Written By Danielle Fauteaux
Ft. Steve Guberman, owner of Outsight Consulting
Your agency can quickly become a burden instead of the blessing that you wanted it to be. Especially when you’re not making enough sales, not having enough new projects coming in the door, or feeling like your cash is just dwindling down as all of your expenses come flying out the door. So in this episode, we want to talk through some strategies for selling agency services especially if you are a reluctant seller.
In this episode of RecalibrAgency, Steve and I discuss:
- Inbound vs. outbound sales, and why your agency can’t survive solely on inbound sales.
- Setting up sales systems, and actually using them.
- Outsourcing biz dev; is that an option?
In this episode:
[00:32] Steve introduces himself.
[02:25] The biggest hindrance to sales strategies for reluctant sellers who are not comfortable doing traditional outbound sales.
[05:05] Why only doing outbound marketing is not sustainable for an agency.
[06:47] How to find which marketing and sales strategies work best for you.
[08:45] What can you do to get consistency built into your biz dev efforts?
[09:33] Do you need CRM software?
[10:41] What is the easiest way to sell more?
[11:55] How to make sure that you use the sales systems that you set up.
[14:23] Why an effective sales pipeline is crucial in acquiring and holding onto talent.
[16:22] How delivery teams are involved in your sales and marketing efforts.
[18:16] Comparing account-based marketing and top 100 dream list approaches.
[20:52] Isn’t there another way you can outsource biz dev?
[22:43] The best ways to vet potential salespeople for your agency.
[27:13] How to deal with imposter syndrome when you’re trying to sell.
[29:47] Recommended groups and communities: Bureau Of Digital, Creative Mornings, AIGA.
[33:29] Go to agencyoutsight.com/podcast to listen to the Byte-sized Agency Briefs Podcast.
Key Takeaway
There are a couple of key takeaways from these strategies for reluctant sellers that I do want to draw attention back to as we round out this episode.
The first key takeaway is that you can not do biz dev. You have to intentionally and consistently make time for it. And if you’re struggling to do it for yourself, you need to be intentional about either developing existing team members to fulfill that role, hiring someone who’s going to be a rockstar in an organized way, or outsourcing it even, to make sure that your biz dev is happening.
The second takeaway is that you really need to track your biz dev activities, and consistently go back to them. Don’t just leave your notes in a contact record in your CRM waiting for something magical to happen. Go back to what you’ve noted and take action on it. Set reminders for yourself to follow up with people, and make sure that you’re reaching out to previous customers as well.
And then finally, block out time to intentionally conduct business development activities and sales activities. You don’t want to be responding to the daily urgent things that pop up. You want to make sure that you’re being intentional about the important stuff so that it doesn’t actually become one of those urgent things that you then have to deal with. And if you let it go too long, sales will definitely become urgent.
So make sure that you’re setting aside time and respect that time. Make sure that you’re holding yourself accountable to deliver on sales activities, just like you would any other employee.
Building a successful marketing agency takes grit, a focus on your value, and sometimes a *loving* kick in the pants.
Needing an ally as you achieve your long-term goals?
I’d be happy to help.
