50 Ad Agency New Business Quotes

Agency new business is a very tough job.

There’s often a lot of rejection associated with the position of business development. It’s difficult to stay optimistic.

One thing that helps to inspire me are quotes that I pick up from my reading and from conferences and seminars. They condense wisdom into bite-sized memorable sentences that provide needed inspiration and motivation. Benjamin Disraeli, a British politician and writer, said it well,

“The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.”

I hope my list of quotes provides a spark of inspiration for you: 

1. “What helps people, helps business.” Leo Burnett ‪Tweet This
2. “Brands are built around stories.” Bill Dauphinais Tweet This
3. “Because somebody grows up being a social media native, it doesn’t make them an expert in using social media at work.” ‪Dr. William J. Ward Tweet This
4. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Mike Tyson Tweet This 
5. “You’re more likely to complete Navy Seal training than click on a digital display banner ad.” Bob Hoffman Tweet This
6. “Content is like an annuity. 92% of leads come from older blog posts!” Jami Oetting Tweet This
7. “No one wants to read a sales email, but they do want to read how you can help them.” Lee McKnight Jr Tweet This
8. “Most agencies do not prepare for negotiations. So we lose.” Peter LevitanTweet This 
9. “Focusing doesn’t limit you. It could take you from local to global if you do it right.” Stephanie Holland Tweet This
10. “No one is smarter than the facts.” Bob Hoffman Tweet This
11. “Change your mindset from ‘I’m selling’ to ‘I’m educating’. Dave Currie Tweet This
12. “A confused mind always says NO.” Jody Sutter Tweet This
13. “The minute your agency stops turning business away for fit is the minute it starts accelerating profits.” Drew McLellan Tweet This
14. “Agencies are led to the slaughter in most negotiations.” Peter Levitan Tweet This
15. “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” John CleeseTweet This
16. “TV is not dead. It’s having babies.” Bob Hoffman Tweet This
17. “You can do a lot of things, but you can only be famous at one. What is it you do?” Jamie Dunham Tweet This
18. “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”  Tom Fishburne Tweet This
19. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein Tweet This
20. “What helps people, helps business.” Leo Burnett Tweet This
21. “Content is the reason search began in the first place.” Lee Odden Tweet This
22. “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” Jim RohnTweet This
23. “Great creative is not a point of differentiation, it is an expectation.” Michael Gass Tweet This
24. “SEO is not something you do anymore. It’s what happens when you do every thing else right.” Chad Pollitt Tweet This
25. “Category experience is absolutely critical. You might be generalists, but you have to be an expert in the category” Brent Hodgins Tweet This
26. “Increasingly, the mass marketing is turning into a mass of niches.” Chris Anderson Tweet This
27. “A principle is not a principle until it costs you something.” William BernbachTweet This
28. “If you want something done, ask somebody who is already busy. Busy people get things done.” Bishop Bronner Tweet This
29. “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” Jim Rohn Tweet This
30. “Your website is your greatest asset. More people view your webpages than anything else.” Amanda Sibley Tweet This
31. “No matter what, the very first piece of social media real estate I’d start with is a blog.” Chris Brogan Tweet This
32. “In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal.” Bill Bernbach Tweet This
33. “Social media is about PEOPLE connecting with other PEOPLE, not the brick and mortar agency.” Michael Gass Tweet This
34. “Not viewing your email marketing as content is a mistake.” Chris Baggott Tweet This
35. “There is no security on the earth, there is only opportunity.” General Douglas MacArthur Tweet This
36. “To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Richard Buckminster Fuller Tweet This
37. “We want consumers to say, ‘That’s a hell of a product’ instead of, ‘That’s a hell of an ad.” Leo Burnett Tweet This
38. “The only people who care about advertising are the people who work in advertising.” George Parker Tweet This
39. “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it well enough yourself.” Albert Einsteen Tweet This
40. “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” David Ogilvy Tweet This
41. “The day you sign a client is the day you start losing one.” Don Drapper Tweet This
42. “In advertising not to be different is virtually suicidal.” William Bernbach Tweet This
43. “Every time I say “no” to something that is not important, I am saying “yes” to something that is.” Michael Hyatt
44. “Your culture is your brand.” Tony Hsieh Tweet This
45. “Managing creatives is like herding cats” John Gillard Tweet This
46. “Community development comes before business development.” Michael GassTweet This
47. “Marketing in the future is like sex. Only the losers will have to pay for it.” Jon Bond Tweet This
48. “In our business, whenever there’s a disruption, our clients need guidance.” Michael Roth Tweet This
49. “Creative without strategy is called art. Creative with strategy is called advertising.” Jef I. Richards Tweet This
50. “If you want to truly understand something, try to change it.” John F KennedyTweet This

If you have a favorite quote you’d like to contribute, please add it to the comment section below.