Don’t Stoop to Their Level
Luke Miller, Founder – Shop Marketing & Creative Group
In the agency world, it’s a constant battle for business. At the end of the day, we are project based and require a non-stop barrage of work to keep our business afloat. Of course, every agency would love to have businesses lining up at the door. Build a national reputation and they will, but until then we must rely on business development. BizDev is not a fun task, in fact it’s downright un-fun, but it’s completely and overwhelmingly necessary.
So, what are some strategies for developing new business? Well, there are a million articles that will tell you that, so if you’ve come here for those kinds of tips go somewhere else. Business development is a notoriously shady task; a full court press, filled with hyperbole and posturing. This kind of business development is just not something I am interested in. Not now, not ever. Not for me, not for my team. To paraphrase my favorite baseball team’s manager, Joe Maddon, we want to “Do [AGENCY] Better.”
How do we do it better? We mean it. We believe it. We don’t chase profit, we chase passion.
I constantly tell my team to seek business they believe in, to avoid high pressure sales tactics, and to never come to their level. What do I mean by come to their level? Agencies are innately unscrupulous businesses – cutthroat and capricious. Agencies are, by their very nature, insatiable money mongers – if business slows, they cut staff, if creativity drys, they harvest, and if success is found, they sell (to conglomerates).
We are flat out different. We don’t want to be a big agency. We don’t want to be beholden to investors on the 86th floor in a corner office. No. We’d rather just be the little, honest, hardworking, heartwarming, groundbreaking, personal, friendly, helpful…Shop.
So, if this is the kind of agency you want to work with, GET IN LINE! It’s a short line now and if we keep doing things our way, maybe that will change. I’ll tell you one thing, we won’t be coming down to their level…you’ll just have to come up to ours. Up here, you’re next in line and we’d be happy to take care of you. It’s the only way. It’s #TheShopWay. Join us.