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Small Spark Theory: a marginal gains approach to new business and marketing


New business is one of those subjects guaranteed to get a reaction from agency owners everywhere. Many will have a nagging feeling they should be doing a bit more, wonder how other agencies manage to land the accounts they covet, have moments of wild inspiration and energy then falter because the day job just, well gets in the way.
Gunpowder’s Lucy Mann has worked in agency new business for over 25 years and has witnessed these scenarios, and many more like them, as an outsourced new business telemarketer, a new business recruitment consultant, in house new business developer, in house head of marketing, and new business mentor across multiple disciplines and agency shapes and sizes.
Regardless of size and discipline, many agencies encounter the same new business challenges, and more and more, the solution is not necessarily an ambitious marketing plan, or expensive sales resource, but instead a forensic application of process and a marginal gains approach to performance improvement.
Gunpowder’s podcast, Small Spark Theory® explores the small changes we can make to our sales and marketing process to achieve better new business results. With contributions from a range of experts, each episode will examine a single element of the process in detail, providing manageable tips for improvement.

Find our more about Gunpowder Consulting, please visit gunpowderconsulting.com
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Music from Jukedeck - create your own at http://jukedeck.com.
Host - Lucy Mann
Producer - Isabelle Jarvis

Oct 8, 2020

Back in April this year, Claire Beale wrote this brilliant Campaign article about the client/agency dynamic. It was a rallying cry for cultivating deeper working relationships built on partnership, trust and mutual support and a move away from the procurer/supplier mind set we know all too well.

I’ve reflected on this theme often over the intervening months. In my conversations with agency owners, account teams and new business practitioners I sensed a polarising effect of the pandemic. It has been no surprise that the stronger the partnerships with clients, the better able both parties have been to communicate and problem solve. At the very least, for agencies that communication has been vital to provide the financial visibility required for scenario planning.

Whatever lies ahead, I hope this experience galvanises more clients into investing in the process of hiring agencies, but that’s a big, thorny topic for another day. What I’m interested in right now is how agencies can fulfil our part of the bargain. How can we actively shift our existing client relationships from transactional and reactive to trusted and proactive?

In previous episodes we have discussed the process of client development planning, but this time, we’re taking it to the next level and exploring client satisfaction audits.

My guest is agency powerhouse Alisha Lyndon, founder and CEO of B2B growth consultancy Momentum. Alisha and I worked together last year to re-invigorate Momentum’s client satisfaction programme and in this episode, we discuss the process, the outcomes and share some top tips for building trust and advocacy.

As always we’ll be giving away a copy of Alisha’s recommended read Insight, by Tasha Eurich.  Listen in to find out how to win.

For details of Gunpowder’s client satisfaction audit consulting, get in touch at lucy@gunpowderconsulting.com