New Business is everybody’s business!

Dear ,

Early in my career, I walked into a Monday morning agency meeting and asked what I thought was a simple question.

"Who spoke to a prospective client last week?"

Silence.

Eventually someone looked across the room and said,

"Isn't that the new business director's job?"

I looked towards the other end of the table.

The new business director was sitting there.

Alone.

I've never forgotten that moment.

The agency had exceptional people. Brilliant creatives. Experienced account handlers. Smart strategists. Senior leaders with decades of relationships.

Yet almost everyone believed growth belonged to one person.

The irony, of course, is that clients don't hire a new business department.

They hire an agency.

They remember the strategist who shares an interesting perspective.

The account director who spots an opportunity before anyone else.

The creative who stays curious about a client's business.

The person who introduces them to someone they should know.

Long before there's a pitch, people are already deciding whether they want to work with you.

So we changed one thing.

New business became a standing agenda item in every team meeting.

We talked about opportunities.

We shared conversations we were having.

We asked what people were hearing from clients and contacts.

We encouraged everyone to make introductions, spot changes in the market and share ideas.

It wasn't revolutionary.

But it changed the culture.

Gradually, new business stopped belonging to one person.

It became everyone's responsibility.

And unsurprisingly, opportunities started appearing in places we'd never looked before.

More than twenty years later, it's still one of the first questions I ask when working with an agency.

Is growth owned by the whole business?

Or is one exhausted person still sitting alone at the end of the table?

Because in the agencies that grow consistently, new business isn't a department.

It's a mindset.

See you next week,

Marcus Brown, Founder and CEO, The Great Pitch Company.

P.S. For more information about our company visit The Great Pitch Company.