Just sat through an afternoon of two pitch presentations by two different agencies.  Third one is today.

No Advantages Given

Prior to the presentation, all three agencies were given very specific requirements that they needed to address during the presentations.

And prior to the presentation, all agencies were provided with detailed information about the client’s challenges and needs.

At the end of the day, you would expect to see some variation in styles, ways in which the presented/approached the challenge, but nothing like what we saw yesterday.

A Complete Surprise

One agency did as asked and presented case study examples, but that’s about all the client got.  They didn’t relate the examples to the client’s challenges.  And didn’t present results to show the client how they were successful doing what they did.

Nice work, but help me understand how this makes me feel good about your ability to do a great job for us!??

They took a very tactical look at the client’s world and offered lots of ideas, but no real strategy and didn’t tie it all back to the challenges that the client faced.  They started small and finished small.

And the orchestration of the presentation was poor as well.  Their own people interrupting their own people.  Individuals rambling on about their personal experiences without a real connection to the needs of the client.  And poor planning from a timing standpoint with the client basically having to cut their presentation off because they ran beyond the allotted time.

The Way it Should Be

Agency #2 did it the way all agencies should do it.  Addressed the challenge document to a tee.  Kept their presentation orderly and easy to follow.  Started big picture and worked their way down into specifics – all the while, tying them back to the challenges at hand.

Talked results and successes and specifically related them to the client’s challenges.

Kept the presentation to the allotted time so questions could be asked.

Well orchestrated.

Very focused and enthusiastic from start to finish.

All players participated and all players stayed on message leaving the client feeling really good about their candidacy.

So What Does This Mean for You?

It means that you need to look at more than two agencies in a final pitch presentation.

Agency #3 is later today.  Should be interesting!