The Senior New Business Manager is responsible for acquiring new clients and developing collaboration with existing business partners. This role involves establishing relationships with brands that are or may soon be interested in influencer marketing. The Manager presents the agency's offerings and performs all necessary activities to establish business partnerships with these clients. They are responsible for building strong relationships with clients, negotiating terms of collaboration, and co-creating proposals tailored to meet new clients business needs.
The goal of this role is to increase the agency's revenue by acquiring new clients and fostering long-term business relationships. The Senior New Business Manager supports the agency's growth by expanding its client portfolio.
Key Responsibilities
Client Acquisition
- Market Analysis: Regularly analyze the market to identify potential clients (brands) that could benefit from the agency's services.
- Lead Database Management: Build and update a database of potential clients, identify decision-makers, and add them to the company CRM (Pipedrive).
- Client Outreach: Actively seek contact with potential clients via cold calling, emails, LinkedIn, and networking at events, conferences, and expert groups.
- Relationship Building: Establish long-term relationships with potential clients, conduct initial conversations to understand their needs, and introduce them to the agency's offerings.
- Presentation of Agency Credentials and Case Studies.
- Administrative Processes: Manage formalities such as registration on clients procurement platforms or listing the agency as an approved vendor.
Offer Coordination
- Participate in client briefings.
- Proposal Development: Collaborate with the strategy team to create personalized proposals based on discussions with potential clients.
- Attend debrief and tissue meetings.
- Presentation Delivery: Conduct presentations to potential clients, explaining campaign opportunities, strategic goals, expected outcomes, and brand benefits.
- Collect feedback from clients and manage new briefs by forwarding them to the Client Service team.
Sales Strategy Implementation
- Develop and execute individual sales plans aligned with the agency's goals and target audience analysis.
Negotiating Collaboration Terms
- Conduct business negotiations regarding collaboration terms and campaign budgets to ensure mutually beneficial agreements.
- Manage formalities for smaller new clients, such as contracts, project documentation, and client onboarding.
Collaboration with Internal Teams
- Briefing Teams: Share client requirements and goals, ensuring proposals address marketing objectives, personal client needs, and decision-making criteria.
- Work closely with strategy, account, and implementation teams to ensure successful execution of campaigns.
- Assist the Client Service team in resolving project complications, including sensitive negotiations or damage control.
- Support sales team alignment by updating CRM and planning collaboratively to maximize revenue.
Upselling and Additional Sales
- Actively promote and upsell agency services in collaboration with the Client Service team.
Qualifications
- Overall 7+ years of experience, minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in influencer marketing sales or social media content production with documented success in meeting or exceeding targets.
- Proven ability to manage strategic client relationships and identify new business opportunities.
- In-depth industry knowledge and familiarity with market trends.
- Advanced negotiation and persuasive communication skills.
- Strategic sales planning abilities.
- Completed Sandler training program is an asset.
Competencies
Relationship Building:
- Strong listening and interpersonal skills to understand and address client needs.
Effective Communication:
- Clear and persuasive information delivery to clients and internal teams.
- Translating client needs into actionable agency tasks.
- Proactive feedback exchange to improve skills and outcomes.
Project and Time Management:
- Efficient handling of multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.
- Timely delivery of projects with careful prioritization.
Budget Management:
- Financial acumen in campaign budgeting and cost control.
- Proficiency in creating cost estimates and project settlements.
Problem-Solving:
- Ability to manage unexpected issues and implement corrective actions swiftly.
Market Knowledge:
- Expertise in advertising and marketing industry trends, customer needs, and market specifics.
Crisis Management:
- Skilled in resolving client conflicts and managing sensitive situations without compromising relationships.
Adaptability:
- Responsive to changing client needs and dynamic agency environments.
Technical Expertise:
- Generating and nurturing high-quality leads.
- Building strong relationships through cold calls and emails.
- Closing sales effectively, even when addressing objections.
- Understanding competitor strengths and market positioning.
Overall Objectives
- Systematically prospect and acquire new clients for the agency.
- Achieve annual individual sales budget targets.
- Maintain project profitability for small and medium-sized clients.
- Build and update the client database in the CRM system.
