1. Understanding the pitch
process – winning new
business

2. The 4 crucial aspects of
creating winning pitches
Ideas and Drama Structure and Preparation
Content Audience Delivery Logistics
Profiling and Chemistry Environment and Setting

3. Delivering Winning Pitches
• Understand the pitch process
• Write a compelling proposal/presentation
• Understand winning behaviours
• Get the chemistry right
• Deliver it convincingly!

4. Writing Compelling Proposals and
Presentations
• Clearly understand what you are being invited to
submit…
• Then question it politely
• Remember people don’t know what they don’t know
• So they are incapable of articulating it with any
conviction
• You may be asked to submit a proposal …but the client/
commissioner may not know what they really want or
need

5. Understanding The Pitch Process
• What do we mean by the pitch process?
• What factors come into play?
• The importance of chemistry and
understanding who you are pitching to
• The development your proposals – logical
argument to brilliant ideas

6. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Hard

7. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Hygiene Hard

8. Hygiene – just getting the basics
right
• Answering the brief!
• Managing time!
• Attention to detail
• Client Names/Spellings/Client Structure

9. Losing Tactics – snatching defeat
from the jaws of victory
• Ignore the hang–ups – drink, smoke etc.
• Bore them to death – particularly with their own research
• Tell them about your company when they already know
you
• Abuse time mercilessly
• Ignore budget constraints
• Rude
• Insensitive
• P…

10. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Resource and effort
Hygiene Hard

11. Resource and Effort
• Quality of the team
• Preparation
• Obvious rehearsal
• Importance to you
• Wanting the business

12. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Team
Resource and effort Hard
Hygiene Hard

13. The Team
• People you want to do business with
• Working together to a common cause
• Will actually work on the client’s business
• Can easily ‘lose’ won pitches

14. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Argument
Team
Resource and effort
Hygiene Hard

15. Argument
• Have one…
• Clear cohesive strategy
• Cutting through the …
• Customer understanding
• Realistic and pragmatic reason to be there

16. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Ideas
Argument
Team
Resource and effort
Hygiene Hard

17. Ideas and Creativity
• Always a good idea to have some
• Your audience see themselves as creative – even if they
don’t admit to it
• ‘Commercial’ idea built upon genuine understanding and
a genuine argument
• Dramatising the breadth, length and depth of the idea is
seductive
• Be integrated think holistically across platforms…

18. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Chemistry
Hard
Chemistry is crucial and cannot be left to chance

19. Chemistry
• That soft yucky stuff!
• The X Factor
• Remember we work in a relationship industry
• Doesn't sound professional – so seldom given
as a reason to buy or not as the case may be
• #1 Reason……………………….. always

20. Is Chemistry Important?
• Seldom talked about
• A wimpy reason
• Fact: People buy more from people they get on
with
• Fact: They buy even more from those people
they like…
• Personality profiling helps get it right

21. Hierarchy of Desirable Pitching Behaviour
Soft
Under
standing
Chemistry
Ideas
Argument
Team
Resource and effort
Hygiene Hard

22. Massive Understanding of..
• The audience
• The platforms
• The brief or commissioning need
• The culture
• But above all the individual you are pitching to
• What they love and what keeps them up at night!
• The ultimate in database marketing

23. So what impresses clients?
• Each pitch is different
• Each set of needs is different
• However…

24. Winning Pitches
• Resource - effort, people, will
• Rifle - specific target
• Research - understanding market and
prospect
• Rationale - argument
• Razzle - (not really!) creativity
• Rapport - chemistry plus teamwork

25. Winning Pitches
Say
Thank You

26. Writing and delivering a
compelling presentation

27. How do you define a
presentation?
• Pure effective communication
• Neither a speech nor a discussion
• A presentation planned, organized, uses visual
aids and is most importantly “tailored” for the
specific audience
• Effective communication is an exchange of
ideas, energy and actions, with understanding
and purpose between two people are aware of
each other

28. Organizing your presentation
Opening Remarks Step 6
Creative Opening Step 7
Bridge
Subject Step 1
Step 3
Agenda 1 Agenda 2 Agenda 3
Step 4
Body 1 Body 2 Body 3
Summary 1 Step 5 Summary 2 Summary 3
Step 2 Conclusion

29. Order of Preparation
• Subject/Topic/Recommendation
• Conclusion/Main Idea/Recommendation
• Agenda
• Body
• Summary
• Creative Opening and Bridge (optional)
• Opening Remarks
• Transitions (Including Lead-Ins and Mini-Conclusions)

30. Team Presentations
• Assign a team “Captain”
• Hold an initial meeting
• Set up planning and preparation schedules
• Hold second meeting
• Undertake a read through and/or rehearsal
• Conduct a dress rehearsal
• Conduct the presentation
• Review the presentation

31. Delivering your presentation with conviction
Review
DO IT
Read Through
Create Visual Aids
Choose A Structure
Select Persuasive Information
Set an Objective
Audience Analysis

32. Top 10 tips – winning pitches
made easy
• Is the pitch real?
• Uncover the budget and timescale
• Do your research
• Build a relationship early
• Be positive – want the gig!
• Think about what your wearing
• Encourage engagement – don’t talk incessantly
• Read the audience
• Create rapport with the client
• Remember clients are people too! Pamper them...

33. And Finally…
• Please remember….
‘Everything has a beginning, middle and an
end’
Aristotle 384BC
• Thank you