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So far Ben Potter has created 33 blog entries.

Think creatively when defining your target audience

Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:37:02+00:00

How to get creative when defining an audience for your agency offering

Recently, I explored the difference between positioning and proposition.

As a brief reminder, the former is the process by which you define what you do, how you do it and, most importantly, for who. The proposition is how you package this up. It’s an expression of the problems you solve, the tangible impact of your work and the experience you provide.

It, therefore, stands to reason that positioning comes before proposition. You cannot craft a highly relevant and enticing proposition if you don’t first define your ‘who’.

And by ‘who’, I mean being specific. When you claim to work with “businesses of all shapes and sizes, across all industries” it is nigh on impossible to craft a proposition that will appeal to all of them. I’ve never been on a dating website (I met my wife in a nightclub, the old-fashioned way). But I doubt the guy who says “I’ll go out for a drink with anyone” gets many takers.

The irony of broad positioning

Herein lies the problem. When you’re trying to speak to everyone in this way, you’re not actually talking to anyone in particular. So, whilst the intention is to be attractive to everyone, you end up not being particularly relevant or enticing to anybody.

So, if you accept the need to better define your ‘who’ (and be specific in doing so), how do you actually go about doing it? How do you start on the journey from generalist (“we work with anyone”) to specialist (“we only work with….”)?

Find your mojo by getting over your FOMO

Firstly, you’ve got to be willing to change. This means getting over your fear of missing out. That voice that says, “but if we say we only work with these clients, it means we can’t work with those ones”…yes, that one. Ignore it. The gains that come with focus far outweigh the drawbacks (assuming you don’t narrow your focus too far, of course).

Secondly, don’t assume the market for agency services can only be broken down by recognised sector categories, such as retail, banking or travel. Defining your audience vertically might be the way to go. But beyond this, the market for agency services can be sliced and diced in numerous ways (horizontally). This where you can get creative. When you look at clients, past and present, there are bound to be common traits, themes or patterns, for example:

Are your clients typically start-ups, challenger brands or businesses ‘on the wrong side of 50’ in need of a reboot?

Are your clients looking to achieve a similar goal? And I don’t mean sales or growth. That’s obvious. Is there something more specific, such as businesses looking to turn over their first million?

Are your clients facing similar challenges, such as getting new products to market or entering new territories?

What about brand attributes, such as luxury or leisure?

Do you find yourself working with certain job roles, such as founders, entrepreneurs or eCommerce managers?

Are your clients looking to engage a specific demographic, such as the under 30’s or over 60’s?

Or, what about attitude, outlook or way of thinking? Are they innovators or disruptors, for example?

When you look beyond sectors, there are all kinds of possibilities. So, get your senior team get together, lock yourself in a room with coffee and Haribo, and consider the following:

When, how and why did we start the agency? What was our motivation at the time?

When is our agency at its very best?

What work do we enjoy the most? Where do we get our energy?

When is our team at their most motivated and happiest?

What does our ideal client look like?

Thinking about all the clients we have ever worked with, where have we had the most success? What made these clients so great to work with?

How many of our clients would we happily fire tomorrow if we could? Why?

Of those that are left, are there any common themes or threads that tie them together?

These are by no means exhaustive. A well-run workshop will inevitably yield further questions and some healthy debate. But they should be enough to get things started.

The power of clarity

Once you define your audience, the impact can be transformational. Clarity comes with focus. Try coming up with a sales and marketing plan with the aim of targeting everyone. Now try doing it when you’re targeting a specific segment (be that vertical or horizontal).

Try saying ‘no’ to a prospect when you have no framework by which to do so. Now try doing it when you are crystal clear in what your ideal client looks like.

Try charging a premium for your services when there is no discernible difference between your agency and the other ten around the corner. Now try doing it when you can demonstrate how your expert knowledge of a specific audience leads to better outcomes.

I’ve worked with a number of clients who have made the move from generalist to specialist; who have narrowed their focus. Never once have they regretted it.

After all, the world doesn’t need another agency doing anything for anybody. But there is always a place for an agency solving a specific problem for a specific audience segment.

Think creatively when defining your target audienceBen Potter2020-11-20T14:37:02+00:00

Positioning. Proposition. What’s the difference?

Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:39:41+00:00

Positioning. Proposition. What’s the difference?

When it comes to agencies and business development, the topic of positioning gets a lot of attention. And quite right too. Because if business development was a pyramid, positioning would be its foundation. It sets the sales and marketing agenda.

However, ‘positioning’ is often used interchangeably with ‘proposition’ or ‘value proposition’. Having done this myself, I’ve recently been pondering the difference. This is my take.

Simply put, positioning is what you do, how you do it and, most importantly, for who. It combines your expertise, experience, interests, beliefs and values to create a point of difference or a specialisation. Done well, positioning leaves an impression; words, images or feelings that come to mind when one thinks about your agency:

“Ah, they’re the people that do great video for car brands…”

“Yes, they specialise in helping start-ups make their first million…”

“Yeah, I know those guys, they help FMCG brands tap into younger audiences…”

The proposition (or value proposition) is how you package this up so it resonates with the audience you are trying to talk to. It’s a clear, compelling and credible expression of the experience a prospect will receive by working with you. It might, for example, articulate the problems they face, how your expertise can help solve them, and the outcomes they care most about.

It’s rather like marriage. Positioning is deciding who you are going to spend the rest of your life with. The proposition is how you go about posing the big question, in the hope your future spouse says ‘yes’.

It stands to reason that crafting a focused (and therefore attractive) proposition will be more difficult if you don’t first work on positioning, in particular defining your audience. Only then can you answer the kind of questions that are critical to shaping your proposition, for example:

What are companies operating in this space trying to do?

What opportunities are they looking to exploit?

What is standing in their way?

Who is our main point of contact?

How would we describe their mindset, attitude or outlook?

How are they being measured?

Trying to answer these questions when you “work with anyone” is all but impossible. Imagine trying to come up with the perfect marriage proposal before you’ve actually decided who you are going to ask.

This is probably why so many agencies end up with a proposition that is inward-looking (“check out our awards”) and riddled with clichés masquerading as points of difference (“results-focused”, “transparent” and “passionate”, for example).

If you want to craft a better proposition, start with positioning. The two go hand in hand but one very much precedes the other.

What do you think? I’m often wrong (ask my wife) so if you think I’ve missed the mark, hit me up with your thoughts.

Positioning. Proposition. What’s the difference?Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:39:41+00:00

For goodness sake, put your deck away

Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:42:38+00:00

For goodness sake, put your deck away

“Send us over your creds.”

“We’d like you to present your creds.”

“Our MD will need to see your creds before the meeting.”

Any of these sound familiar? How do you typically respond?

If you are anything like the many agency leaders and business developers I speak with, you eagerly oblige. After all, it’s a positive buying signal, right? Maybe. But often not.

When it comes to the agency / client ecosystem, there are certain processes and behaviours that are deeply engrained, even though they don’t really benefit either party. The ‘show and tell’ presentation is one of these.

The subtle difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’

From the client’s perspective, what they want and what they actually need can often be quite different.

They want you to talk through your clients, case studies, team, approach, processes, awards and all manner of other, largely irrelevant tosh because this is ‘just how things are done’ when it comes to this agency lark.

What they actually need is for the agency to ‘own’ the process and discover (fairly quickly) if there is an opportunity to work together (to the mutual benefit of both parties). This is rarely achieved when the agency talks at the prospect for half an hour.

In my view, agencies need to be the drivers of change when it comes to this sort of thing so let’s look at a few specific situations when your creds deck should stay well away:

When asked to send it via email

Imagine the scenario. After gently nurturing your dream client for months you finally get through.

“Thanks for your call. I haven’t any time now but send me your creds. I’ll take a look and come back to you.”

With your thoughts already turning to celebratory champagne as the signed contract lands on your desk, you dutifully send them over. Game on.

What are the chances of the prospect looking through the deck and getting back in touch? Pretty much zero.

What are the chances you’ll spend the next year chasing them? Very high.

If a prospect asks you to send over your creds during the very early stages of engagement, it’s a fob off. It’s a polite way of telling you to bugger off.

You should therefore be polite in return and push back. If you genuinely believe you can help (beyond “we can definitely get better results than your current agency”), tell them you don’t have a standard creds deck. I never had one in my agency days.

Say you’d be happy to share some information but want to be sure it’s relevant. Ask what’s on their mind, what they’re working on right now or what they’d find of interest. Ask them anything that strikes up a conversation (or allows you to book a call / meeting for a later date).

You’ll either quickly discover that they’re not interested right now, which saves you wasting your time OR you’ll create an opportunity to send something that’s actually relevant, helping you move the discussion to the next stage.

When meeting a prospect for the first time

You’ve gone one better than getting through to your key contact. You’ve secured an appointment.

Introductions quickly out the way, the laptop comes out and you talk through your creds, leaving no stone unturned as you elaborately describe the agency’s history, approach, processes, team, clients, case studies and, of course, awards.

The prospect barely says a word, clearly in awe.

“That all sounds very interesting, we’ll be in touch”, they say.

You never hear from them again.

There is a time and place for talking about your agency. However, it comes a distant second to talking about the prospect; THEIR objectives, THEIR issues, THEIR metrics for success, THEIR, THEIR, THEIR!

As a rule of thumb, whatever you say about your agency, your approach, your clients and so on should be contextually relevant. Any solutions you introduce should be directly related to an issue the prospect is facing (and therefore the problem you are solving).

You cannot possibly do this without taking the time to get to the know the prospect; where they are trying to get to, the challenges they are facing, what success looks like and their concerns, anxieties and motivations, for example.

So, in landing an appointment, leave the creds deck alone. Instead, focus your efforts on posing interesting and challenging questions. This will lead to a much better outcome for you and the prospect.

When pitching

After starting work with a new client last year, I reviewed one of their pitch decks. It contained sixty slides. Probably too many but not a crime in itself. What made me fall off my metaphorical chair was that the opening forty slides were all about the agency. Slide after slide of mind-numbing guff, entirely irrelevant to the prospect and readily available on the agency’s website should the prospect choose to bore themselves to death. Unfortunately for them, they were not given that choice.

Needless to say, the agency lost this particular pitch.

A good presentation tells a story. Not about the agency but about the prospect.

Having got to this stage, the prospect should have already done their fair share of due diligence. It shouldn’t be necessary to tell them a load of stuff they already know.

I’m not saying there isn’t a time and place for an ‘about us’ section. There is – at the back of the deck in an Appendix. At the end of the presentation, ask the prospect if there is anything they’d like to know about the agency that hasn’t already been covered and then jump to the relevant slide.

This means anything you say about the agency is there to fill the gaps in knowledge, not fill minds with irrelevant drivel.

Look, I have nothing against agency creds, per se. It’s the often lazy approach to how they are used that makes them a near pointless sales ‘tool’.

Think about how you react when you meet someone for the first time and all they do is talk about themselves. They don’t ask you a single question. It’s all about them.

I know what I do. I turn off. I think about other stuff. I find my excuses and I scarper.

Are your prospects doing the same?

For goodness sake, put your deck awayBen Potter2020-11-20T14:42:38+00:00

Stop looking for the ‘silver bullet’

Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:44:56+00:00

To win new business, stop looking for the silver bullet

In life, us humans love the idea that somewhere out there lies the ONE thing that will solve our problems, cure our woes or make things better – the classic ‘silver bullet’.

I find this can also be true of business development. Perhaps because it is often misunderstood or under-valued as a discipline, agency owners believe the answer lies in a single variable; a shiny tool, a piece of technology, a lead generation agency or recruiting a business development manager (BDM), for example.

They’re guilty of ‘silver bullet syndrome’, mistakenly chasing the one thing that will change the game and lead to a flood of new business.

It just doesn’t work like that

If business development was easy, every agency would be nailing it. They’re not. And that’s because there are no short cuts, no hidden tricks, no rabbits out of hats. It very rarely comes down to one thing, no matter how big the change or how large the investment.

So, what is the answer?

For me, it lies in the principle of marginal gains; a theory perhaps best explained with an example from the world of sport.

Now, if we ignore for a moment some of the bad press around Team Sky (but certainly not condone it!) and instead talk about Dave Brailsford’s philosophy to winning.

He was appointed manager of the cycling team in 2010. His strategy was based on the idea that every area related to the team’s performance could be improved by 1%.

He started by optimising the things that even us cycling novices could have a guess at: nutrition, training regimes, the bike seat, helmet and the weight of the tires, for example.

However, he then searched for 1% improvements in areas overlooked by the competition, such as the pillows the cyclists used (ensuring the optimum night’s sleep as they moved from hotel to hotel), massage gels and how they washed their hands (to avoid infection).

By employing this approach, Dave targeted a Tour de France victory within five years. They won it in three. Dave went on to coach the British cycling team at the 2012 Olympic Games, winning around 70% of the gold medals available.

Dave knew that creating a winning team wouldn’t come down to one or two major changes. Instead, it was about the detail. It was the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ that delivered a remarkable improvement in performance.

Where are your marginal gains?

I’m a big fan of marginal gains, believing the principle perfectly lends itself to business development. In isolation, a change in behaviour, a new skill, a better process, a piece of technology or even bringing an experienced BDM into the fold, will not make a huge amount of difference.

In other words, performance isn’t driven by a single factor. Instead, it’s the culmination of hundreds of small, continual improvements in people (attitude, behaviours and skills), processes and tools that can give one agency the edge over another.

Agencies rarely look at business development as a source of advantage over the competition. Instead, the emphasis (and investment) is in delivering their services bigger and better than anybody else (better people, better techniques, better tools, better reporting and so on).

Whilst there is a big difference between the very best and the very worst agencies when it comes to service delivery, there is a huge middle ground where the difference is small. Therefore, the advantage many agencies believe they have (and put front and centre of their proposition) is not really an advantage at all.

Conversely, how an agency view and approach all aspects of business development, from positioning through to pitching, really can make the difference when, on the face of it, so many agencies look the same.

In other words, business development can be your agency’s competitive advantage if you focus on the detail, rather than chasing a single solution to address a multitude of issues, gaps and opportunities.

Stop looking for the ‘silver bullet’Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:44:56+00:00

Lost a pitch to the incumbent? Here’s why

Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:47:38+00:00

Have you ever lost a pitch to the incumbent? Here’s why.

A lead comes in. It looks like a great opportunity. You throw the kitchen sink at it. You lose the pitch. Worse than that, you find out the prospect is sticking with the incumbent agency. Anger and frustration fester at the wasted time, effort and resource you’ve invested. For nothing.

Sound familiar? I’ve seen a few comments recently on LinkedIn about this very scenario; when you are invited by a prospect to share your expertise and ideas, unbeknown to you that the prospect has no intention of actually changing agency. You’re ‘pitch candy’, as one of my clients eloquently put it.

I’m not condoning this behaviour. But like it or not, it happens. And whilst you can’t stop it, there are steps you can take to give yourself a better chance of not being caught out.

And before you act the innocent, we all play this game to varying degrees. Think about how you negotiate your mobile phone, broadband or gas contract – if you’re not playing these companies against one another, you’re missing a trick. I know it’s a very different setting. But the principle is the same.

Kicking you whilst you’re down

Back in agency land, whilst the prospect invariably gets all the blame for their deceitful ways, here’s the rub. If you find yourself in this situation, I’m afraid the fault lies with you. Sorry…I know that’s going to hurt (when you’re already down) but it’s true.

In most cases, it’s down to you because you’ve failed to ask the right questions, at the right time. You’ve also failed to ‘own’ the pitch process, as far as you possibly can. Instead, you’ve allowed the prospect to lead and you’ve taken the bait; hook, line and sinker.

Agencies are often far too eager to present their ideas and solutions. But by doing so, they bypass key steps in the information-gathering and qualifying process.

Many small ‘yeses’ = one BIG ‘yes’

As one of my mentors taught me, qualifying is about gaining lots of small ‘yeses’ from the prospect, for example:

‘Yes, we will give you our time and share insight with you.’

‘Yes, we will explain the process we are working through, who will be involved and why.’

‘Yes, we will invest the appropriate budget.’

‘Yes, we will review your proposal and provide feedback regardless of our decision.’

‘Yes, we will follow through and actually implement your strategy and ideas.’

Ultimately, ‘yes, we are going to make a change.’

Gaining lots of small ‘yeses’ means you stand a far greater chance of hearing the big ‘YES’ at the end. A ‘no’ at any stage is a red flag.

Incumbent in the mix? That’s another red flag

In a situation where a prospect is already working with another agency, you should double down on your qualifying efforts. You’ll start by seeking to explore where the prospect is trying to get to, the problems they are facing and what success looks like. But fairly early on, you will also want to ‘test’ the prospect on just how serious they are about making a change.

This means understanding how they found you and what encouraged them to get in touch.

It means finding out who else they are speaking to and why.

It means exploring their criteria for shortlisting agencies.

It means explicitly asking if their existing agency is re-pitching.

It means finding out what they are looking for in a partner and what they have seen in other agencies that they like / dislike.

This is not an exhaustive list. Every scenario is different and needs to be treated as such. But it should act to highlight just how robust and detailed your approach to qualifying should be, especially in a competitive pitch situation, and even more so when an incumbent is involved.

It’s not a perfect science

Qualifying involves leaving no stone unturned. It means avoiding assumptions. It’s about being in control and only moving to the next stage when you are confident you have gained the necessary ‘yes’ from the prospect.

Big caveat. I’m not saying that by mastering the art of qualifying, you are never again going to lose a pitch to an incumbent. Sometimes they win fair and square.

However, a process that you follow consistently, combined with the confidence to ask the right questions, at the right time, means you’ll certainly be far better at spotting the red flags earlier (and then politely declining the opportunity to progress things further).

On the flip side, you’ll also arm yourself with the skills to stand a better chance of winning the ‘right’ opportunities.

Lost a pitch to the incumbent? Here’s whyBen Potter2020-11-20T14:47:38+00:00

Selling ice to Eskimos doesn’t make you a good salesperson

Ben Potter2020-11-20T14:50:15+00:00

Why ‘selling ice to Eskimos’ doesn’t make you a good salesperson

I recently stumbled across a LinkedIn profile where the person’s headline read, ‘I can sell ice to Eskimos’. My immediate reaction? Yuck!

Here’s why.

Let’s assume that you are sat in an igloo with said Eskimo. You’ve got your laptop out and you’re doing your thing, pitching the features and benefits of your superior ice product.

Now, if there is one thing Eskimos know about, it’s ice. They build shelters and dwellings out of the stuff. So, Mr Eskimo is sat there, stony-faced and uninterested in what you have to say.

The only conceivable way you’re going to close the deal is by using strong-arm tactics, possibly even deceit, to hoodwink the Eskimo into buying your ice. For what other reason would he spend money on something that is freely available right outside his igloo?

I doubt there’s a better example of a salesperson putting their needs before those of the buyer than the Eskimo analogy. It represents the polar opposite of how a business developer should act and behave.

Selling digital services and products is not about being pushy or duping a prospect into buying something they don’t want or need. If you’re ‘selling ice to an Eskimo’, there’s only one thing you’re interested in; yourself.

Successful agencies approach business development with the opposite mindset. Their people put the needs of the prospect first. During the early stages of the sales process, they don’t seek to sell anything. Instead, they invest their time in gathering information and offering insight. Only once they have a complete understanding of where the prospect is trying to get to and the barriers they are facing (amongst many other things), is a potential solution even suggested.

They challenge the prospect when appropriate and advise in their best interests, prepared to walk away if their products or services don’t fix a problem, reduce risk or exploit an opportunity.

Ultimately, you can approach the rewards that come with business development in one of two ways – short or long term. Cutting corners might earn you a few quid at the end of the month but you’ll never build the skills, trust and reputation that come from hard work and continuous improvement.

For all the theory, frameworks and processes, when it comes down to it, business development is about people. It’s the blend of attitude, behaviours and skills that separate the good from the bad; honesty, integrity, empathy, attentiveness and helpfulness to name just a few.

Those who can sell ice to Eskimos are not good at selling; they’re good at bypassing the skills and behaviours that earn credibility, respect and long-term rewards.

So next time you hear someone boast about their ability to ‘sell ice to an Eskimo’, don’t buy it (or indeed, their ice).

Selling ice to Eskimos doesn’t make you a good salespersonBen Potter2020-11-20T14:50:15+00:00