The pitch is unavoidable, so you might as well perfect yours.
Picking up where we left off several weeks ago, we are taking a hard look at the reason the majority of firms don’t win pitches: it’s not what you’re pitching, it’s how you’re pitching.
Let’s give your brilliant ideas their best shot at winning. In this series of articles on the HOW of presenting your ideas within a competitive sales process (like RFPs, RFQs and the like), we are taking your game to the next level as we examine the Eight Hows of Pitching™.
Last week we focused on HOW #5 – Pitch Only Favorites: Because if you lack confidence in your ideas, the client will lose confidence in you.
This week we examine the chemistry of your pitch presentation itself.
HOW #6 – Pitch With A Wingman
A masterful pitch presentation is a live performance and like any good show, it has a cast of characters. One character is The Creative, the idea person. Another character is The Top Dog, the business owner. The interplay plays out between these characters like performers singing a duet. When The Creative speaks, The Top Dog marvels and tells the client,
“Aren’t these ideas fabulous?”
Later in the meeting, The Creative nods when The Top Dog tells the client,
“I have the power to make this happen for you.”
See how the interplay works? Advertising agency consultant Tim Williams puts it this way:
One person should pitch the creative, another person should pitch the pricing.
Pitch with a wingman. Because without a teammate, at some point you will end up tooting your own horn.
THE EIGHT HOWS OF PITCHING™
The picture of HOW to perfect your pitch is coming together and you are learning how to leverage your team to the greatest effect. Along with the other HOW strategies, you are ready to give your creative – your WHAT – its best shot.
To recap, here are the eight strategies in this series:
- PITCH IN PERSON: Because passion and trust are more important than ideas.
- PITCH LAST: Because by the time your pitch presentation is done, your competitors – and their ideas – will be a distant memory.
- CONTROL THE PITCH: Because you – not the client – should be the one to walk him, page by page, through your amazing ideas.
- PITCH A STORY: Because the client loves being immersed in a complete narrative.
- PITCH ONLY FAVORITES: Because if you lack confidence in your ideas, the client will lose confidence in you.
- PITCH WITH A WINGMAN: Because without a teammate, at some point you will end up tooting your own horn.
- LEAVE A LEAVE-BEHIND: Because the client is always wishing, “Don’t tell me. Show me.”
- DON’T STOP PITCHING: Because your client’s biggest fear is awarding to the wrong firm.
See you next week when we dive into HOW #7 – Leave a Leave-Behind.