Pressures build on new business leaders
The people who have gotten the most out of the NBZ Slack channel are those who are actively participating, asking for advice and networking with other members, Segall and Mandel said.
“Our departments are one of the smallest within an agency,” said Natasha Kesaji, head of business development for independent agency OKRP and an NBZ Slack member. “Just to have a community to soundboard with, it’s so valuable. The way in which business is being awarded, whether it’s project-based or it’s becoming more narrow or specific in terms of discipline, we’re curious to understand how other people have tackled it to get some perspective.”
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Kesaji said the Slack channel has been most useful in providing her tips for working with certain consultants and insights into how certain brands treat agencies, and if they’re worth pursuing. Anything client confidential is off limits, she added.
Segall said there is no other dedicated community for new business leaders to learn from each other and this guidance is even more critical today as their responsibilities increase.
“Now they’re marketing, they’re PR, they’re prospecting, they’re doing agency positioning, branding, some of them do internal communications,” Segall said, noting how understaffed agencies, which are struggling to hire because of all the other pressures on the business, are looking to new business leaders to be responsible for all aspects of growth.
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Walters said agency branding is one of the biggest focuses for new business leaders now because of the influx in competition from the rise in new shops. “It’s very competitive right now,” she said.
How to position your agency has been a focus of the Slack group, Walters said. For her, though, new business is a very personal discipline because “it’s like dating,” so having a community to support you when you lose out on an account and feel as if you just went through a “break-up” has been the most critical aspect of it.
While it may seem like these professionals would be in competition with each other, both Kesaji and Walters said there is a camaraderie among small agencies in which they want to see each other succeed.
“Us independent agencies root for other independents,” Kesaji said. “There is more than enough work to go around. It’s not like we have secret sauces. There is just a lot of opportunity to help one another and help the industry.”
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