The New Business Dingo

It's sometimes hard enough to lead new business directors who work a few feet away, let alone outsourced contractors with a different end game and who are in many cases hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. Such is the experience of a distraught agency owner who contacted me last week.

This agency owner had just terminated a contract with another outsourced new business agency after just six weeks and needed our help.

Why?

 “They never returned my calls - I could never get a straight answer or a status report, and when we made a fuss, we were told that it was our fault that the program was behind schedule”, she said.

What she was looking for was a business partner, someone that she could trust, has a vested interest in meeting her organizational objectives and has a proven ability to deliver. We discussed her needs and her experience, and then formed a true new business partnership that has already begun to yield her a return.

I’ve outlined six points to consider when outsourcing, particularly applied to outsourcing ad agency new business.

1. Define Your Needs
In speaking with Mrs. Smith at Agency Blue (names changed to protect the innocent) it was clear that although she had a clear idea of her new business needs in terms of new revenue and a timeline for this to occur, these were never addressed by the company, nor were they ever documented for future reference, clearly a red flag.

Only outsource work for which you have precise requirements and timeframes. Any wiggle room and things tend to fall apart… quickly.

2. Treat Suppliers As Partners
Just as you have your choice of new business consultants, in many cases they have a choice of which agencies they want to work with too. The reality is that you aren't the only game in town. Establishing a lasting relationship should involve going so far as sharing details of your business plan, to give the consultancy confidence that they’re -not dealing with a fly-by-night / seat-of-the-pants agency, and that you have a documented growth plan to measure their success against.

Visiting the people working on your account, as your brand ambassador is critical too; they should have a vested interest in your success, after all this should be a team effort.

3. Pay For Performance
Deadlines and goals don't mean much if there's no penalty for not meeting them. The same goes for mistakes. To avoid hassles down the road, strictly define all expectations of the partnership up-front and on paper.

In business development, metrics are relatively easy to measure with the right process in place, it's important to have metrics defined and written into the contract so you have the ability to terminate a contract on short notice.

Most successful new business relationships consist of both parties having skin-in-the-game, typically with a retainer and commission fee on new business won. Any sales person I’ve ever met has been motivated both by the win and the financial gain from it, any model that doesn’t have an incentive for performance typically flops.

4. Be Ready To Pay Up Front
It takes money to make money, and your outsourcing partner is making a bet by investing in you to close the new business opportunities they introduce. Therefore most outsourced ad agency new business consultancies charge fees up-front.

5. Look Over Their Shoulder
When you outsource, be sure to meet the team in person and set expectations that you require reports on all new business activity on a regular basis. It’s also a good idea to make unexpected checks every now and then to ensure that they’re really doing what they say they are. Ask for time stamped records of calls and call logs, and be cc’d on all email correspondence for a week or so. The 12 hour rule is also a great one, set the expectation that any inquiry of yours should be answered if not immediately, certainly within 12 hours.

6. Put The Business Up For Grabs
To keep your ad agency new business firm from getting into ‘coast mode’ put a 30-day termination notice period in the contract. Tell your supplier or partner upfront that this is part of the deal.

Anyone with an outsourcing horror story?

Happy Hunting - The New Business Dingo