Human Relationships Still Win Deals

If you’re sitting in your creative agency, biting your nails and worrying whether you may be obsolete by the new year, I’m sure you’re not alone.

The AI bubble is expanding at an incredible rate. A couple of decades ago there may have been some similarities with the dot.com bubble. Despite the crash that followed, there is no doubt that the subsequent bounceback changed the business landscape forever. The agency world adapted to a whole raft of new technologies, new disciplines were born and the marketing industry found more ways than ever to reach consumers and win new customers.

Whilst technology is there to be embraced, it is a truth universally acknowledged (to paraphrase a bit of Jane Austen) that people buy from people.

Even as we approach 2026, marketing is still a relationship business. With that in mind, here are a few reasons to factor in when making your new business plans for the upcoming year.

Building Rapport

The raison d’etre for “traditional” new business agencies (such as Alchemis) is to build rapport, nurture prospects and understand agency chemistry. Not simply churn out a load of names.

Whilst AI may be able to identify a qualified lead, it can’t:

• Read between the lines of a prospect’s tone or culture fit.
• Persuade someone to take a meeting.
• Tailor a pitch in a human, emotional way.

Raw Data vs Strategic Targeting

The right kind of AI can give you a pool of thousands of potential contacts.

But a new business agency applies strategic filters — who’s genuinely ready to buy? Who fits your agency’s values, size, or sector expertise?

A competent new business agency will combine data with other critical influencing factors such as:

• Market intelligence
• Competitor awareness
• Insider knowledge of decision-makers.

This is our day job and effectively separates the wheat from the chaff with higher-quality opportunities to devote your time to.

Genuine Outreach

AI tools can automate email sequences. I’m sure you get hundreds of them a week (I know I do). What they don’t do is instigate and develop meaningful conversations.

One of the key skills of an effective new business professional will be the ability to pick up the phone, follow up actual worthwhile leads, and handle objections.

This tenacity coupled with a nuanced approach and real time feedback from the prospect helps identify a genuine opportunity and what stage they may be at in the sales cycle.

Ultimately, it turns cold outreach into warm leads and is an essential building block towards high value new business wins.

Accountability

An outsourced new business agency should be seen as an extension of your own sales team. Your Account Manager at that agency will be personally invested in hitting the agreed targets, providing regular reporting, adjusting strategy as necessary to maximise opportunities in line with the pipeline, etc, etc.

Whilst AI tools will give data, they don’t take ownership of outcomes.

Trust and Credibility

Having humans represent your agency builds trust and credibility in the market.

When a real person makes contact — somebody who knows your agency’s story, culture, and wins — prospects see it as a partnership, not a mass automation campaign. This credibility can lead to longer-term, higher-value client relationships.

We know AI is here to stay and becoming more sophisticated all the time. For the marketing industry, the future won’t be “either/or” it will be “the best of both worlds.” Progress stops for no one!

If you would like to talk to us about how we can help with your new business ambitions for 2026, please get in touch.