6 years ago Cleve Langton* recapped the first AAAA New Business summit.  450 senior level people ranging from advertising executives, search consultants and marketing clients weighed in.  Their findings bear repeating.     

Notice bullet point #1 and the reference to the tight economy.

“Ok-so what are the “pitch killers?” Here’s the consensus:

• “Pitch everything that walks.”—It might seem counter-intuitive but in a tight economy, prospect selectivity is more critical than ever. Pitch to win rather than pitch to pitch.
• “Too much about us (the ad agency).”—not enough about them (the client).”—Kill the credentials because they kill the pitch.
• Not doing enough homework. The client expects you to know and understand their key business issues, even in the first meeting.
• “Knowing too much, too soon.”—Failure to listen to—and absorb—the client’s issues and problems before offering solutions.
• Failure to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Think of the pitched as a play—the more you rehearse, the better the production—the more spontaneous you appear.
• Going overtime in the pitch..”—Perception is that if the ad agency can’t manage its time in the pitch, they won’t be able to manage the account.
• Strategic/creative “disconnects”. — Failure to establish the clear linkage between the strategic solution and the creative execution is a “tragic flaw” which knocks advertising agencies out of a pitch.
• Overemphasis on “Unique”, “proprietary” agency tools and systems. They are generally not “unique” and most bore the hell out of prospects.
• Failure to build “chemistry”. Prospects hire advertising agencies and people they respect—but first they want people they enjoy working with.
• High tech vs. “high touch”..”—Death by PowerPoint!

Not surprisingly, the “pitch winners” are the flip side of the killers listed above.

Overall, the biggest complaint prospects have about most ad agency presentations is that we don’t take the time to learn.”—and understand.”—their business. They also say that we bore them with our credentials, we bore and confuse them with “agency speak” (use jargon) and we over-promise the value of our “unique”, “proprietary” agency tools and systems.

The sooner we, as an industry, learn that “it’s about them, not us”, the sooner we will raise industry standards and, thereby, prospective client respect.”

*Cleve Langton has forgotten more about the ad biz and advertising new business pitches than most of us will ever know.  He’s the former Director of DDB’s Worldwide Business Development and was responsible for directing DDB’s U.S. multi-office pursuits and multi-regional pitches worldwide.  Cleve is also the founding Chairman of the AAAA New Business Committee.

And he’s got a new book out called New Business Lessons from Madison Avenue .

Share/Save