Friday 13 January 2012

We won't be pitching in 2012

Got chatting with some people last night #SoME2012 (grad awards) and heard some horror stories of money spent by agencies on pitches and the work which goes in without any payment or guarantee of return.
So i have decided that we wont pitch for ANY business in 2012. Here are my rules and reasoning in more detail.
1. Long lists of pitch suppliers is surely a sign that the client does not really know what they want and i dont want to pay for someone else's journey of discovery.
2. The creative beauty parade. Accounts being won by through the showing oodles of creative work is misguided at best. Creative is key but is an output of strategy and that comes from working closely with a client not in a restricted environment (which a pitch process has to be)
3. We (by "we" i mean "me") are tight. I love the fact that we are still (5 years in) extremely careful about how we spend our or our clients' money. And so the thought of spending time and money with no fixed return goes against what we are about.
4. I like the sound of it. It makes us sound like a quality company and a business with a bit of cachet if we are able to say - i am sorry but we don't do creative pitches/tenders of this nature.

Let me be clear - we will continue to offer people
1. A (mostly free) digital audit of their rec comms
2. Proposals as to how we can help them
3. We will come and meet you anywhere/anytime and discuss openly without any strings your needs and suggest solutions
4. Seminars and training to educate (be educated) and discuss what is going on in industry

But we just wont go down a long winded, long list - chemistry meet - short list - presentation - final 2 - visit to offices - special videos, party hats and fancy dress etc etc. *1

*1 this policy is subject to constant change dependent on business needs and if you ask us really nicely. But i am probably
categorically going to stick to this in 2012

2 comments:

Chris Skinner said...

It's a bold business statement. I like it.

domsumners said...

Cheers chris.we are lucky enough that we seem to have a very strong client pipeline from events and referrals and it is much better way to kick off client relationships.but let's see!