Let’s face facts: it’s been a hard few years for agencies.

The country is trudging through a recession. Agency-client relationships are more tumultuous than ever. And everyone’s jumping on the AI trend without a real understanding of what it all means.

With the market being in such a competitive place right now, Mike Lander, CEO of Piscari and chairman of Re:Signal, wants to ensure we can still win pitches.

“What are buyers looking for? A niche. They almost always want capable agencies that know a client’s sector and have really strong credentials to solve very particular problems with breakthrough ideas.”

But even then, niching down might not be enough to win. Maybe what you really need is a shift in mindset, and a change in the type of clients you’re taking on.

You should be thinking more strategically.

“You need to be a medium-sized fish in a smaller pond,” says Mike. “In fact, turning down opportunities is a much better way of winning more of the right business.”

“Positioning in this market is really important. If you’ve got 100 opportunities, you should be turning down 30-40 of them, and of the 60-70 you’re working on, you should be winning about 40-50%.”

Saying no to some clients could be an opportunity to win more in the long run.

Join us for this marketing and new biz mastermind, where Mike will be joining us to discuss some of the strategies he’s implemented with agency clients to win more pitches during a recession.