If you want the attention of an agency leader, manager, or department head, you’ll have to wait until they get a break in the action from the latest new business pitch. In agencies of all types and sizes, new business presentations are all-consuming.

The gravest sin committed by marketing communications professionals is their tenacious tendency to sell services instead of solutions. A bullet point list of capabilities is hardly the most effective way to frame the value you create for your clients.

Take a close look at your standard pitch deck, the “about us” section of your website, or your new business materials. Highlight every instance of words like “leading,” “excellence,” and “innovative.”

If you’re frustrated by your prospective client’s desire to do an apples-to-apples comparison of agencies, there is a simple solution: stop being an apple.

Do you know what percentage of serious new business prospects visit your website? 100%. They all do. Because all prospective buyers of your services want to know what exactly what it is you’re selling. And although different marketers might want to know different things about your firm, they’re all ultimately looking to find one thing: expertise.

It’s been said that new business is a numbers game, but the most successful agencies would vigorously disagree. The very best in our business focus their talents in areas where they have a clear advantage and pass on everything else.

Imagine you’ve just received a notice from the IRS that they’re going to audit your most recent tax return. You’ve never been through an audit before, and because you’re in the habit of preparing your own tax returns, you decide it’s time to get some professional help.

Does this look like a familiar list of criteria for new business prospects?

Would a prospective client travel 1,000 miles to do business with your firm? That’s one of the litmus tests of a strong agency positioning strategy. Unless you’re satisfied attracting local business from the local market (and some agencies are), you should devote some thought to how you can become what I call a “destination agency” …

“What is it they do again?” That’s the reaction of many prospective clients looking at the list of diverse services listed on most agency websites.

As a agency brand, would you rather be moderately appealing to a large group of prospects, or intensely appealing to a select group of prospects? Most agency professionals would say the latter.

Agencies, like most businesses in today’s economy, are going to great lengths to avoid risk. It’s easy to assume that the least risky path is to pull in your horns and keep plowing forward with your current business model. This is essentially the strategy of “just try harder.”