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12/11/2009 | Filed under Discover > Culture

There’s never been a better time to refine your approach to winning new clients. Richard Rutter, co- Latest issue |  Buy it
founder of Clearleft, examines the pitch process from start to finish and reveals how you can beat
rivals and win every contract Issue 196
For many agencies, pitching is seen as a necessary evil, that painful, time-consuming process required before Build the ultimate
the ‘real work’ can start. But agencies and their staff shouldn’t be scared of pitches. user experience and
design the perfect
With the right approach, pitching can be a web icons Find out
fascinating and rewarding process, and not more ...
just from a financial perspective. I spoke to
some leading design agencies and combined »  Exclusive seasonal
their thoughts with our experiences at subscription offers –
Clearleft to guide you through the pitching save over £29!
process. »  Buy issue 196 www.likno.com
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The RFP
The process normally begins by receiving a
Request for Proposal (RFP) from a potential
client. The RFP is a project brief, which asks
for a proposal document in return. The client
selects which agencies it wants to see based
on these proposals, so clearly they’re
important documents to get right.

Often the quality of a proposal will be

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proportional to the quality of the RFP. On that Enter your email address
premise, rather than being the trigger to and start receiving our
writing documentation, an RFP should be new-look weekly email
viewed as the first opportunity to talk to your prospective client. newsletter!

Finn Taylor, co-founder of Liquid Light, an award-winning web design agency based in Brighton, says he will
always try to meet a client before writing a proposal.

“I want to have a good informal discussion about their business and let them talk about what they’re doing,” he
explains. “That way, when my proposal document arrives, it’s tailored around thinking about their issues. With
an informal discussion, you get to pull apart and challenge the expectations of what they want. This often
means that you find a whole bunch of issues they haven’t considered, and you end up reinventing their brief
based on that discussion. Ultimately you get a much more insightful document that raises solutions to their
problems.”

Liquid Light co-founder Rob Day goes on to say that this first meeting reduces to 50/50 the need for a formal Website Builder
pitch. “Everything they need to know about you they get from that first meeting.” he explains. “If they’ve had
good face-to-face interaction, then they’ll think they can work with that person. It generally seals the deal.”

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Making the perfect pitch - .net magazine

Warning signs
But before you go trekking across the countryside to see a prospective client, you need to find out a few key
facts. Primarily you need to ascertain if the pitch is actually real. Sometimes agencies are invited simply to
make up numbers, so it’s important to work out if the decision has already been made. See if the contact will
engage you in a conversation about the project. If not, that might be a warning sign, both for the reality of the
pitch and your future relationship.

Next, you need to cover the two fundamentals of delivering projects: timescale and budget. Sometimes the
timescales that clients set are arbitrary and unrealistic. If this is the case, explain how long projects usually take
to do properly, and their deadline may change. If, however, the deadline is set in stone you need to be sure
you can meet it. Busting deadlines will only lead to stressed staff, an unhappy client and no chance of repeat
business or referral.

Discussing budgets at such an early stage can be a touchy subject, but you need to know. There’s little point
working on projects that won’t make any money. If the client won’t tell you the budget directly, explain the kind
of services you’re likely to provide and suggest a ballpark range. If they dismiss you out of hand, you’ve just
saved yourself a whole lot of work and an unnecessary trip. Otherwise, it’s time to get down to work.

Do your research
If you’re going to spend time writing proposals and pitching, you need to know what you’re talking about. This
takes time, and preparation counts for everything. So if you’re going to take the plunge do it properly, or you
might just be wasting your time.

You need to have a sound understanding of the client’s business objectives. You need to know what they’re
looking to achieve, and what they want the user to do.

They may be hoping to sell a product or service. But how? What message are they trying to sell to the public?
Who are they reaching out to? Read their website, learn their message and discuss it with your colleagues.
Research the client’s competitors. And talk to the client – ask them those questions directly.

You need to gather enough information and insight in order to develop a strategy and design that will meet and
exceed the client’s expectations. How much time should you spend researching? According to Marcus
Lillington, from Headscape and the Boagworld podcast, “it depends on the potential size of project, the
perceived chance of winning, and how much emphasis is placed on ‘creative’ thinking as part of the brief. Most
potential clients will base their selection on how much effort you’ve put in and, of course, the quality of your
ideas.”

Structuring your pitch

One of the most useful pieces of research you can do is to find out who’s going to be in the meeting. That will
guide the kind of pitch you’ll be able to give.

If it’s going to be 12 people, you’re going to have to do more of a formal presentation. If it’s a three-person
meeting, you’ll be able to have much more of a discussion.

Either way, try to clarify what format the client is expecting. Often clients are happy to leave the agenda up to
you, but occasionally they’ll demand a formal presentation, so make sure you know that in advance.

“If the original brief didn’t spell out what’s expected of you at a presentation, then make sure you ask
beforehand,” says Paul Boag from Headscape. “The critical element is how much time you have. It seems that
panels are providing less and less time these days. Ask if there are any areas that they particularly want you to
cover and if there are any areas of your proposal that were weak. The usual formula is that you get an hour.
Half of this should be a presentation of your ideas, followed by 30 minutes of questions. This isn’t that much
time, particularly for a big project, so a formal, slide-based presentation can be a useful way of structuring your
thoughts.”

Engage your audience

“Remember, though, that the people you’re meeting might have been sitting there for two days, seeing five
agencies each give hour-long formal presentations,” Boag cautions. “By the time you walk in, their brains may
already have shut down. You’ll need to wake them up, and a dull ream of bullet points isn’t going to achieve
that.” Make sure your slides serve a purpose and engage the client as you go through them. “We use Keynote
slides in our pitches,” Lillington says, “but we always encourage questions and tangents along the way.”

At Clearleft, we love creating beautiful slides for our conference presentations, but in pitches we prefer a
rigorous discussion. We want the client to see the whites of our eyes. We really want to get them involved and
enjoy themselves.

Liquid Light takes this approach too. “If you can have a round-the- table discussion then really it’s a dating
game,” says Taylor. “You’ve just got to get each person on side. Work the room one by one, making sure each
person’s key issue is dealt with. If it’s the right chemistry, you’ll feel good, they’ll feel good and that’s when
you’ll win the project.”

The more formal approach doesn’t preclude working on the chemistry, either. In Headscape’s pitches, says
Lillington, “we’ll make a certain point that changes the whole vibe of the pitch. Clients often place a lot of
emphasis on a particular area that they’re interested in and if you make a big point out of it before they ask –
bingo!”

Formal presentations can feel like a safer option than the conversational approach. With discussions you may
have to wing it a bit and you’re bound to encounter some tricky questions. But don’t feel afraid to say “I don’t
know”. Bluffing will only get you so far. Just promise to follow up with more information and make sure that you
do so as quickly as possible. Occasionally you may be thrown a deliberately nasty question aimed at the heart
of your company. In this case, focus on your track record, throw around a few big names, emphasise your

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Making the perfect pitch - .net magazine

processes and stick to your guns.

What to talk about

Whether you’re putting all your points into fancy slides or jotting them down as discussion points in a
Moleskine, you’re there to convince your potential client how good you are, and that you’re the right agency for
the job.

Have a story to tell about the kind of services you offer and the business benefits they provide. You need to
stand out from other companies pitching, so don’t be shy about sharing your story, although you shouldn’t
make it the focus of the meeting. You need to spend the majority of your time talking about the client, not you.

Set the scene

If you’re pitching with a discussion rather than slides, it’s usually worth setting the scene first. Explain that,
while the client might be expecting a presentation, they’re smart enough to have shortlisted companies they
know can deliver. Point out that what they really want to know is which company they want to work with –
which agency is going to understand them and come up with the best solutions. Quickly outline your company
(just cover the basic make-up in about five minutes) and then start discussing the client’s project.

Clients need to know that you’re design competent, technically competent, can deliver on time and to budget,
and have project management systems in place. They want a sense of safety and security, but they should
have got this from your proposal document. What they need to know from the pitch is that you understand their
goals, and that you know how you can fix their problems. They need to be assured that you’ll listen to their
issues and, most importantly, that they can work with you on a personal level.

“Assuming you have tangible evidence that you’re good at what you do, I believe the most important factor in
winning pitches is creating rapport with the client,” says Lillington. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they
won’t hire you if they don’t think they can work with you or they simply don’t like you.”

Go to the meeting knowing how much you don’t know. Arrive curious, and armed with questions. Maintain eye
contact and keep your ears open. “If you pay attention and think on your feet,” says Paul, “it tells the potential
client that they can expect you to listen and be flexible.”

You’re aiming for the client to walk out of the room and say it was one of the most useful meetings they’ve had
in years. You want them thinking: if that’s what you can do in the first hour, what are you going to do in the first
three months?

Designing on spec
No discussion of pitching for work would be complete without mentioning the thorny subject of speculative
designs. For clients, the prospect of getting a hatful of free ‘ideas’ before signing a contract seems like a great
plan. It’s how things worked in the advertising industry for years, but in web design, we’re not selling creative
imagery we’re selling a process.

Nearly all design organisations, including British Design Innovation (BDI), the American Institute of Graphic Arts
(AIGA) and the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD), strongly advise their members never to design on spec,
and most professional web agencies heed that advice. As Taylor says: “It’s truly bad for the project. Designing
on spec is very hit and miss – they just might not like the colour yellow. Worse still, if they do like the design,
then you’re stuck with it, even if it’s wrong. You can’t do the design process and you can’t charge for it. Clients
are not buying a design, they are buying a process to get to the right design. It’s the process that gets you
something you’re happy with.”

Lillington agrees. “Any designs included as part of a proposal are created to impress the client and not the
website’s target audience,” he stresses. “Producing good web design is a partnership between client and
agency.”

If a client does ask for speculative designs, explain why it’s not a good idea. You’ll often be able to convince
them. Explain that the design process is about taking a wide cast of viewpoints and bringing that together into
a single thread through an iterative process. Once you know the result of the pitch, and particularly if you didn’t
get the job, always follow up and ask for feedback from the client. It’s incredibly disappointing when you lose a
pitch, especially when you’ve put your all into it, but you must learn from the process each time.

The right chemistry

In the end, winning pitches is about researching the client and who you’ll be meeting; talking to the client early
in the process; working out their problems and finding solutions; being friendly and helpful; and, of course,
listening.

But ultimately it comes down to that intangible something called chemistry and occasionally a bit of good
fortune. So good luck, and look forward to your next pitch!

Top 10 tips: Winning pitches made easy

1 Find out if the pitch is real. Sometimes agencies are invited simply to make up numbers, so it’s important to
work out if the client’s decision has already been made.

2 Uncover the two fundamentals of delivering projects: timescale and budget. If necessary, explain how long
projects usually take, and help adjust the client’s deadline appropriately. If the client won’t tell you the budget
directly, explain the kind of services you’re likely to provide and suggest a ballpark range. If you won’t be able
to deliver on time or to budget, don’t spend time pitching.

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Making the perfect pitch - .net magazine

3 Do your research. You need to have a sound understanding of the client’s business objectives and what
problems they’re trying to solve. You need to gather enough information and insight in order to develop a
strategy and design.

4 Build up a relationship beforehand. Talk to the client before writing your proposal or turning up at the pitch.
Try to get someone on your side by discussing the project and listening to what they have to say.

5 Go into the pitch positively, wanting the job and wanting to show you’re the best. It’s easier said than done,
but don’t come across as nervous. It’s an especially bad signal to send as it indicates that you are either
dishonest or inexperienced.

6 Think about what you wear. Clients will expect you to be professional, and to show some courtesy and
respect. But remember that you’re still a creative agency, so be true to who you are.

7 A client may well need to sit through four or five pitches in one day, so bringing your recommendations to life
is key. Encourage questions throughout, and ask if you are making sense. This can encourage questions if
you’re not getting any wider client base.

8 Read your audience. If a point you raise causes two people to nod at each other, follow up on that point:
don’t just keep grinding through your keynote presentation.

9 Create a rapport with the client. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they won’t hire you if they don’t think
they can work with you, so work the room one by one to get each person on side. Aim to be helpful, listen and
ask questions. Be enthusiastic, likeable and interested. It’s all about having empathy with the client’s
requirements/problems, wowing them and getting them to trust you.

10 Remember that clients are people with the same emotional needs as the rest of us. Persuade them that
you’re going to make them – the individuals in that room – look good and that you’re going to add that little bit
of magic.

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http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/home/making-the-perfect-pitch[12/11/2009 08:40:43 a.m.]