Developing a healthy sales culture at Finsweet

As a freelancer or someone who touches the sales side of things at an agency, it can sometimes be difficult to piece together a clean, effective sales process.

I recently shared a Finsweet+ session with Jay Wolff (Head of Agency at Finsweet) where we talked through our current approach to sales and some of the culture we try to hold in our daily work, specifically as it relates to sales. (Link at the end of this note)

We spent a large chunk of the session getting into the weeds on our process. I would encourage you to check out the session through the link below and hope that you can find an insight or two on how you might improve your own sales process.

The persistent lead

One of my favorite moments from this session was a story that Jay shared about an experience he once had with a previous client.

Before joining Finsweet, Jay built and sold 4 creative agencies helping some of the world's top brands. At one of those agencies, he got a call from a brand who needed a project done incredibly fast.

This is not an uncommon request in the agency world, but the rep from this brand was approaching Jay and his agency with a tone that he didn't jive with. From this impression, he didn't think working with them would be a good experience, and so he kindly came back to the rep with a referral to another great agency that Jay said would do an incredible job helping them.

The next day, Jay got a call back from that same producer. They said they still wanted to know what Jay and his team could offer regarding their project. Their conversation seemed to be all about forcing Jay and his team into a tight budget and timeline. The tone was still the same... So Jay offered an even better referral to another agnecy who would be a great fit for their project.

That rep came back for a third call to Jay and said simply, "what would it take to hire you?". After an inquisitive nudge from Jay, the rep said again, "we want you to do this project". Their tone and approach had changed.

This change in the dynamic of their relationship was just what Jay needed for his team to be comfortable working on this brand's project. They ended up having a very successful project and working relationship together.

That brand was MTV, one of the largest names in entertainment at the time.

The lesson in this story... don't be afraid to walk away from "big" deals when it's not a culture fit. You might just find them coming back to beg you to work with them.