The Business of New Business
How to hire a New Business Director.
There’s a time when an agency starts to think about hiring a New Business Director. That point usually comes when the person doing the job, typically the agency’s founder or president, realizes they need to increase their new business efforts, or wants to concentrate on other areas of the business.
A New Business Director operates at the Senior VP level, and is responsible for marketing an agency to prospective clients. They typically are the team member who creates opportunities to present their agency’s credentials to companies, gets the agency into new business pitches, answers RFPs (Request for Proposals), creates the agency’s positioning, and leads pitch teams.
There are many reasons for hiring a new business director: the desire to increase your network of contacts, the need for more visibility in the business world, and the benefit of having someone dedicated solely to the task of attracting and keeping clients.
Here are a few things to consider when hiring (or promoting) someone to take on the New Business Director’s job.
ROI – Will the cost of hiring someone and paying their salary be returned in the form of new client business? Also, how long will that return take to realize? Some New Business Directors work on a commission basis, drawing a salary and getting a percentage of each piece of new business that they bring into an agency. The advantage of a commission-based position is obvious; the New Business Director has a personal stake in their agency’s success. If a candidate for the job balks at a commission arrangement, it does make you question their confidence in their own abilities.
Track Record – Has the person performed the job before and with what success? How much new business in gross billings have they been responsible for bringing in to previous agencies? And just as important, how were they at retaining clients?
Professional Network – How deep is their Rolodex? What contacts do they have at key businesses and at other agencies? The best New Business Directors are adroit at staying in touch with their sources and staying informed about happy — and unhappy — clients in the industry.
Advertising Beliefs – Every agency has a core set of beliefs about what constitutes good advertising. What’s theirs? If it conflicts with your views then there’s going to be a disconnect between the seller and the product.
Knowledge Base – What resources do they use to keep up with the industry? It’s assumed everyone reads Ad Age and Adweek. What about blogs? Or social networks? Or professional memberships? Which ones do they use and why?
Personal Style – Do they fit in with your agency’s culture? It’s expected they’ll be more business-like than your creatives, but will they fit in overall and be someone who can lead everyone too? Just as important, you’ll be spending significant time with them at your agency and on the road, so you have to make sure you really want to be with this person every day.
The critical part of evaluating the answers to these questions is an understanding of what you are ultimately looking for. Is it experience? Leadership? Credibility? Or someone who’s an all around dynamic presence? And only you know the answer to that question.