The New Business Intermediary
Reardon Smith Whittaker (RSW) puts agencies in front of the clients they want to work with and helps clients find perfect fit agencies for their requirements.
We do this through two separate operating divisions.
RSW and AgencyFinder.
When agencies engage RSW they are working with the longest established new business agency around. Our role is to support agencies in their drive to secure new business through proposition and message development, client profiling and selection and new business prospecting (on a retained or project basis).
Agencies and consultancies from the following disciplines utilise our services; advertising, PR, direct marketing, sales promotion, research, consulting, branding, design, digital etc.
Our clients include major global communications group agencies and also many of the more boutique niche players. One thing they all have in common is that they are dedicated to the new business process and understand the timescales involved.
AgencyFinder is an on and offline matchmaking service that combines algorithmic database search with the softer skills of our consultants to help clients find the perfect agency for their needs.
Background to RSW
RSW was established by Adam Whittaker and Sam Reardon Smith. They were both new business directors of design, branding, sales promotion and advertising agencies before deciding to launch the company in 1992 to capitalise on what they had learned.
Since then the company has continued to learn new techniques, methodologies and strategies hued from an average of 31,200 hours of new business prospecting undertaken each year. I shall repeat that figure; 31,200! For 17 years. That is almost 550,000 hours of new business prospecting that have been overseen, managed, observed and learned from. To enhance this knowledge we have also undertaken a new business survey each year since 2003 and have further used this to fine-tune our methods of making client approaches.
The company opened RSW US in 2005 and partnered with AgencyFinder in February 2008 to become the first new business intermediary, providing both lead generation and client/agency matchmaking. This powerful combination provides both agencies and clients with the necessary tools to forge successful, long-lasting relationships.
This combination of new business agency and search and selection consultancy is unique and provides us with so much more insight into the market than any of our competitors can possibly claim. More important even than insight is knowledge; the vast majority of RSW clients also sign up for AgencyFinder and whilst the fact they are a client of RSW IN NO WAY affects their chances of being selected by a client (the initial search is handled on line by the client, over which we have no influence) if a client then asks us about the agencies they have selected, we can tell them more about those we know best.
And considering that AgencyFinder has handled more than £40m of agency reviews in the UK in just the twelve months from June 2008 to June 2009, possibly the worst year most of us can remember, this advantage should not be dismissed.
WARNING – RSW can be very expensive; but only if you are very successful in converting our leads into billable clients. So if you aren’t interested in working with an agency that wants to be rewarded very handsomely for it’s success, then we may not be right for you. We are also not right for you if you cannot demonstrate an ability to win business or if the clients you are seeking do not provide the potential to generate at least £100k per year in GP.
Call Adam Whittaker on +44 (0) 20 7603 2290 to talk about your situation and objectives.
