Great conversation. In my opinion, the role and pay depends heavily on the expectations of the position (set by the CEO). And it’s very important that the expectations and compensation structure and clearly outlined/established up front.

Some agency CEOs just want a pure lead-gen person—call, get meetings, and set up the team so they can pitch and win. Others want someone to come in and be lead-gen person, but also manage consultants, write RFIs and be the ringleader of the internal pitch process. And then there are CEOs who want/need a truly holistic CMO, responsible for everything relating to new business and agency marketing/promotion. 

Each position would likely result in a different compensation structure. The first based on qualified leads/meetings with a small piece of the pie if the agency wins the account. The second would likely result in a larger piece of the pie for wins, with little or nothing for setting up meetings. And the third scenario would likely result in a sizable piece of the pie for wins, but would also be tied to overall contribution as well, perhaps with a multiplier for surpassing certain revenue goals.

The interesting part of this whole conversation is just how much the Business Development role has expanded. Whether you are the CMO or the Director of Business Development, you must be thinking about social strategy/inbound marketing. 5-10 years ago this was virtually non-existent. Today, it’s a significant part of an effective new business strategy. I’d be interested to know how many agencies out there are: 1) actually factoring this into the agency’s strategy, 2) are overseeing or executing social/inbound as part of their job, and 3) are being compensated in some way for the performance of the agency’s assets.

I have to be honest: I used to role my eyes at the CMO title for agencies. But the truth is that Business Development/marketing for agencies really has become a much more complicated proposition; and the ability to effectively deliver has become significantly more challenging. The trick is having the ability, the tools and the team in place to help execute effectively. And with more resources contributing to the overall performance and success of an agency’s growth, one has to question how the compensation should be divided. The argument certainly could be made that it shouldn’t all land in one person’s pocket.