Business Growth with a Soul
It’s a great pleasure to introduce Matt Weiss to our True & North Community as he shares his outlook on the future of Business Development in the Professional Services Industry.
T&N: Matt, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Matt Weiss: Hi, I’m a serial new business entrepreneur who moonlights as a strategist, client partner, agency executive management leader, P&L owner and father of two girls and a boy all of who grew up so quickly and are making their way into the world. I’d be remiss not to mention my Wife, Deb, of 32 years which also is tell that I am in my third turn around mercury.
Professionally, I’ve worked at large holding companies (IPG, WPP, Stagwell — when it was MDC)and Havas, advertising agencies, digital agencies and most recently Huge Inc. a design/tech/innovation agency.
The common red thread across all my experiences — professional and personal — is a deep sense of purpose that unites groups (Families & Teams) and an approach to the world (to People) focusing on empathy, humanity, heart and hustle. When you Love Relentlessly you can do almost anything. And the Lord knows the world is in desperate need of more love.
T&N: The sum of the crises we see today can be greater than their parts. Of all the changes we’re experiencing which will have the most impact on BD as we know it?
Matt Weiss: We’re at an inflexion point in the world of business development, especially across advertising agencies, design firms, media companies, and specialist firms, both big and small. The challenges we face today aren’t just about shrinking margins or the ever-changing landscape of consumer expectations. It’s deeper than that. We’re staring down a systemic crisis, rooted in short-term thinking and a failure to invest in meaningful, sustainable growth practices.
At the heart of this crisis is the CMO. We all know the stats: the average tenure of a CMO is now just 40 months — down from 48 months a decade ago. Think about that. CMOs, the very people responsible for steering the brand’s long-term vision, are being cycled out faster than many campaigns can run their course. This churn isn’t just a headache for the brands they work for; it’s suffocating the business development efforts of agencies and firms across the board.
Why? Because we’ve created an environment where CMOs are under enormous pressure to deliver short-term results. The rise of performance marketing has exacerbated this problem, with an overwhelming focus on metrics that provide immediate gratification — clicks, conversions, short-term revenue spikes — but offer little in the way of long-term brand equity. We’ve allowed the pendulum to swing too far.
The truth is, performance marketing without brand building is a house built on sand. And that’s why, as agencies, we’re seeing new business pipelines dry up. We’ve catered to this short-term mindset, and in doing so, we’ve starved ourselves of the very thing that feeds our future — growth built on a foundation of purpose and long-term vision.
T&N: How has your approach to BD changed over the years, and how do you see it evolving?
Matt Weiss: It’s time we, as an industry, hold ourselves accountable to a higher standard. We need to resist the temptation to play into short-termism and instead double down on what we know to be true: great brands are built over time, and so are great agencies. The crisis we’re in demands clarity in our positioning, a laser focus on what makes us truly unique and special.
Agencies can’t afford to be everything to everyone anymore.
We need to stand for something. We need the time to invest in brands for both long and short term results. This means moving off the quarterly earnings roller coaster and view brands from two lenses: immediate sales overnight and long term brand building over time.
Critically, at the same time, we must be outcome oriented, and we must hold ourselves accountable for results. How that is measured becomes an important part of the relationship built between client and agency partner — often initially started in the BD process.
T&N: What do agencies need to do to stay resilient and drive growth? What BD behaviours will never change?
Matt Weiss: We need to take growth seriously, with the same rigour and discipline that we apply to creative work or client service. That means dedicated teams, resources, and leadership commitment. Growth needs to be part of the total strategy of the agency — not something we think about when revenue is down or when a new CMO walks in the door with a 12-month ticking clock on their tenure.
If we want to fulfill our growth ambitions — and I don’t just mean hitting revenue targets but truly growing into the agencies we know we can become — then we need to invest in growth. And not just financially. We need to invest our time, our energy, and our attention into building the structures, processes, and teams that will allow us to grow sustainably.
Growth isn’t an afterthought. It’s the engine that powers everything else. And until we recognize that — and act on it — we’ll continue to face the same crises over and over again.
Final thought: Unnamed large entities whose singular focus is growth at all costs, often with little patience for rebuilding or margin dilution in service of longer-term good. This obsession with immediate returns suffocates innovation and can erode the very culture that allows for creativity and differentiation.
T&N: What is empathy’s role in BD and can it be the source of business advantage?
Matt Weiss: It’s no surprise that smaller and midsize agencies are thriving right now. They’ve stayed nimble, embraced their humanity and personality, and held strong points of view. In fact, these agencies are often outpacing their larger counterparts because they’re better equipped to foster relationships and build brands for the long haul.
Yes, scale can win. But in today’s world, humanity, personality, and a clear point of view are more potent forces than sheer size.
I’m not suggesting that larger holding company agencies don’t have empathy and humanity, it’s just that the ability to express it is much more challenging than smaller and midsize agencies. With founder-led companies with a strong POV, it’s easier to identify with their position in the market and personality-driven identities in the market.
Most critically, empathy allows business developers to truly understand a client’s pain points, needs, and motivations. When you genuinely put yourself in the client’s shoes, you can offer solutions that resonate with their specific challenges, fostering trust and stronger relationships.
I also find that empathy fosters trust, which is essential in BD. Clients are more likely to work with partners who demonstrate a real understanding of their situation and care about their success, not just closing a deal.
So, be yourself, be human-first, be hopeful, be people-led and remember the most important thing of all — Love Relentlessly, because it works.
Soulpurposeadvisory, my newly formed service, is a partnership-oriented growth company that helps companies achieve their ambitious growth goals.
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