I’ve spent yesterday delivering the first part of a programme for partners and senior associates within a law firm. So, what was the programme about? Well, my client had found that over a period of twelve months instead of winning 1 in 3 pitches they had slipped to winning 1 in 7 pitches. There were all sorts of cultural and economic reasons why their conversion ratio had slipped. I had been hired to help them with their presentation skills, and how they came across to the client, once they got to the pitch stage.
This got me thinking, your pitch conversion rate is a good key indicator of how efficient your business is. So, here are our top eleven tips on how can you achieve more with your pitches – and make sure you are winning more than you are losing.
1. Avoid getting into a competitive tender
If you can avoid the need for a competitive tender then you can save yourself huge amounts of time, energy and money. Easy to say, less easy to do! Don’t get complacent with existing clients – ask them regularly, how are we doing? Keep your relationship warm with existing prospects. You never know, they may not be considering anyone else for the work…
2. Pick your battles
Sometimes you just know you are not going to be in a chance of winning. Perhaps the previous incumbent is very well entrenched and the company is only re-tendering because they have a policy to retender after a certain amount of years. Is it worth you spending your time, energy and money on this tender?
I heard yesterday how some of the public sector procurement teams are asking 30 or 40 suppliers to tender for a contract. Unless you really want (or need) this contract, how likely are you to win?
3. Make the call
Unless you are in a closed tender process, such as for the public sector, then pick up the phone and speak to the person running the tender. Find out what is really important to them, and what is nice to have. Explore how the tender came about, who are the decision makers, what is the top 3 (or 5) buying criteria, who else has been asked to tender, who will be on the panel for the pitch…. You will be amazed how much people will share if you just ask the question. You can then focus your proposal and pitch document on what’s really important for the client and your key differentiators from the competition.
4. Bring the team
Most people are reasonably clued up that the business development director, partner or business owner (unless you are a very small firm) are unlikely to be the day-to-day person that they will be working with. Make sure you bring along key members of the team, which will be servicing the account, to the pitch.
5. Ask yourself ‘so what’
Time and time again when I work with clients helping them with a pitch presentation I hear a very smooth rendition of the client’s capabilities and key services. If you are going to say, we have a national presence – great – but what is the benefit for the client? When writing your pitch presentation put yourself in the client’s shoes and make sure that every capability or feature described has a benefit attached.
6. Prioritise
You live and breathe your business 24/7. It is what makes you, you. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your potential client or customer is not as interested as you are in your business. When you are writing your pitch make sure you focus on how you propose to solve your client’s problems, and how your business will (succinctly) add value to the potential client’s business.
7. Don’t lecture the client
Potential clients don’t like to be told what they do or don’t need. It’s simple, really. So, when you are pitching use phrases like – ‘in our experience’, ‘you have told us’, ‘one potential solution is..’, ‘may we suggest’, ‘in our research’…. One of my delegates yesterday said, when tying up a presentation, told the panel – ‘you need a partner’. It didn’t go down too well with the panel…
8. Questions, questions, questions
Leave a good half to two thirds of your allocated time slot for questions. Your pitch presentation should be succinct and to the point. Your objective at a pitch is to show that you truly understand the client’s needs (and can meet them), and to engage with the client. Answering questions is another opportunity to increase your credibility with the client AND increase engagement. After all, when I was the other side of the table, I was asking myself – do I want to work with these people, and are they able to meet my needs?
9. Practice, practice, practice
If your first run through is on the morning of the pitch, in the car at the client’s premises ,or in the back of a taxi on the way to a pitch – this is too late! In our experience, people who have run through their pitch presentation a couple of times will come across significantly better to the client. After all, in a pitch a client is looking to see who has taken the time to prepare.
10. Ditch the slides
Unless specifically asked for slides, ditch them. Your objective is to engage fully with the client. Slides, handouts, talk booklets all divert attention away from you and what you are saying. I’m not saying don’t prepare a talk book, brochure or pitch presentation booklet – just give a copy to the client after you have finished the presentation.
11. Follow up afterwards
It’s an unfortunate fact of life for every pitch winner there must be a loser. Whether you win or lose the pitch always get feedback on why you were or weren’t chosen. Use this information to inform how you go about pitches in the future.
If you think you could achieve more in pitches or are worried by the pitches you are losing, give us a call, 01234 48 0123. We take pride in giving our client’s businesses a competitive advantage.
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