Advanced New Business Course

It will provide you with everything you need to help drive greater growth for your agency and develop a proactive new business mindset. You’ll acquire advanced skills and knowledge in topics such as effective PR and marketing, new business strategy, commercial negotiation and working with procurement, as well as how to deliver value back to the business and become a new business and marketing leader. Each module will be delivered by leading experts in their field sharing best practice, real-world experience, and practical tools. 

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for individuals working in, or looking to move into, new business and growth roles. It is aimed towards those with 5+ years’ experience who are looking to strengthen their commercial contribution, develop a more proactive approach to growth, and build a stronger new business mindset within their role. The content is designed to support progression for delegates wanting to deepen existing new business expertise or translate skills from other agency roles. 

Agenda

The nine modules will cover new business strategy, becoming a new business and marketing leader, qualifying pitches and pipeline, effective PR and marketing, strategy for intermediaries, creating commercial partnerships and more. 

Module 1: New Business Strategy 

Time and location: Tuesday 6 October, 9:30am-11am, choice of in-person at the IPA or virtual

Tutors: Emily Crabtree, Director of Client Experience, IMA Global and Katherine Charalambous, Head of Marketing and New Business, MG OMD

Module 2: Becoming a New Business & Marketing Leader

Time and location: Tuesday 13 October, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutor: Carly Avener, CEO, Leo UK

Module 3: Qualifying Pitches and Pipeline

Time and location: Tuesday 20 October, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutor: Mark Clark, Owner, jfdi

• What clients want – a ‘back of the cab’ perspective on clients in pitch mode
• How to turn these insights into pitch leadership
• Five things that should shape your agency’s winning ways
• How to be a pitch doctor

Module 4: Working with Procurement 

Time and location: Tuesday 27 October, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutor: Rebecca Bellairs, Co-founder, Pitch'd 

Procurement is often the least understood party in a pitch process, yet is one of the most influential forces over whether you win, and on what terms. This session takes you inside the new business process from the client side, so you leave better able to read the key context in a process and ask better questions, early enough to have impact.

• How the shortlist gets cut, and what's really driving it
• How clients balance chemistry with capability when evaluating
• How comms are managed through a process, and what silence actually means
• How decisions are made in the rooms agencies never sit in
  

Module 5: Effective PR

Time and location: Tuesday 3 November, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutor: Jane Austin, Owner, Persuasion Communications 

• Relationships with journalists and PR strategy 

Module 6: Strategy for Intermediaries 

Time and location: Tuesday 10 November, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutors: Rebecca Nunneley, Lead Consultant and Hannah Astill, Lead Consultant, Media Practice, AAR 

• The role of an intermediary and how it’s changed. How can intermediaries get the best out of an agency, and what should agencies do to get the best out of intermediaries? Horror and success stories. 

Module 7: Creating Commercial Partnerships 

Time and location: Tuesday 17 November, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutor: John Cornwell, CCO, Ace of Hearts

Module 8: Effective Marketing

Time and location: Tuesday 24 November, 10am-11am, virtual

Tutor: Hannah March, Managing Director, Growth, Publicis Media UK

• Marketing your agency 

Module 9: The Technology Red Thread 

Time and location: Tuesday 1 December, 9:30am-11am, choice of in-person at the IPA or virtual

Tutor: Patrick Ryan, CEO & Founder, The 300 Consultancy 

This module will look at how technology and AI can run as a red thread through the whole pitch process, from the first intermediary conversation to the final presentation.

A pitch divides into three parts, being exploration, preparation, and then the ideas and storytelling that actually win it. Two thirds of the time goes on work that is foundational but decides nothing. This session covers where technology can take that work off your team so the time goes back into the third that does decide the outcome, how a shared layer of evidence and narrative keeps every client touchpoint consistent, and where you should keep technology out of the process altogether. You will leave with five things you can put into practice on the Monday.