What Is Prospecting and How to Do It Right?

Do you want to win new clients for your agency? Every successful agency-client relationship is built on a foundation of understanding. Reps must research and prepare to understand their prospects to build these relationships. In the pre-pitch stage, this process is known as prospecting.

What Is Sales Prospecting?

Prospecting is initiating and developing business by looking for potential customers who meet your ideal customer profile (ICP). The goal is to engage in conversations, nurture a prospect down the funnel, and ultimately turn them into closed-won revenue.

Why Is Prospecting Important?

Prospecting is your first interaction with a brand if you’re an agency development rep. It’s an opportunity to prove that you’re a student of their business and fully invested in being their partner. Prospecting ensures you’re maximizing your time, talking to the right people, and engaging with those who have the potential to turn into closed-won revenue.

Prospecting can be time-consuming. Top sellers spend an average of 6 hours per week researching prospects. Using the right prospecting tools and knowing which questions to ask can make understanding potential clients much easier and less time-consuming.

What to Look for When Prospecting

To understand a prospect and maximize your relationship, it’s important to ask the right questions:

• ​What advertising formats do they use?
• ​How much do they advertise?
• ​Where do they advertise?
• ​What kind of ad creative do they run?
• ​Which agencies – and what kinds of agencies – are they currently working with?
• ​Who should I talk to within the company?

What ad formats do they use?

Does the prospect advertise on TV? Print? Many brands place ads across multiple media formats, including print, display, mobile, video, native, email, and TV. Offering a cross-platform advertising package could be key to winning the business. Consider if they are investing in emerging ecosystems like OTT and TikTok. If not, ask yourself why.

Determine which ad formats they use—and which ones they don’t—and craft a pitch that resonates with the prospect and helps them take their strategy to the next level.

How much do they advertise?

Knowing a brand’s ad spend and the number of ads placed tells you about its ad strategy. Fluctuations in ad spend may signify an altered marketing strategy or a lack of return on investment. If you can provide tangible proof of return on different ad formats, you could win that share of wallet.

Where do they advertise?

Find out what TV networks, print, and online publications the brand typically advertises with. This will tell you a lot about which demographics they’re trying to reach. The ability to target the right audience can be a deal-maker or deal-breaker for a brand.

What kind of ad creative do they run?

Study your prospect’s past creative to get a feel for their design and layout preferences across platforms. Reviewing recent campaigns can provide insight into their messaging and style.

What agencies do they work with?

Find out who the prospect currently works with. Do they have an agency specifically for creative, TV, or digital? Do they have an agency for each? Can you provide a better service or fill a blind spot in their strategy? Combine this with advertising insights to see how you fare against your competitors.

Who should I talk to?

Once you’ve gained a full understanding of how your prospect advertises, it’s important to understand their people. Research who the decision makers are within the company and who to talk to regarding different aspects of their business. There may be a group of people you need to connect with—the typical buying group for a complex B2B solution includes between 8 and 10 people.

For example:

• ​Are you a digital creative agency? Find the director of digital partnerships.
• ​Are you an international agency looking to work in new markets? Reach out to the Senior Marketing Director for Emerging Markets.
• ​Are you an integrated agency? Reach out to the person who selected their current media agency.

Prospecting the Right Way with MediaRadar

MediaRadar helps you better understand prospects by providing the data needed to learn about them and the insights to make that data actionable.

Benefits of ad sales intelligence tools

Some key benefits include:

• ​Identify your point of contact: Ad sales intelligence platforms help you prospect for new business and connect with the right people. They issue reports on spending and allow you to uncover opportunities.
• ​Insights on when to reach out: Get insights on brand media planning and buying periods to proactively plan and craft a pitch that will resonate.
• ​Context for the perfect pitch: Tools provide information on spending data, cross-channel spending, and greater industry insights—all in one place.
• ​Leverage existing relationships: See who holds buying power (now and in the past) and use that information to write a compelling cold email.
• ​Outperform the competition: Gain an advantage with accurate, trustworthy, and recent data.

How to Pick the Right Ad Sales Intelligence Tool

Ask yourself these five questions:

1. 1.Can I trust the information provided? Know where the company sources the data and how often they update it.
2. 2.Is the tool easy to use and understand? A powerful tool is only useful if it’s easy to use and the data is clear.
3. 3.Does the vendor take data privacy seriously? Ensure compliance with privacy regulations like the US Privacy Shield Program and CCPA.
4. 4.Can I customize the platform? Determine if the tool can be tailored to your needs and goals.
5. 5.Is the vendor a partner? Find out if the vendor is invested in your success or will disappear after onboarding.

A reliable ad sales intelligence tool allows you to identify and pursue high-priority opportunities. Make your perfect pitch with relevant data and a team supporting you all the way.