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2022 Goals – Personal & Business

January 5, 2022 By Peter Leave a Comment

Yup, I Have 2022 Goals

Just a quickie here about my 2022 goals. Just for my head. Just to maybe get your juices flowing. Your goals juices – that is. Your other juices are up to you.

Some goals aqui…

I’ve been intellectualizing, a bit too much, with some smart photographers about who can photograph who? Can me, a white guy, photograph people not like me, as in a series on lesbians? Can I go back to Selma and continue my series in the south? Can I do that black family project in L.A.? On the left or above is a photo I took many years ago. I like it. I am going to write about this ‘who can photograph who?’ subject on PetaPixel.
I am going to dig in deeper about account-based marketing – ABM – just for you – right here on this blog. Well, it is called ABM but it is just plain old very smart sales techniques. Too many advertising agencies do not use ABM. Why?
I am joining a group in Mexico that is all about micro-lending to Mexican women so they can start their own businesses.
I will be in Argentina twice this year visiting my 1.5-year-old granddaughter. She is here with her parents right now. Yes, I will drink a lot of red wine.
I have to get my ass back to SE Asia. Been all over. The last big trip was to India in January 2020. Too long ago.
I will continue to get lots of incoming questions from people that want to move to Mexico. Read about it here – Quit Advertising.

There is more, but I will spare you.

Oh, OK, One Other Thing.

I am starting the year finishing up with two agencies, as in they hired me to help them grow their agency client base. And, starting on two new assignments. Thank y’all!

Now, shouldn’t working with me be one of YOUR goals?

Ask For The Order

January 4, 2022 By Peter Leave a Comment

After I left Advertising… I Learned How To Ask For The Order.

I left advertising for the first time in 1995 to start one of my two Internet / digital companies. You can catch up by reading How I Discovered the Internet After Saatchi. It is a decent read about my asking for a new career and about how to ask for the order.

When I founded and ran New Jersey Online, a very hot and popular first-of-its-kind online news website, my owners, the Newhouse family (think Conde Nast, mucho magazines, mucho newspapers, and Random House) handed me Jim Hageman as my sales director. Jim had been very a serious sales director at the Miami Herald.

As Saatchi & Saatchi’s USA and European business development director – I thought that I knew how sales worked. That was until I went on sales calls with Jim (we were inventing and selling first-gen Internet advertising.) One of the key things he taught me was to never leave a sales meeting without doing for the ‘ask for the order’ dance. If the prospect said yes, great. If, no, we tried to craft a program that fit their needs – and gave some stuff away to soften them up. i.e. we’d sweeten the pot. It worked a lot. And, it became of of my atomic habits.

Today I See A Lot OF Advertising Agencies That Are Way Too Shy – They Do Not Ask For The Order.

Below is a quick example of a smart guy that knows how to perform the ASK. In this case, Jim Clear (a New York Times Best Selling author of “Atomic Habits”) is asking me to share his newsletter with my friends. A clear ASK (yes a clear ask from James Clear). My point, see how he does it… Nicely plus an offer for you.

Learn from this to grow your company’s newsletter and even your advertising agency client Referral Program (you have one, right?)

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Hi there! It’s James Clear. [Read more…] about Ask For The Order

Advertising Agency Sales Prospecting

December 3, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

The Art & Science of Advertising Agency Sales Prospecting – A Smart ‘KISS’ Approach

You know what advertising agency sales prospecting is. Yup. But… let’s start with a couple of definitions to get us on the same page.

From Shopify: Prospecting is the first step in the sales process, which consists of identifying potential customers, aka prospects. The goal of prospecting is to develop a database of likely customers and then systematically communicate with them in the hopes of converting them from potential customer to current customer.

From Peter Levitan: Sales prospecting is efficiently going after and getting the new clients for your advertising agency that y’all deserve.

A ramble: All advertising agencies, digital marketing expert agencies, PR, well you get the idea, need to grow. If you have been reading me for a long time, I’ve told you that you start to lose that new client the minute they become a client. So, knowing that your clients will eventually leave by the back door means that you better be working hard at bringing them in the front.

NOTE: The following is NOT a definitive prospecting plan. I am just toplining the core elements that you have to do. Sales prospecting is both science and art. I help agencies every day get this particular act together.

Sales Prospecting

I am going to assume that you have a referral strategy so you have taken care of that critical business development tactic. But, you cannot rely on referrals and WOM alone for growth. Can’t, shouldn’t. Way too many agencies do this. need a referral plan? Here you go.

Your Brand Positioning Comes First

To be a great prospector, you need to offer the market, your specific market, a compelling brand proposition that will get their attention — one that resonates. You can do all of the prospecting you want but if you do not sound like you will meet a potential client’s needs then ‘fuhgettaboutit‘… you will be wasting your time and money. Need to rethink your positioning? Go here – How To Position An Advertising Agency. [Read more…] about Advertising Agency Sales Prospecting

Smart 2014 Advertising Quote From Mad Men

November 19, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

A Very Smart Advertising Quote From Mad Men

I originally wrote this blog post in 2013 – a year that I published 189 blog posts (a year that my consultancy started to boom). This “Smart 2014 Advertising Quote From Mad Men” post had a brilliant message from Don Draper to all advertising agencies:

The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.

This total factoid about losing clients is why advertising agency new business has to be 24 / 7 / 365. Only the relentless win. Sleep and you will close your doors. I couldn’t come up with a better ad for my business development consultancy. A few dozen + clients after 2013 and I will hammer this point – Only the way actively unignorable win at business development and agency growth.

I highly recommend that you peruse my over 800 blog posts on how to grow your advertising agency. And how to run your business development program 24/7. Here is my list just for you. It is Don Draper approved.

The Idiocy Of Ad Agency Christmas Giving

October 28, 2021 By Peter 4 Comments

Yes, Ad Agency Christmas Giving Is Ineffectual – A Nice Thought From Peter. Ja?

OK. It’s 2021 and what a wonderful two years it has been. As we step outside we, that’s you ad agency leaders, are thinking… huh, shouldn’t we do something cool for our clients? Like, deliver a bit of ad agency Christmas giving. But, um, no, do not do that. So in honor of my magical anti-gifting thought and advice, I offer MY annual Christmas rant (or better yet, a strategic approach to giving).

It is that time of year again.

It is the time that many an ad agency decides that it is a great time of year to add to the upcoming ad agency Christmas giving clutter. Am I being Grinch-like? You bet.

Does your ad agency send out Christmas cards or gifts or online trinkets to clients — even prospects? I call this practice ~~stupid~~ silly. Strong words? Sure. but, why am I saying this?

Look, I have nothing against season’s greetings. But, after working at a couple of agencies (including my own) and watching dozens/hundreds of agencies send out very “creative” Christmas (Chanukah, Kwanza, etc.) cards and gifts during the late-December season, I have to say this is very ill-timed even highly-inefficient outreach. It is wasteful in three critical ways: [Read more…] about The Idiocy Of Ad Agency Christmas Giving