Going beyond the brief

5 WAYS TO POWER UP YOUR PITCH

For many agencies, 2023 looks set to be a balancing act of retaining clients and winning new pitches.

It’s a highly competitive market and pitching is time consuming and costly both for clients and agencies, so when it comes to getting in front of a prospective client, whether for a chemistry meeting or a full-blown pitch, there are no second chances. It’s all or nothing – and to be successful, it requires 100% commitment from your team.

Here are 5 key components to give you the competitive edge – even before you walk through the door:

 

  1. GO BEYOND THE BRIEF

A clear understanding of the client’s needs and goals is probably the most critical aspect of the pitch. What’s driving the brief? What are their motives for doing it now? And what challenges are they facing that aren’t part of the written brief? Get under the skin of their business and live the brand, its values, experience everything it has to offer, both as an agency and a consumer.

 

  1. CREATE YOUR PITCH ON A PAGE

Post-kick off meeting, condense your core strategy down to a few bullet points onto a page so clients are informed how to ‘think, feel and do’ about you and your team. Succinct, fresh and clear, it’s something the whole team can get behind it in order to understand exactly what is required from the pitch – and is the ideal opportunity to maximise your chance of buy-in from the client.

 

  1. TREAT THEM AS IF THEY ARE ALREADY YOUR CLIENT

On pitch day, you’ll be dealing with and selling to humans, so be mindful of the different personalities in the room. Balance listening with projecting and don’t dominate the conversation. Other agencies will be pitching so this is your opportunity to take the client on the journey with you, to break down any barriers by treating them as if you are already working with them. It will also help you to think about the client benefit of everything you do.

 

  1. PITCH LIKE YOU MEAN IT

Commitment is at the heart of a successful pitch. We can’t stress this enough! If you and your team don’t believe that you can win – or want to win – the client will see straight through you. Set aside anything not related to the pitch, give your teams the time and space they need to dedicate to the pitch. Treat the pitch period as if it were a ‘holiday’ where you team is not in responding to client needs. If they were on holiday you could manage without them, so ring-fence the team, give them time to dedicate to the pitch and give it everything. Don’t hold back; it’s better to win than to be right so aim to execute what the client wants to hear as well as answering their questions.

 

  1. IT’S OK TO SAY NO.
    Learning how to say no is tough but if the chemistry isn’t there and the client isn’t being collaborative – hold your nerve and walk away. Always offer them an alternative solution, a partner agency, another consultancy to help, you never know where and when you’ll meet these clients again.

 

Find out how our marketing-led approach helps clients win new business, from pipeline to pitch – and beyond. Contact Emma and the team here.