Creative pitching (Part 2!)- Is the pitch process broken or is it just tough?
Seven steps to respectful pitching (for both clients and agencies).
At its best the pitch process is an amazing, enlightening and ultimately rewarding journey for all involved, at its worst it's a jumble of confusion, mistrust and wasted effort. Here are some simple rules of thumb to help it veer towards the former.
1. Don’t jump straight in
The client needs to really think about a pitch before entering the process. There are reasons to have one and reasons not to. Maybe the client doesn't have a particular agency/specialist in place and has an unmet need, maybe there is duplication or maybe teams have changed on either side, perhaps the current agency has resigned the business or is no longer considered a good fit.
Maybe a pitch isn't actually necessary. You might just need to step back and take a fresh look - at Pt78 we've run ‘no pitch pitches’ where there is a thorough 'audit' of the relationship from strategy and creative output through to costs and business outcomes. These processes are a positive experience for all, the agency keeps the business, and the client has a re-set. We move on.
When a pitch is a requirement or pushed by procurement cycle it can be massively disruptive, especially when the relationship is good, the work is good and there is a solid partnership. What a complete waste of everyone’s time - especially for the agencies who are participating in good faith and putting their team through the mill. We often get asked ‘is the pitch real?’. The answer is always yes, we wouldn't be involved in it if it weren’t.
2. NEVER include an agency that can’t win
If the client is definitely looking for a change, then we would recommend giving the incumbent agency the option not to pitch. One of the best things my former CEO did was choose not to pitch for a piece of business we'd held for 12 years - it was time for everyone to move on - a big decision, but the right one for the agency. Agencies have a responsibility to their people too. Just look at the data referenced by IAPI around additional stress for employees and it's clear that agencies need to accept that their teams are often giving their own personal time up to work on it - time they probably won’t get back. So, while the tone of the conversation paints the process and the clients (perhaps) as the drivers of the pressure - agency management has to ask some questions of themselves - it reminds me of junior doctors - they’re exhausted, but that’s what has always been done.
3. Challenge what you need, and what you need to know.
If a pitch is ruled in, then there should be a body of work done long before an RFI or chemistry invitation is issued. The client needs to decide what they are looking for and this can be workshopped. The pitch consultants should be meeting and updating their information all the time, understanding agency culture, approach, strengths so they can make strong recommendations – often clients will come with a point of view on an agency and the pitch consultant has a role here to ensure they have the right information and can make an informed decision.`
Briefs should provide detailed background to the organisation, clear objectives and all relevant data. Brief tasks should reflect the size of the business and should not place too much of a burden on agency teams.
Looking to maximise number of agencies responding for chemistry is lazy and disrespectful to those agencies - a short-list should be built. When we talk to clients about what they need it can conjure often specific people, not just particular agencies.
4. Give the chemistry a chance to become chemistry
Agency pre-reads should be short. Agency teams should be small and consistent - there may be some change from chemistry to tissue, to shape a team for a particular client, but after that it should be locked.
Everyone in the meeting should have something to do and I’ll tell you why - because if they don’t it makes the agency look expensive.
Chemistry should be more than creds and case studies; it should be participative and conversational and focused on the client's business or category, so we are facilitating information sharing and connection from the start.
5. Be open
Questions should be answered and agency strategic questions should not be shared - simple. If there is a query through the process from the agency it should be answered, they should be supported. This is not a test! It is in everyone’s interest to get to the right answer.
Tissue meetings should be sharp- not marketing lectures because the client already knows the theory and they have already heard it three times that day - Binet & Field or Byron - they assume you have heard of them and you can assume they have too. Use the time for you - what do you need to find out- show the back work you’ve done- mention it - but show what it has meant for the work you are sharing. Listen.
6. Ease off on the pressure
It's just a pitch. It's not a matter of life and death (though it can feel that way). A relaxed team that clearly knows what they're talking about will always beat a meticulously rehearsed one whose response is built on sand.
Yes, pitches are daunting, and the stakes are high, but they should be enjoyable (though I'm not 100% convinced that's ever actually the case!). Out of all the pitches that I was involved in agency-side, the best were always the ones where we knew we were delivering the right answers and the right work even if the client didn't buy it - though on those ones they usually did!
I was recently at a great pitch where I asked the MD if they had been working late - part nostalgia for those final hours before a pitch- ‘we don’t do late nights’ she answered- and we met quite a bouncy energetic team who clearly had not been working until 3am - you can really tell.
7. Give honest feedback
Post pitch feedback is important, and we take it seriously and so do clients. I think agencies deserve it and while everyone else comes in second place to the winner (bloody silver medals) it often doesn't mean they got it wrong - it just means all the components of the process have added up to make the selected agency feel slightly more right.
Seven simple points, most of them just common sense that can get lost in the process. Pitches remain part of the business, like it or loathe it, but starting here means you'll definitely get something out of the process - hopefully a brilliant new partnership.
Evolving the process for pitching will require collaboration and balance to ensure every voice is heard and every knot in the process is tabled - we have many creative minds, problem solvers and innovators- we can harness what we have to engineer a better process for all.
Let’s think about the needs of all and design together something that works for all.
We love to chat!
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