Business development is a topic that is always front-and-center for agency owners. So I'm welcoming back one of our most popular guests, Robin Boehler from Mercer Island Group, to talk to us about the observations she and her team have made as they work with both agencies and clients who are asking to be matched with agencies. From those observations, Robin will outline some of the best practices that we need to be mindful of as we work to grow our agencies.

One of my favorite songs from the play Hamilton is "In the Room Where it Happens" where Aaron Burr laments that he's not an insider, seeing how decisions are made. Mercer Island Group is always front and center in that room, as brands decide which agency has earned their business. You and I, as agency owners, are like Burr. We're never going to be invited in, but fortunately, we have access to someone who is always there. In this podcast, Robin will help us understand how clients respond to the work we do, our level of preparation before and during a pitch, and how we communicate our understanding of the client's business issues.

Sadly, sometimes the best fit agency doesn't win. The agency lined up perfectly with the client and maybe should have been the agency that was selected. But something the agency did or didn't do take them out of the running. All without them even knowing what they did.

We've all made mistakes during a pitch and didn't come out ahead. Those mistakes are painful and expensive. But they're fixable if you heed the insights Robin shared in this episode.

I promise you — if you implement the best practices Robin and I talk about in this episode, you're going to see the difference in your win rate. This is the perfect time of year to put this advice into action so you step into 2019 ready to serve your prospects and build your agency.

If you love this episode – you can get even more by spending 2-4 days learning from Robin and Steve Boehler at AMI's Win More Business workshops this January. Learn more here.

What You Will Learn About in This Episode:

• Common mistakes Robin sees agencies make when preparing, or while making, their pitch to a client
• How agencies need to stop underutilizing the cover letter to their presentation
• How to read, analyze, and uncover what a client is requesting in their RFP / RFI
• Why it's important to focus the majority of your presentation around the client's business issues — and not your agency
• How to evoke curiosity and make your prospects want to lean in when you describe your agency
• How to write a cold email to a prospect and stand out from the crowd
• How to ensure everyone on your team is telling the same story about the agency and how you serve clients
• Why "frame of reference" is important when communicating with a prospect about what your agency does
• Why you should put the entire pitch process, assets, and everything you will need to be successful onto an agency calendar — and allow enough time at the end for adjustments
• How problems around attention to detail make clients begin to question an agency's bandwidth and capacity

Ways to contact Robin Boehler:

• Website: www.migroup.com
• Phone: 206.236.0447