Small to Mid-size Ad Agencies Need A Calling Program

A proactive cold calling program is essential to securing new business for small to mid-size agencies. Especially during difficult economic times.

Having the ability to make cold calls should be one of the fundamental requirements for anyone heading up your agency's new business initiatives. If your new business person can't or wont make cold calls you need to find someone who can. This may not be a prerequisite at a Hill Holiday or BBDO but if yours is a small to mid-size agency it has to be an important part of your new business program.

Just this afternoon, I picked up the phone and made a cold call on behalf of one of my clients. I was calling from my daily task list. The first assignment that came up, the vice president of marketing for a large commercial real estate developer. The prospect picked up the phone on the third ring. Within five minutes I had secured an appointment for the prospect and his marketing staff to visit our office to review some of our work and how we might be of help for their marketing challenges. Now the successes don't always come that easy. That particular prospect I had called many times before only to get his voice mail. But, persistence paid off.

Here are ten tips for a successful cold calling program:

1. Someone must be designated to make calls on behalf of your agency. Whether you appoint a person with phone skills from within for this task or you hire someone from outside the agency, a single person should have this responsibility. I have found out the hard way, assigning prospects to a group of staff members never works. It's like herding cats. And they can also do more harm than good.

2. Identify you're the best targets for your agency. Use a rifled focus instead of a shotgun approach. You can easily get company information from companies like Hoovers, The List or Advertising Redbooks. I've used them all.

3. I use my Entourage tasks list to make my calls from. I can take the information from Hoovers, The List or Advertising Redbooks and easily copy and paste into individual tasks the prospects contact information, a paragraph about the company and also assign reminder dates. This also allows me to keep a running log of my activities, whether it's a phone call, personal note, sending a sampling of materials, etc. I'm sure there are better programs but this works for me. It's simplistic and helps me be consistent. Updating information, often when I'm on the phone is easy. My assignments for the day are ready when I power up my laptop. All I have to do is make the calls.

4. I rarely leave a voice mail message. If the prospect doesn't answer I'll reassign the task for another time during the day. Sometimes I call the same prospect five or six times on a given day. If I don't reach them at all I'll assign them to another day. If you leave a voice mail message you are putting the ball in the prospects court to return your call. The majority of the time your call wont be returned. To keep leaving messages makes you a pest. Nobody likes a pest.

5. I do try to develop a relationship with the "gate-keepers." Whether it's the receptionist, personnel assistant, a junior level person within the marketing department. Anyone that can provide me with the "lay of the land" and valuable inside information. I secured a meeting with the president of a major brand outside Atlanta from a cold call. I discovered, from talking with the company's receptionist, that he had only been on the job a couple of months and had yet to hire an assistant. She told me he was answering his own calls. I kept calling every day for over a month until he picked up the phone. Of course he had no idea that I had been so persistent and I was able to schedule a face-to-face meeting from that call.

6. If I'm calling on a company and unsure who is making the marketing decisions, I simply asks the receptionist who on staff oversees their marketing and advertising and nine times out of ten, they will give me the persons name and if I'll just ask, I often can obtain the persons direct line and even their email address.

7. Whenever I get my prospect on the phone I'm trying to ascertain if they are a viable prospect. You may discover that the prospective company does all their marketing and advertising in house or they have had an ongoing relationship with an agency for over ten years and are very satisfied. Don't waste time on the ones that aren't viable prospects. Your goal isn't to obtain meetings but to secure business for the agency.

8. That said, you still have to remember the average client/agency relationship is about 2.5 years. That means there is lots of turn over and opportunity. If you learn that one of your competitors has secured a new client account, it would be wise of you to make note of that and follow up with the prospect after the first six months or so and periodically thereafter. I use my task list as a reminder to follow up.

9. I prefer making "warm calls" to "cold calls." For warm calls I have the prospect on the general mailing list for the agency. I like to have a series of agency self promotion postcards that go out no less than six times a year. Short clever messages that are easy for the agency to design and produce. This keeps a level of awareness for the agency. It is also helpful to have a PR strategy. It's amazing at how a little PR can make your agency seem to be the hottest shop in town. I recommend hiring an outside PR firm or freelancer so that you have a consistent PR effort. It is always better making calls when the prospective client has some knowledge of your agency.

10. Ours is a relationship business. Use the phone to establish a relationship first. People like to work with others they know and like. Don't sell to quickly. Let the prospect tell you about their company and their marketing challenges. You can establish what you know by focusing your questions and discussion on them.

What I have shared isn't very sophisticated. It is hard work that most within the agency cannot comprehend doing on a regular basis. But I know for a fact that it works.

The MAIN THING you've got to do is to do it!

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