate what’s on the horizon in 2024. We’ll dive into the trends that are reshaping our industry, like understanding why brands might be breaking up with agencies more often, and how the rise of AI in marketing is changing the game. 

What to Expect from Brand Marketers in 2024

1. Brands Will Be Replacing More Agency Partners 

A new marketing relationship survey indicates that a rising number of brands are unsatisfied with their existing agency partners.The report indicates that 55% of brand marketers who responded are considering a change of agency within the next six months. Why? According the the survey, top reasons including:

• Dissatisfaction with value: Brands are increasingly dissatisfied with the value provided by their current agencies. This dissatisfaction is a primary factor driving brands to consider changing their agency partners.
  
• Issues with delivery: Brands are also unhappy with the delivery of services by their agencies. This includes aspects like the timeliness, quality, and effectiveness of the services provided.

• Agency-client disparities: There is a significant disparity between the perceptions of brands and agencies regarding the reasons for ending agency-client relationships. While brands cite dissatisfaction with value and delivery as top reasons, agencies underestimate these factors.

• Changes in strategic needs: While agencies are recognized for bringing strong strategies, they are perceived as overcharging for their services. Brands are seeking partners who can offer both strategic excellence and cost-effectiveness.

• Chemistry and professionalism: For brands looking to select a new agency partner, chemistry and professionalism have emerged as important aspects. This indicates a need for agencies to align more closely with the culture and values of their clients.

• Demand for specific services: There is an increased demand for specific services like content creation and video production, suggesting that brands are looking for agencies with particular capabilities in these areas.

2. Acquisitions and Consolidation Will Increase Pressure

Boutique and niche service offerings might run into a bit of more competition going into the new year as agency holding companies continue their acquisition spending sprees. This gobbling up of the market share has been inspired by a multitude of factors, including:

• Client demand for integrated services: The consolidation trend is largely driven by client demands for integrated, simplified service offerings. Agencies are responding by creating larger, more comprehensive entities that can offer a range of services under one roof, making them more attractive and efficient partners for brands.

• AI and tech integration: Agencies are heavily investing in AI and technology, focusing on measurement and insights. This trend is driven by advertisers’ demands for more robust analytics and validation of their campaigns’ effectiveness. Major acquisitions, such as Omnicom’s purchase of Flywheel and Stagwell’s acquisition of Left Field Labs, emphasize the growing importance of digital commerce solutions and AI in marketing.

• Influencer and social marketing emphasis: There’s a notable shift towards integrating influencer and social marketing capabilities. With the influencer market and social media spending growing rapidly, major holding companies are acquiring specialized agencies in this area. These acquisitions, such as WPP’s purchase of Goat and Stagwell’s acquisition of Movers+Shakers, show that a strong social and influencer presence is essential for modern advertising campaigns.

• Streamlined financials and full-service models: Brands are demanding more streamlined, integrated agency models. This has led to mergers aimed at simplifying structures and offering comprehensive services. Examples include WPP combining VML, Y&R, and Wunderman Thompson into VML, and M&C Saatchi’s restructure to combine multiple subsidiaries. This consolidation aims to make agencies more appealing and easier to work with for large clients.

• Increased focus on detailed reporting and campaign measurement: Recent acquisitions indicate a future trend where advertisers will demand more detailed reporting and precise campaign measurement. The emphasis is shifting from creative novelty to data-driven insights and analytics.

• Adaptation to the creator economy: The integration of influencer and social marketing arms within agencies reflects an adaptation to the creator economy. This approach allows brands to engage with audiences in more authentic and creative ways, leveraging the influence of social media personalities and platforms.
  

3. More Project Work, Less Traditional Pitches 

In 2024, we anticipate that more and more brands will be leaning toward more project-based work and run fewer traditional agency searches. We have several reasons for this prediction:

• The cost of a pitch is upwards of $1M with brands footing most of the bill 
• In 2023, agency pitches brought in 35% less revenue Y/Y
• Continued economic uncertainty 

Going into 2024, brand marketers are being asked to do more with less spend. These stats coupled with the increasing amount of resources like Wripple, that make it easy for them to get matched with agencies who can quickly start executing on projects, makes us believe that in the new year, many brands will ditch the traditional pitch and look for faster means of completing project-based initiatives. 

4. The AI Revolution Will Continue to Grow

Marketers will continue to focus on leveraging AI in 2024 due to its transformative impact on various aspects of marketing. Primary areas of focus will include hyper-personalization, content creation, and predictive analytics. This will enable marketers to create highly targeted and personalized campaigns by analyzing vast amounts of data, thus offering customer experiences at an unprecedented scale.

The challenge will be balancing this personalization with consumer privacy concerns. AI’s integration into marketing and technology software will impact all facets of marketing, offering both opportunities and challenges. Marketers will search for solutions that help them maintain content authenticity and originality. 

AI’s role in predictive analytics will also be significant, aiding marketers in foreseeing market trends and consumer behavior. Overall, the integration of AI is expected to drive marketing towards more efficient, responsive, and customer-centric approaches.

What These Trends Mean For Sellers in 2024

With these expected trends, ad tech sellers, sponsorship sellers, and ad agencies need to focus on aligning closely with client needs, specializing in high-demand services, adapting to market consolidation, leveraging AI and technology, and being flexible and responsive to project-based work demands. This presents several areas for new business leaders to focus on in the new year:

1. Consistently Add Maximum Value

Acquiring a new client costs 5x more than retaining an existing one. To ensure you’re not one of the agencies on the chopping block, take a look at your existing accounts to ensure your team is offering as much value as possible to secure the relationship for the long-haul. A few ways to do this include:

• Develop customized solutions: Move beyond generic service offerings. Tailor your strategies and solutions specifically to each client’s unique needs and business goals. Show that you understand their specific market challenges and opportunities.

• Have a results-driven approach: Focus on delivering measurable results. Utilize data analytics to track campaign performance and make data-driven decisions. This approach will demonstrate your commitment to achieving tangible outcomes for your clients.

• Have regular communication and transparency: Establish a clear and consistent line of communication. Regularly update clients on progress, challenges, and successes. Transparency in your operations builds trust and shows your commitment to their success.

• Always educate and inform: Build a culture that prides themselves on going the extra mile. Always strive to provide clients with insights and knowledge about the latest marketing trends and how they can be leveraged for their benefit.

• Strategic partnerships and network utilization: Always remember that there’s enough success for everyone to go around. As agency conglomerates continue to expand, boutique shops need to find creative ways to offer omnichannel solutions that drive results. If you can’t execute a capability, leverage your network to offer clients additional value through strategic partnerships, expanding their reach and resources.

2. Now’s the Time to Start Proactively Reaching Out to Marketers: 

With this many brands suggesting they are looking for new partners, now is a great time to start building relationships with brand marketers. Getting started can be challenging if you don’t already have an outreach strategy. But here’s our best tips to get going:

• Research and identify prospects: Success always starts with your list. You have to be contacting the right people. Conduct thorough research to identify brands that are the best fit for your agency’s expertise. Look for brands that may be experiencing challenges your agency is uniquely qualified to solve. Not sure what kind of brands to go after? Start by looking at your agency roster and identify right to win clients.

• Personalized communication: No, we don’t mean adding their first name to a mass email. After conducting thorough research, reach out with personalized messages that demonstrate your knowledge of their brand and industry. Avoid generic sales pitches. Instead, focus on how your agency can address their specific challenges or goals.

• Develop a must-try offer: Whether you’re providing a service or a software, provide something complimentary to get your foot in the door. This could be a free trial or a free brand audits or consultation. This can be an effective way to demonstrate the value you can bring to their business while also building trust with the potential client.

• Get comfortable with following up: Email cadences are your friend. If you think you’re being annoying by sending 7 emails over a few months– you’re not. It takes an average of 8 touches to get an initial meeting with a decision maker. So strap in… and get comfortable with following up regularly until they book the call or tell you to go away.

3. AI Won’t Replace You. But It Can Help You Sell More & Should Be Used Correctly.

AI isn’t going to steal anyone’s job in 2024. It is still very much in its beginning stages and is merely a tool that needs to be utilized in your toolkit. But it’s an incredibly powerful tool that should be leveraged both as a selling proposition, and internally to improve your sales processes. 

Using AI as a unique selling point:

Brands are going to continue looking for partners who can use AI to reduce costs and streamline processes and help solve problems quickly. AI innovation will be a unique selling point in 2024 and something partners will get public recognition for. For example, this year Adweek announced the first-ever AI award to MediaMonks for their use of AI in both internal operations and client work. There will be an increased focus on how partners can use AI in meaningful and creative ways for clients.

A few ways you can utilize AI as a unique selling proposition to brand marketers include:

• Predictive analytics for targeted campaigns
• Personalized customer experiences
• Automated content creation and optimization
• Streamlined production 
• Enhanced ROI measurement and analytics
• Combating social injustices and stereotypes through brand messaging 
• Voice and visual search optimization 
• Programmatic advertising
• Interactive and immersive experiences
• Inclusive and purpose driven advertising

AI is still a new territory– and in many cases, it isn’t quite living up to where marketers are hoping it can be.  So it’s important that whatever you are providing brands delivers on the promise you sold. 

Using AI to enhance your internal sales process

At Catapult, AI has been a major topic among our clients and how they can leverage it to enhance their internal sales processes.

Dixie Gilbert, Director of Partnerships at Catapult  commented, “I was just having a discussion about AI prompts and how AI is messing up good content because everybody’s using the same AI cadence.” She goes on to explain that the most important thing to know about AI is that you really have to learn how to prompt AI and then craft your messages around it. It should be a creative assistant. Prompting really holds a key for creative collaboration.” 

Remember, AI is a tool, not a replacement. So when crafting scripts, decks, email cadences using it– remember to proofread and add a human element to everything it produces. 

Conclusion: Close More Deals in 2024

One thing brands, agencies, sponsorship sellers and adtech providers alike share– the economic state of 2024 is unpredictable, yet we are being asked to hit higher and higher quotas.

Right now, expanding your sales budget for tools and adding to overhead may not be an option. But you need senior level sellers out there getting your products and services in front of brand marketers.

If this resonates with you, outsourcing your sales operations may be a great solution. 

Catapult is the industry’s leading fractional new business development firm for agencies, sponsorship sellers and adtech providers. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you close more deals in 2024 and beyond.

Is your agency completely overwhelmed with an insanely busy month? One where your team has two pitches coming up, and the agency’s biggest client wants a new campaign in 4 weeks? Not to mention the 6-year client that’s seen steady growth, but the account is in review, and the brand lead is your sister-in-law’s mother. You think the review is a slam dunk, but you are still a little nervous about it. Then the biz dev team walks in and has a request. He needs assets, case studies, landing pages, and revisions to the website that were created when the agency was looking to be acquired which is now most certainly not geared for business development.  That’s a frustrating ask from Biz Dev when you’re this busy, but please…

But don’t be mad at your biz dev team.

It’s easy to shove business development needs to the back burner with everything else on your plate. You think, “Why can’t they continue to use the case studies they have? Sure they’re a little “dated”, but they’re in the category.” Instead of looking at it from their angle, or from your own concern over more work, think through the lens of a prospect… 

A prospect has 40 agencies a week all claiming to be experts in their space and can help grow their business. And all of them say they understand the prospect’s audience and are passionate (or nimble, collaborative, creative, agile, innovative – whatever the overused word might be). The 2-year-old case study you sent them shows big numbers, but 2 years is ancient history in their business. This has also never been more true than now in the time of COVID. A prospect’s problem looks different today than it did two years ago. Does your team understand it? Has your agency solved it before? Prove it. Because they have 39 other business development people claiming their agency is the perfect one for them.  

So how do you handle an insanely busy month?

We know reviews are stressful. They take time and energy, which means that creating more new biz tools for your team can seem like an extra burden. Remember though, as you are defending your agency against a shortlist of other agencies with a client who has experienced successful growth with you over the last 6 years, your business development team is tasked with getting your agency an introduction into a brand that doesn’t know you at all and is up against 40 other agencies who are all “perfect” for their business. Both are unique challenges, but in order to continue to get into pitch situations, that new biz team of yours needs to continuously beat 39 other competitors, day in and day out.  They can’t go into battle with old weapons, or in their case, old case studies.  No matter how busy you get, it’s important to always allocate the right resources to continued growth for your agency, even when you feel overwhelmed with current clients.

So, don’t get mad at business development when they tell you they need that updated case study (or a landing page, or a GIF…), because they are doing the job that very few want. Think of them through the words of Jack Nicholson from “A Few Good Men”:

“You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. My existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You want me on that wall, you need me on that wall.” 

And as you get busy with those assets, it might also be a good idea to be extra nice to your sister-in-law.

 

 

 

 

In the past, we’ve talked about what qualities you should look for in a Business Development Director for your agency, but now we want to break down the different personas of Biz Dev people that will cross your path on your hiring journey.  Throughout our experience, there are really three main types of people that are drawn to business development – The Storyteller, The Hunter, and The Builder.  

Each of these new biz types can appear similar in an interview if you are asking stock questions, but when put to work, they operate completely differently.  Your agency may be ready to thrive with a Hunter or stagnate with a Builder.  Being able to identify which you need is vital to ensuring your growth in 2021.  Let’s break down each of these business development personas.

What business development director persona is best for your agency?

The Storyteller

• Pros:
  • Ready to create a true differentiator for your agency
  • Able to look at your value prop and understand how it is different from your competition, and more importantly, how interesting it is for your prospects
  • Often great in pitches and late stage funnel activities due to their ability to connect and build rapport
• Cons:
  • As a late stage funnel manager, most likely not desperate to start conversations cold
  • Proactive top funnel outreach is often ignored for the comfort of working known relationships with current and potential prospects
  • Typically not as comfortable with hearing “no”

When to hire (and not hire) a Storyteller?

If you find yourself with a full tech stack, all the data you need, and someone that can help own some of the top of the funnel proactive outreach, a Storyteller is going to provide a ton of benefit to your team by handling those 2nd and 3rd phone calls, managing the pitch process, and helping continue to define and tweak your value proposition.  What they aren’t going to do is the constant touchpoints needed to make a new conversation happen, or build a sophisticated tech stack that creates a more efficient and repeatable process.

The Hunter

• Pros:
  • High energy and high activity, you know these folks are working every day to make conversations happen with the prospects you want/need
  • Understand that proactive new business is sales, and that means it takes time, energy, numerous touchpoints, and the willingness to hear “no” often in order to get the next meeting
  • Do not get discouraged by an objection or rejection as it is all part of the hunt
• Cons:
  • As an early stage funnel operator, the high energy that they operate under may not translate to highly organized thoughtful pitches, and as such balls can get dropped in later stages
  • Living for the hunt can often mean being highly focused on what’s working, and may not always translate to flexibility in trying new approaches
  • High energy also doesn’t typically lend itself well to create complex new systems within CRMs and automation tools

When to hire (and not hire) a Hunter?

If you find yourself with a well thought out, differentiated value proposition, and you have a full tech stack and data that is ready for a sales rep, then drop this person in and watch them go!  BUT, if you don’t have an organized process or you have a sub-par story to tell at the moment, then you will have someone out there putting a ton of energy into conversations with them constantly going nowhere.  The agency needs to properly channel this energy through organized easy processes and a clear story.

The Builder

• Pros:
  • Great at organizing a tech stack of CRM, marketing or sales automation, and data in order to compliment any new business efforts
  • Constantly digging up research that can be beneficial to any new business effort at either the top or the bottom of the funnel
  • Understands attribution, which allows them to better follow which approaches are working best and where
• Cons:
  • These folks are analysts and thinkers, which is a positive, EXCEPT that eventually we have to stop analyzing and start communicating
  • Often outreach does not happen, because we are looking for a perfect silver bullet for each individual prospect which in turn causes paralysis
  • This is not a top of funnel warrior and as such, each opportunity that does get uncovered will be that much more important because there will be fewer in the pipeline

When to hire (and not hire) a Builder?

If you find yourself at the beginning of your new business journey and you feel like you have a hunter/storyteller already that can generate the conversations you need, but you have no back end system put in place, then get yourself a builder.  Sometimes these people already exist within your organization in Account Management or Marketing, so take an extra look in house.  Don’t hire them if you are looking for pure top of funnel activities as their energy will not be properly directed at hunting those new prospects you are aiming for.

 

Now, these are over-generalizations of people and certainly, people exist in the world that inhabits two or even all three of these new business types.  The problem is that they can be hard to identify in the wild, and some may misrepresent themselves (knowingly or unknowingly).  So as an agency owner, take your time thinking through exactly where your firm is at in your new business process.  If you have everything covered, but just need those calls made – get yourself a Hunter.  If you don’t have a great value prop identified and need to reposition your agency – think about a new Storyteller.  If you want better attribution and to create a scalable and repeatable new business process – look harder at that Builder persona.

There is a reason that we here at Catapult are built-in pods of 3-5 people per client.  We want to maximize the skills of each individual in order to help drive new business at each stage in your funnel process.  If you want help identifying the persona you need next, or to hire a ready made team, get in touch!

Agency Type

Full-Service Creative

Target

Consumer Goods

The Process

Many agencies that have broad skill sets find themselves in a position of trying to drive a conversation with a new prospect but lack a real specific door opener. There are so many problems that your full-service shop can solve, so where do you begin a conversation? It’s important to us a niche when your agency is full service.

Our client was facing just such a problem in that they don’t niche down on either an industry or a service. We looked at their past experience and decided consumer goods was a great place for us to start based on the current market and what they can offer in terms of insights. We also decided that the best place to start was a conversation around digital that could then branch into a more holistic strategy. Our team decided to create a “digital audit” that we would only offer to specific brands based on their size, region, and current interest level.

In order to create such a tight list of prospects, our team utilized both Winmo and Bombora to trim a list of consumer goods companies down to less than 100 companies. Once we had an initial set of right-sized companies from Winmo, Bombora was used to determine current intent by searching for those that have “digital strategy” high on their intent radar.

We also simplified our email approach with a quick note and then some bullet points on what the audit may provide. Below is a generalized version, but will give an idea on the overall structure.

Jim,

As experts in Consumer Goods, my team reviewed your site and we’d like to offer a complimentary Digital Audit. This would include:

• Website Design + UX Flow
• Technical SEO Review
• Load speeds, Page Speeds
• Analytics Review
  ….

This email was NOT the first email that we had sent this prospect, it was actually in the middle of an 11 touchpoint cadence. They had seen our name and agency brand before through our emails, so the digital audit approach allowed them to focus strictly on this one area of opportunity.

The email was received by the Global Integrated Marketing Manager, who oversees many brands across their portfolio. The response was that they did have one brand that was struggling in comparison to others and they were interested in our team doing a quick digital audit on it. This opened the door not only to a project for the brand that needed immediate help, but then a review of all the other brands under their portfolio.

The key is, if you aren’t niched down in your agency’s structure, then you at least need to niche down your prospecting efforts in terms of language. Prospects have specific needs and so we need to approach them with that same level of specificity.

This success for our agency partner was made possible by:

 

Derry B
Business Development Director at Catapult

 

 

 

 

Agency Type

Brand and Customer Experience

Target

Finance & Professional Services

The Process

New business efforts are all about being highly targeted with your data and messaging.  Very often an Account-Based Marketing approach, rather than a mass outreach effort, means that your total quantity of outreach is reduced, but your level of meetings in both interest and opportunity increases.

Jim found himself in the position of working on behalf of an agency that has specialized within the Financial sector, one that has certainly been a challenge these last few months of the Covid with, seemingly, fewer agency shifts in that industry during the pandemic.  With less movement happening and overall freeze happening, Jim needed to find not only a brand that was actively open to speak, but also who within that brand would be the right person to take interest in his client’s capabilities.

The first step of this focusing process was to take the larger finance list and run it through Bombora’s purchase intent software.  He looked for Finance companies that had surging interest and searches along with the categories of “Brand Affinity and Financial Banking”.  This reduced his overall list of prospects from hundreds to 30(ish) companies.

Once we had those main 30 companies, it was time to append marketing contacts from Winmo into those main companies and prioritize based on the job titles that we have had the most success in getting in contact with.  During the pandemic, we have seen a lot of activity with Director and VP level, who both understand the need to pull on purse strings AND are also bogged down with the day to day execution of marketing plans.

With the now smaller list, Jim has the ability to do a deeper dive into those individuals and companies and make sure that any messaging can now be tailored to each one.  The message that hit first was finding a company that was written about in Forbes, which he mentioned immediately and linked back to in his email.  He then shares a similar past client to show expertise in their field, which is always on a marketer’s mind.

(edited for privacy’s sake, but the simplicity is in tact)

I’ve been reading about ABC and your recognition in Forbes. We’ve developed fresh insights, for clients like XXX, into some new challenges their small business clients and prospects are facing in today’s environment. We’d be glad to share our presentation  where we dive into post-COVID changing beliefs, behaviors, and needs of the small to mid-sized business audience. (link was included)

Would you be free to connect on Thursday?

Those quick first sentences give his email a step above others in a few ways.  First, he’s obviously not a bot sending mass mail, because he is linking to an article that would only make sense for this person.  Second, everyone loves the extra recognition and little ego boost by acknowledging and recognizing their public accomplishments, in this case, the article in Forbes.  He has also shown expertise without having to go into a 3-page long diatribe explaining all that they do.  He uses the mention of past work to prove his expertise.

Lastly, Jim kept the messaging SIMPLE.  This was short and sweet and allowed the prospect to breathe.  That simplicity in email communication allows for a prospect to believe that an interaction and discussion may be simple as well.

This success for our agency partner was made possible by:

 

 

Jim O.
Business Development Director at Catapult

 

 

 

 

Agency Type

Creative Production Agency

Target

Food & Bev, Small-Mid Size Companies

The Process

Utilizing Winmo’s Intent Insights powered by Bombora, our team began their search by filtering companies within the Food & Bev category that were small to mid-sized businesses based on revenues and media spend ranges that were within our agency’s desired range.  Once we had that list built out of right-sized companies, we ran this list through Bombora’s purchase intent software to determine if any of these companies had recent surges around the terms “Creative” “Social” and “Production”.  There were 15-20 companies that all showed scores over 80, which tells us they are currently evaluating Creative and Social options.  

By focusing on this reduced number of smaller companies, our percentage of finding the right person within the company is massively increased.  These small to mid-sized companies have fewer marketing decision-makers, allowing us to focus more on custom messaging in a true Account-Based Marketing approach.  Smarter messaging to a focused group makes for more intelligent and interesting first meetings.

For this group, Jake created a 6 step email and phone cadence that covered 11 days, as laid out below:

These emails all have the same base structure and where they begin to diverge is in small customizations between each individual decision-maker when they hit step 2 in custom emails and the phone voicemail left.  

Voicemail is a key ingredient in that it puts a human voice to every interaction.  It’s important to separate yourself from the mass of others sending mass spam emails hoping for a bite, by ensuring that you are taking a multi-touchpoint approach with phone and email.  

In the end, the email that drives conversion to a meeting may be the simplest messaging.  Jake’s success came from email number six on day eleven with a call to action as simple as:

“What would be the downside of receiving a unique perspective for any upcoming creative work? “

The reply was as simple as

“Great timing, we are actually reviewing now…”

Agency new business (and business development) almost always hinges on timing.

Tools like Winmo’s intent data from Bombora, LinkedIn, and Salesloft can ensure that your chances of starting a conversation at the right time are higher than your competitors.

This success for our agency partner was made possible by:

 

Jake
Business Development Director at Catapult

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year the tech stack available for agency new business pros changes exponentially it seems.  The image above is the Martech 5000 and I think it is safe to say that navigating that thing is a nightmare!  There’s always a new CRM, data source, or automation software that is promising a shortcut to immediately generating more meetings and winning more business.  In my experience, technology doesn’t provide a shortcut, but more a roadmap of exactly where you should go.

At Catapult, we believe in intelligent, timely, and personalized communications in order to best drive the right types of conversations for new business development.  This means we don’t believe in mass blasts, but an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach.  For an ABM approach, technology and research are massively important because it means that we know more about our prospects, we can pick the right times to do outreach, and we can use the right type of language for each individual.  All this adds up to better meetings and, in turn, more wins.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the main parts of our tech stack:

Winmo – Now we here at Catapult are a little biased (Winmo is our sister company), but in our opinion, there is no better collection of information about marketing decision makers than what you get from Winmo.  The contact information is the cleanest in the industry.  They also have all the contextual information you would want around those people to understand their agency relationships, media spend habits, personalities, and more.  Most importantly though, for any business agency person, is that they have a host of alerts that will let you know when information changes that may be important to be acted upon.  Those alerts are a game-changer for ensuring that your timing is better than your competitors.

WinmoEdge – Where there’s smoke there’s fire, right?  WinmoEdge is the key to finding that smoke super early in order to help you get in front of a new business opportunity before that opportunity has even had a chance to build up.  Edge’s proprietary scoring system takes a brand’s behavior and performance and translates that into a score that predicts the likelihood of going into an agency review.  Let us fill you in on a little secret though, most companies that use Edge start at the highest scoring (most likely to review) companies and then work their way down…but not us at Catapult.  We understand that new business is a long game and we want to get on the radar of those brands that are just beginning to run into issues that may call for a review.  This way, we dictate the RFP, rather than it being dictated to us.

Salesloft – Gone are the days of one size fits all mass emails.  Or at least those days SHOULD be gone.  In today’s environment, it’s all about putting the right message in front of the individual, which means the mass email campaigns of yesteryear are gone.  At Catapult, we have stopped using Marketing Automation and solely use Sales Automation with Salesloft now.  This allows us to send customized emails, to individuals, at scale.  If you’re a sole new business person and you are still trying to send prospecting emails or networking emails through your gmail alone, then you need to investigate the switch to Salesloft.  This will help you automate and manage each touchpoint in your prospecting efforts and sales funnel in a way that will make you 50x faster than trying to just use Gmail alone.  It also has the added benefit of using your email server for each send, so the likelihood of getting caught up in a spam filter because of a Marketing Automation’s bad IP address is reduced greatly.  More sends, better sends, what’s not to love?

 

 

Bombora – What if you knew when a prospect was looking for your exact service before they ever reached out?  That’s exactly what Bombora does.  They track a company’s interest level in specific services or keywords.  So if you’re a creative agency, you can track all company URLs within whatever industry you love and see which company is “surging” in interest around the keyword “Creative Agency”.  If they are reading content about creative agencies, searching creative agencies, then that’s probably a pretty good indication that you should reach out and say hello.  You don’t have to tell them you’ve been stalking their content consumption behavior, but don’t be surprised when you start seeing responses like “wow, crazy timing, I was just beginning a search…”.

Crystal – People are all different.  Obvious right?  Then why, oh why, do we see companies sending out messaging that is the same for 1,000 people?  Some people like humor in an email, some like detail, some want it to be short and sweet (me for instance).  The point is, Crystal evaluates the attitudes and personalities of each prospect and gives you suggestions on how to best approach them based on those personalities.  Throw in an emoji for Jim, but make sure you use bullet points for Jill.  It’s not perfrect, but damn if it isn’t close to perfect.  If nothing else, it gives you a great playbook for how to approach and navigate a sales or discovery call with one or more personalities.  It attaches directly to your Google Chrome or LinkedIn and gives you that info in real time.  Super powerful stuff.

Kantar – Media spend info can be grabbed from different places, but here at Catapult we have used Kantar for years.  The way that we use it is to simply have additional criteria when we are looking at what makes a good sized prospect for our agency client.  Many times it’s easiest to purely build backwards from your best performing client and find other prospects that have a similar spend track to them.  

Pathmatics – Similar to how we use Kantar, we use Pathmatics to get deeper information about digital advertising performance for any brand that we are interested in approaching.  We use it both at the beginning of the process to narrow down companies that spend more or less in certain areas, and we also use it when we are doing a deeper dive into a specific prospect.  Often this may come around a 4th or 5th touchpoint when we are looking for something that may help us stand out in our outreach efforts and pull an insight that potentially no other competitors have thought about talking to them about.  

Statsocial – Understanding the social audience of a brand can give you another quick opportunity to connect on a different level with your prospect.  Statsocial is our go-to tool to understand the audience demographics of the companies and brands that we are prospecting.  It also helps in comparing your prospect with another company.  Very often it’s good to show how a challenger brand stacks up against the leader in the space.  This isn’t information that the prospective brand doesn’t have, of course, but it does show that YOU understand their brand and their space, allowing for more trust and better conversations.

 

There are a host of other tech and research tools we use from DRTV info, online publications, and simple Google alerts, but these are the ones that we lean on the most.  Business Development is never simple, but if you want to truly do a comprehensive job of Account Based Marketing it’s our recommendation that your tech stack looks similar to the one above.