20 min
Biz dev when you’re just starting an agency Agency Leadership Podcast
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- Marketing
You have decided to take the leap and build your own agency. But how do you find clients?
In this episode, Chip and Gini share their thoughts on how to acquire your earliest clients.
They also look at the steps you should take to build a consistent new business engine that will serve you well for years to come.
Key takeaways:
* Gini Dietrich: “Figure out where it is that you excel and then focus on building your network that way.”
* Chip Griffin: “When you’re starting out, if you’ve got three or four decent clients, you’re probably in really good shape. So don’t focus on the quantity side. Focus on the quality side.”
* Gini Dietrich: “It’s a lot easier to grow and scale as a new agency owner than it is for somebody who’s been in business for a very long time.”
* Chip Griffin: “From day one, carve out that time to continue to network, to continue to have meaningful conversations with prospects or people who can refer work to you, because that’s how you will make sure that you’ve got a real engine for growth in the future.”
View Transcript
The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.
Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin.
Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich.
Chip Griffin: And we’re gonna talk about getting started with business development today, because I have nothing… I, I don’t have a funny intro, so I’m just telling you that’s what the topic is. Getting started with business development. That’s it. After this,
Gini Dietrich: You’re on your, on your game today.
Chip Griffin: I, yeah, I mean, I, I screwed up the intro, so we had to, to restart the recording. Y’all will never hear that. Sorry. But, you know, it’s, and, and I, it threw me off my game, and I wasn’t able to come up with a cutesy little intro. So we’re talking about business development.
When you’re just getting started, you just, you’re just starting your agency. You wanna know how to grow business and do it consistently. That’s what we’re gonna talk about. Easy peasy.
Gini Dietrich: Easy peasy. All right. How do you do it?
Chip Griffin: Oh, I have to have an answer? I, I thought I was just introducing the topic.
Gini Dietrich: No, you have to, you have to have an answer.
Chip Griffin: Well, so I mean, really the, the, the first and best answer is that you started with at least one client. Yes. Which is I think true of the vast majority of agencies. Most, most folks don’t hang out the shingle without a client already on the line, usually, or not usually. Sometimes that may be your last employer.
Yep. Sometimes it may be someone who was a client of that last employer. Yep. Sometimes it may be someone that you’ve had a previous business relationship with and you’ve talked to them, and so now you can use that as your jumping off point. Yep. So chances are you’ve got some kind of revenue right out of the gate. Not enough to sustain you, probably.
Not enough to, to sit there and say, oh, I’m happy now, but at least it gets you started. And so it’s helpful to, to figure out how to get that first client. If you don’t have it,
You have decided to take the leap and build your own agency. But how do you find clients?
In this episode, Chip and Gini share their thoughts on how to acquire your earliest clients.
They also look at the steps you should take to build a consistent new business engine that will serve you well for years to come.
Key takeaways:
* Gini Dietrich: “Figure out where it is that you excel and then focus on building your network that way.”
* Chip Griffin: “When you’re starting out, if you’ve got three or four decent clients, you’re probably in really good shape. So don’t focus on the quantity side. Focus on the quality side.”
* Gini Dietrich: “It’s a lot easier to grow and scale as a new agency owner than it is for somebody who’s been in business for a very long time.”
* Chip Griffin: “From day one, carve out that time to continue to network, to continue to have meaningful conversations with prospects or people who can refer work to you, because that’s how you will make sure that you’ve got a real engine for growth in the future.”
View Transcript
The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.
Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin.
Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich.
Chip Griffin: And we’re gonna talk about getting started with business development today, because I have nothing… I, I don’t have a funny intro, so I’m just telling you that’s what the topic is. Getting started with business development. That’s it. After this,
Gini Dietrich: You’re on your, on your game today.
Chip Griffin: I, yeah, I mean, I, I screwed up the intro, so we had to, to restart the recording. Y’all will never hear that. Sorry. But, you know, it’s, and, and I, it threw me off my game, and I wasn’t able to come up with a cutesy little intro. So we’re talking about business development.
When you’re just getting started, you just, you’re just starting your agency. You wanna know how to grow business and do it consistently. That’s what we’re gonna talk about. Easy peasy.
Gini Dietrich: Easy peasy. All right. How do you do it?
Chip Griffin: Oh, I have to have an answer? I, I thought I was just introducing the topic.
Gini Dietrich: No, you have to, you have to have an answer.
Chip Griffin: Well, so I mean, really the, the, the first and best answer is that you started with at least one client. Yes. Which is I think true of the vast majority of agencies. Most, most folks don’t hang out the shingle without a client already on the line, usually, or not usually. Sometimes that may be your last employer.
Yep. Sometimes it may be someone who was a client of that last employer. Yep. Sometimes it may be someone that you’ve had a previous business relationship with and you’ve talked to them, and so now you can use that as your jumping off point. Yep. So chances are you’ve got some kind of revenue right out of the gate. Not enough to sustain you, probably.
Not enough to, to sit there and say, oh, I’m happy now, but at least it gets you started. And so it’s helpful to, to figure out how to get that first client. If you don’t have it,
20 min