Why Your Agency BD Hire Needs a Year, Not a Quarter - with John Caruso

Jan 21, 2026

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Looking to build a repeatable, referral-focus biz dev system inside of your agency?

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What if successful agency business development isn't about having the perfect system, but about showing up consistently in the right conversations?

John Caruso is the Director of Business Development at Vendilli, where he's spent the last six years navigating the messy reality of agency growth. With a decade of BD experience spanning traditional and digital agencies, John has learned that there's no magic formula, just consistent effort in the right places. In this conversation, he shares the unglamorous truth about what BD actually looks like day-to-day, why agency owners set their BD hires up to fail by expecting results too quickly, and how he learned the craft by sitting in dozens upon dozens of sales meetings with his team.

What You'll Leave With:

The realistic timeline for a BD hire to become truly effective at an agency
How to structure your day when client needs constantly derail your plans
Why sitting in sales meetings with experienced agency owners builds BD skills faster than any course
The "shortlist" dynamic that determines whether prospects even consider your agency
How to think about the division between marketing and sales activities
What systems need to exist before bringing on a dedicated BD person
An education-first approach to staying top of mind without being pushy

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction: John's journey from traditional to digital agency BD
[02:30] The reality of a day in the life of agency business development
[05:40] What activities consistently drive revenue for agencies
[10:30] Why getting on prospect "shortlists" matters more than perfect positioning
[15:45] Moving beyond transactional referral requests
[20:15] How the BD landscape has shifted over the past decade
[28:34] What needs to be in place before hiring a BD person
[29:04] The learning curve: why it takes 6-9 months minimum to see results
[31:10] How Vendilli divides marketing and sales responsibilities
[33:25] Where to learn more about John and Vendilli

Vendelli: https://www.vendilli.com/

John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncaruso-vendilli/