Thursday 8 May was a bad day for Labour and a catastrophe for the Lib Dems but it was also an uncomfortable evening for the polling industry. Famously, all the big pollsters were wide of the mark and there will be an inquest into what went wrong and how to avoid making the same … Read More

  I was forwarded an article today with the ‘10 biggest interview lies’ and in the past I’ve seen countless similar lists referring to the ‘Top 10 things to avoid…’ or ’10 ways your body language can betray you’ etc etc. The internet is groaning under the weight of top interview tips and advice for … Read More

There has been a lot in the media recently about immigration so, working as I do in business development, I thought it would be interesting to look at the facts from a business development perspective. The last 10 years has seen a huge increase in the population of the UK. In the 8 year period … Read More

Objectives of the survey The objectives of the survey were to identify: Common issues market research agencies face when trying to win new business The best approaches taken to generate new business Changes in the market over the past 5 years Whilst the slant was towards ‘new business we found all the participants willing to … Read More

Back in June 2011 we carried out a comprehensive survey to establish why prospects agree to meet with creative, strategic and digital agencies. We asked our New Business Managers to complete a questionnaire and then cross-referenced this with two years of data covering 340,000 calls, 46,000 decision maker conversations and 3,400 meetings generated. We looked … Read More

With Amanda Francis taking a well earned break for 2 weeks in September I agreed to try and fill her considerable new business boots. Amanda had tried to avoid putting dates in for while she was away so it looked like I had two meetings to do in 2 weeks – easy. I ended up … Read More

September-November is traditionally the purple patch for new business and September 2010 didn’t disappoint. We fell just short of the record number of meetings set in August but still recorded a figure that stands as 2nd best in the past few years. More impressive is the number of quality new business meetings our clients attended, … Read More

Today is officially the last day of summer, though one could be forgiven for thinking it ended 4 weeks ago based on the weather we’ve been having. Next year, even if UK PLC is in the grip of a double-dip recession, British Airways cabin crew have elected Bob Crow as union Chief and Iceland looks … Read More

The second quarter of the year has been even better than the first in terms of the performance of our business development managers. It was with some relief that we navigated the traditionally sticky period of April-May in good shape and then broke records in June. June normally marks the beginning of our most productive … Read More

Another solid performance from the sales team in February. We had several new clients start this month and even the most veteran business development professional gets a buzz from setting that first great meeting for their new client. Having so many new clients come on board can make life complicated so I’m glad to report … Read More