From a new business perspective, it was incredibly encouraging to read that UK companies have revised their marketing budgets upwards for the 3rd successive quarter in the IPA Bellwether Report . Even more encouraging for research agency owners is that the discipline was the top performing category, “reflecting efforts by businesses to better understand the … Read More

As many agencies look to develop their own new business skills in these challenging times, Alchemis have teamed up with Holler to launch The New Business Academy. This partnership will offer expert training for agency professionals across the whole marketing spectrum, with online seminars and one-to-one coaching sessions that will help maximise your chances of … Read More

“At the end of a storm there’s a golden sky and the silver song of a lark”   It’s what we do now that will get agencies through this storm – leadership, proactivity, adaptation and innovation are key, but more importantly collaboration and community. For most, that golden sky seems a long way off, and … Read More

It seems slightly egomaniacal to write about your own event, but I am going to anyway… it was our inaugural one after all! The focus was on the only 5 ways to grow your agency. However, I want to focus on number one. This was all about the value of your proposition. What does your … Read More

A news story in the paper last week was encouraging the electorate to vote. At the time, Boris was romping ahead in the polls and looked certain to win the majority he craves. However, the article highlighted the danger of electoral complacency, both on the part of the Conservative party, but also for the voters. … Read More

“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” – Doug Larson Listening and talking it seems is a dying art. A moribund form of communication, superseded by emails, text and tweets etc. both in a private and professional environment. I am from a generation brought up … Read More

How do I increase my agency revenue? It’s one questions that gets banded about a lot. Often we hear that the goal of creative, communications or digital agencies is to power through the £1m revenue ceiling and that is a key reason that they are investing in new business to drive that growth. Once through … Read More

What really matters to B2B customers? It is not always just about the rational in the buying process. People buying agency services may have a range of conscious and subconscious triggers and playing to these may give your agency the edge over another. But what are these and do B2B decisions really go through a … Read More

It’s the Holy Grail.   Phoning someone just at the point they are reviewing or may be considering a new agency or indeed using an agency for the first time. If someone tells you that they can accurately predict this, take it with a pinch of salt or at least question their methodology or criteria. … Read More

What is a good value proposition? Our role in new business development is to help our clients define just that. It doesn’t matter if you are a creative, digital, research or any kind of agency, competition for business is rife and any prospective buyer of your services needs to be able to quickly identify the … Read More