Jack Morton Worldwide
Business Development | Prospecting & Lead Generation | RFP Management
Jack Morton is a global brand experience agency that has been creating meaningful connections between people and brands for over more than 80 years. Jack Morton specializes in live, virtual, and hybrid experiences, brand acts, integrated campaigns, sponsorship marketing and employee engagements. Driven by the belief that great experiences drive loyalty and build advocates, Jack’s team of strategists, creative innovators, world-class designers, futurists, operational experts, and business partners not only sets out each day to help clients “Be extraordinary,” but strengthening relationship between brands and people who matter the most to them.
In my role as a senior business development associate, I was a jack of all trades – a strategic thinkers, a great researcher, a writer, a creative designer, a problem solver. I drove high volume growth in the Chicago office, but not only exceeding Jack’s annual goals by Q2 of 2023 with a 65.3% Pitch-to-win rate but by establishing processes for research and insights, managed inbound RFPs, tracked growth, and reported new business pipeline for the c-level team weekly. I also oversaw and developed prospecting initiatives and created a best practices program for winning proposals.
Proposal Management
As a Senior Business Development Associate, I partnered with practice and capability leads as well as pitch teams to craft innovative new business responses that highlighted our agency’s strengths in strategic, creative, and production realms. Collaborating closely with growth leads from the Jack Morton brands and IPG agencies, I ensured seamless integration of RFP responses. I took charge of establishing and maintaining pitch timelines, meeting schedules, and managing deliverables across various specialty departments and practices, including Creative, Strategy, Production, Partnership Management, Sponsorship Consulting, and Inclusive Marketing. Through clear communication of roles, responsibilities, scope, budget, and schedules, I streamlined the RFP response process, ensuring all deadlines and deliverables were met efficiently, and the appropriate budgets were developed.
New Business Management
I played a pivotal role in driving the growth of our business by closing new opportunities with targeted accounts through strategic prospecting and pursuit plans. Utilizing Salesforce CRM, I efficiently managed contact imports, organized prospects for sales campaigns, generated insightful reports, and meticulously tracked and followed up on sales outreach. Additionally, I provided invaluable support to the Relationship/Business Development team by assisting in the development and delivery of compelling new business materials, including capabilities decks, background materials, opportunity briefs, and pitch-to-win scoring cards. Through extensive industry research and analysis, I identified key needs and formulated effective strategies for pursuing accounts. Furthermore, I actively contributed to the development and monitoring of new business KPIs and dashboards, ensuring alignment with sales goals and fostering ongoing market performance evaluation.
Proposal Strategy
In this role, I showcase my expertise in proposal strategy and writing, where I exceled in identifying winning strategies by deeply understanding the buyer’s needs and crafting customized proposals that challenge the status quo. Additionally, I take ownership of proposal management, driving continuous communication and removing barriers to progress while collaborating with multiple stakeholders to ensure alignment with the firm's objectives. I also demonstrate my creativity by developing innovative proposal presentations, including digital formats like interactive PPs and videos, to enhance our chances of winning proposals.
Work Samples
RFI Sample
Case Study Sample
RFP Sample
Business Development Associate
Goal: Collaborate with Chicago’s Growth & Leadership team to exceed annual revenue targets by enhancing brand awareness and streamlining the business development process.
Result: Supported new business growth strategy and initiatives, leading to significant wins with esteemed clients such as Illumina, Mars, Under Armour, Diageo/Guinness, TIAA, Ulta Beauty, and the NBA.
Responsibilities:
Planning and Pursuit:
Conducted in-depth research on industry segments and company profiles, developing tailored strategies to pursue potential accounts.
Qualified opportunities by thoroughly understanding prospect needs and project outlines, facilitating seamless internal handoffs to the business development team.
Prospecting: Led meetings with inbound and outbound prospects for smaller projects, fostering meaningful connections.
Business Growth Support: Supported the growth and leadership team in devising and monitoring new business KPIs/dashboard, ensuring alignment with sales goals.
New Business Development:
Contributed to the development of innovative business development tools and resources to attract prospect attention and highlight agency value.
Assisted in regular reporting to leadership on sales pipeline and partnership progress, maintaining accurate records of new business wins and losses.
Proposal Strategy and Writing:
Played a pivotal role in helping pursuit teams identify winning strategies by crafting tailored proposals that addressed the buyer’s needs and challenged conventional approaches.
Collaborated in the development, editing, and proofreading of tailored proposal, presentation, and pitch deck content.
Proposal Management:
Established and maintained pitch timelines and meeting cadence, managing individual and group deliverables across specialty departments to ensure seamless progress.
Proactively identified and addressed barriers to progress, escalating issues to leadership when necessary.
Custom Relationship Management: Worked closely with new business leads and account managers to maintain Salesforce, tracking new business activity and deals while ensuring data accuracy.
Content Management: Maintained comprehensive archives of proposals and presentations, curating a library of best-in-class client work samples to showcase agency capabilities.
Innovation and Creativity: Developed innovative proposal presentations, leveraging digital formats such as interactive PPs and videos to enhance the agency’s competitive edge.
Team Collaboration: Collaborated with cross-disciplinary teams to assemble and deliver work portfolios, proposals/RFP responses, and presentations, fostering a culture of creativity and excellence.