THIS WEEK: Why You'll Lose Your Next Pitch
You'll Follow the Brief
Following the brief is the fastest path to mediocrity. You will end up looking and sounding just like every other agency in the room. You'll also end up providing what the client thought they wanted. After all, we all know that what they request in the brief is rarely what they go with in the end. To make matters worse, the decision-maker probably didn't write it.
Job one is to reinterpret the brief. A few simple questions to consider:
1) What does this client really need to impact their business/marketing/brand?
2) In the end, what will they be prepared to actually buy from an agency?
3) What will be the best way to persuade them (a) on your recommendation; and (b) you're the only agency to deliver it?
Here's the key reason you shouldn't follow the brief. When the client is in brief writing mode, they tend to think big. Very big. This leads them (and your entire pitch team) in the direction of:
- "We want ground-breaking ideas!"
- "We really want something fresh and new this time!"
- "If it makes us a little nervous, that's a good thing!"
- "We're looking for some out of the box thinking!"
Btw, if you have to say "out of the box," you're in fact squarely in the box.
There is a point throughout the pitch process where clients start to get nervous. They reflect upon the fact that the average tenure of a marketing chief is only 18 - 23 months. They remind themselves of their mortgage, their kids heading in college... no time to get fired for risky work that might not deliver.
At the point where they select the agency and their work, they default back into "play-it-safe-I-can't-get-fired" mode. What would the CEO think of this? Or more importantly in a recession, what would the CFO think of this? Their criteria tends to be a little more risk adverse.
But then, you know this. You've experienced this client phenomenon with 90% of your pitches... and even 90% of your own clients.
One final point: I am in no way endorsing that you should present safe, dull work. Clients in fact need bigger ideas right now. However, the onus is on you to make them feel safe about those big ideas. Think like a litigator building their case for a jury. Build an irrefutable strategic logic trail that sets up your work as the undeniable choice for their business.
