Home > Companies > Thought Leaders > Q&A with Jody Sutter, Founder at The Sutter Company

Q&A with Jody Sutter, Founder at The Sutter Company

Media 7 | July 19, 2021

Jody Sutter, Founder at The Sutter Company, is passionate about making a positive difference for agencies, which motivates her to do what she does every day. She is driven by her desire to show them they already possess everything they need to control their new business destiny. Before starting The Sutter Company, she had spent nearly two decades leading business development teams at large global agencies like R/GA and Havas. She has worked with agencies around the world on the mindset, tools, and routines they need to promote a culture of new business. Jody has also been honored to share her ideas with agency owners at major marketing events like HubSpot’s INBOUND and The Drum’s Pitch Perfect conference in London, and ICA’s Agency Transformation Summit in Toronto.

This is key to an agency controlling its business development destiny. My objective always is to put the agency owner in a position where they always feel they have the capacity to generate revenue for their agency.


MEDIA 7: What were some of the professional experiences that inspired you to become a business development coach today?
JODY SUTTER: While I spent many years on staff at large agencies like R/GA, OMD and Havas, I started my career at smaller creative services firms, from branding design to digital advertising. I was on the front lines, generating leads and building relationships that led to new revenue.
Those experiences really demonstrated to me that selling is a means of connecting a person or business in need with something they want! It demystified the sales process for me, helped me sharpen my intuition, and allowed me to approach every business development opportunity from a place of empathy. Because of all my experience, I understand how challenging it can be for agency owners to get the attention of new prospects and win the right kind of business. It takes hard work, creativity and discipline, of course. But it can also take an outsider’s perspective to help an agency owner both understand their greatest strengths as well as how to position them.


M7: How does The Sutter Company help new businesses improve their performance in the market and generate new leads?
JS: I work with clients mostly through coaching and workshops. And I focus on two areas:

Identifying their compelling story- why the world needs what they do. Creating the structure to tell the story. I call this the New Business Ecosystem™.

A New Business Ecosystem™- includes anything an agency uses to support the pursuit of growth, from a pricing proposal to a website to social media. It’s unique to each agency. Like any other ecosystem, it promotes growth only if the interconnected parts are suitable for the environment and the external and internal factors are appropriate to their function.

This is key to an agency controlling its business development destiny. My objective always is to put the agency owner in a position where they always feel they have the capacity to generate revenue for their agency.


Communicating value is especially important for an agency because agencies are in the ideas business. Ideas are abstract and abstract things are difficult to value.



MEDIA 7: In what ways does The Sutter Company help new businesses communicate their values to their target customers?
JS: Communicating value is especially important for an agency because agencies are in the ideas business. Ideas are abstract and abstract things are difficult to value. Essentially an agency is selling the promise of an experience based on past performance but with no guarantee of future results. This is why I focus so much of my business on helping agencies tell their compelling stories. Stories are tangible. As we all know, agency people are natural storytellers. Much of what I do is to take that innate skill and invite them to apply it to themselves, not just their clients.


M7: How should businesses and agencies change their perspective towards business development in the Covid-19 era?
JS: What the past year has shown me is that the basics matter more than ever. Yes, Covid-19 has driven us to use new technologies, but it hasn’t changed the core nature of good business development.


Covid-19 has driven us to use new technologies, but it hasn’t changed the core nature of good business development.



M7: What did you enjoy the most about business development for The Sutter Company?
JS: I consider myself so fortunate because always have with me a toolkit that I’ve curated and honed over the course of my career. My goal is to impart that same level of skill and confidence to every agency owner I work with.


M7: You have been part of several speaking engagements, what excites you the most when you’re at the center of the stage?
JS: The chance to reach as many people as possible at once and offer them the information they need.

ABOUT THE SUTTER COMPANY

The Sutter Company, a new business consultancy that advises small agencies on organizing and operationalizing their growth strategy. They help them generate revenue by demystifying and simplifying the process of pitching new business through coaching and training programs that make it easier for small agencies to embrace and sustain a new business strategy because they take both the agency's strengths and available resources into consideration.

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Spotlight

The Sutter Company

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