5 new rules for a knock-out pitch

Introduction

Love 'em or hate 'em, the agency pitch is here to stay. It starts with the RFP, moves into the RFP Response and hopefully ends with the opportunity to pitch in person. It's an antiquated process that has seen little change in the past few decades. You bust your butt, spending good time and money, putting together a proposal in the hopes of making finals and having the chance to pitch your services and ideas to key decision makers. It's like applying to college -- you put yourself out there and someone else decides if you are worthy. The irony is that the clients dislike the process as much as the agencies, yet no one is willing to change it; at least for now.

So, before you make your next pitch take into account these three assumptions:

1. Before you even walk into the room, the client has most likely has made up their mind
2. If there are 10 people on the client side, eight do not want to be there
3. For the client, a pitch is just another meeting, and we all know how we feel about meetings

So, how do you differentiate yourself? How do you stand out from the competition and win? Here are five new rules to make sure your pitch is not just a formulaic, run of the mill boring meeting, but a performance that leaves them begging for more!