Taking time out to deconstruct the pitch after it has happened
is critical, Ms. Coots said. It can help agencies learn from the
patterns that emerge about your style of presenting, the strengths
and weaknesses of your people, and ultimately it can make your
agency better the next time around.
"One of our biggest problems is that we're paid to have the
answers," said Ms. Coots to a packed room of attendees at the Ad
Age Small Agency Conference in Portland. "We're not paid to ask the
questions ... our currency is not about looking at 'How could I
have done this differently, or better?'"
While agencies throw themselves wholeheartedly into new-business
pitches -- and many feel exhilarated by the process and how it gets
their creative juices flowing -- they haven't made a practice of
analyzing their behavior after a pitch. And they should, win or
lose.
Said Ms. Coots: "If you win, you celebrate. But the first thing
you should do is to find out why. Did they love your strategy and
did they love your creative work? Will you be good for [the
client's] resume for the next job? Or do they just like the weather
in your city?"
And then there's the loss, which can be a highly emotional time
for agency execs who were involved in the pitch. "There's a lot of
self-blame...you are usually operating at this point with no data.
At the end of a pitch, most clients cannot tell you exactly why
they picked one agency over another. They usually tell you
something very lame like 'Oh, we just had more chemistry with
someone else' or 'It was very close.'" There can be finger-pointing
and bad blood too that develops between team members.
Instead agencies must focus on being rational. Ms. Coots'
recommendation is that win or lose, they should demand a report
card for every pitch. Agencies should ask what criteria the client
has utilized to make its decision.
Additionally, agencies should appoint someone who can be a "cool
head" unemotional about the pitch process. This person should be
documenting what happens in every pitch -- everything from whether
you went over the allotted presentation time to interplay between
team leaders to rating how clearly the strategy was explained.
Once you have compiled all that information, debrief the team
members with actionable strategies; debrief the consultant: debrief
the clients; and consider debriefing the management team at your
entire agency. And you never know, she said -- this process could
help you to go pitch a rival account or perhaps reconnect with an
agency that once rejected you.
"The minute you are told you lose the account, that's the minute
you start marketing to the company because you have a ton of deep
knowledge now about the company," said Ms. Coots. If the new shop
doesn't deliver, you can be there.
The lesson? The ad business is about storytelling. And after
pitches is when a lot of stories get told. But it's better if your
story is informed by what really happened and in a way that you can
improve your batting average.
