Does anyone actually enjoy pitching? Most of us would prefer if clients and prospects just called us up and handed over a project because of a great experience or positive word of mouth. If only it were that easy.
The reality is, we often have to pitch and the process can be time-consuming, unpaid, and exhausting.
When I moved into ops, I felt a brief sense of relief knowing I wouldn’t have to pitch anymore. But that relief quickly faded as I found myself measuring, and often despairing over the time spent on pitches. We sometimes had to bring in freelancers because unpaid pitching was consuming so much studio time, and cutting into our profits. Plus, there was the challenge of trying to maximize our win rate.
To make things worse, there’s the relatively new phenomenon of ghosting where the client goes quiet after the pitch – or sometimes even ghosts you after declaring you’ve won the pitch. Frustrating.
Other things that were constantly on my mind:
- How to better qualify the pitch to improve our chances of winning
- Attempting to build a pitch budget calculator – based on our understanding of project scope and client budget
- Concern about the amount of creative and ideas given away for free
- Debating if creds and methodology is a better way to go
- Whether and how to recoup time spent on pitches in the project budget
- Considering what to do after the pitch to improve our chances
- Worrying if our rates were too high (a client once said our prices were too low to be taken seriously!)
There’s a minefield of considerations to be weighed to try and strike the right balance.
So what do we do? I sat down with agency consultant Freia Muehlenbein to answer this question. Freia has loads of experience in optimizing agencies, supporting them from growth, ops, sales, people – through to crafting a winning pitch.
Freia’s advice? Ultimately, clients want to make money – so focus on ROI rather than tactics and creative. Freia also shares how to create ‘the war room’ to strategize on how to win a pitch.
What have you done to improve pitch win rates at your agency? Share your stories of what’s worked with the community in this LinkedIn post.
Agency Hackers Webinar – I’ll be presenting about increasing productivity in the workplace at a free webinar on 19th September. Please RSVP – I’d love to see you there.ear what’s worked well for you. Reply to this email and let me know, I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time,
Harv Nagra
Ops consultant & former agency ops director
🎧 The Handbook: The Agency Operations Podcast:
Freia Muehlenbein is an agency growth consultant and owner of Be Reyt Consultancy. With over 15 years of experience in agency operations, Freia is an expert in the sales and pitch process, known for closing large deals.
In this episode, Freia shares practical advice on:
- Developing a strong qualification process to truly understand your client’s needs
- The concept of a war room and how it helps in crafting effective strategies
- Why prioritizing financials and ROI is more important than focusing on tactics
Read the key takeaways below or listen to the full episode.
Key Takeaways:
As a follow-up, consider a one-page financial summary for the CMO and visuals for the head of creative. Maintain regular contact and set timelines to avoid being ghosted. (32:16)
Agencies have to pitch differently and be strategic to win the deal. (7:41)
If clients are breathing down your neck or asking you to pitch again and again, it’s likely you’re not proactive enough. Share insights and demonstrate the value your agency can deliver. (11:05)
For an effective pitch process, understand the client’s needs with better qualification, strategizing, data, and insights. (15:10)
Freia frequently hears that pitch decks are not strategic enough. Clients ask “what am I actually buying?” Clients want to see the ROI you can deliver. (16:29)
When pitching to a CMO, focus more on the financials and less on the creative. They want to see results. (18:32)
Present less tactics, and more strategy and forecasting. (21:10)
Freia suggests a “war room“, where the team strategizes on how to win. Discuss the client’s needs, identify key decision-makers, and clarify how your value proposition aligns with their success. Ensure the strategy is clear before working on the pitch deck. (24:00)
Reserve time at the end of your pitch for immediate feedback. Address any missed points on the spot. (32:05)
Learn more:
💡 Blog Post
Read this guide to quoting profitable projects to ensure your estimates are accurate.
🔎 Help Center
Stay on top of your pipeline with simple pipeline reporting and dashboards in Scoro.
📕 Case Study
Learn how this marketing agency automated work to free up time and prioritize client service.
