The nine people you meet in a pitch came out of talking with a couple of former colleagues about recent pitches that they’d been involved in. I was thinking about how I had experienced what it was like to pitch and to be pitched to as a client.
Based on all that, I thought I would share some experience and expertise that might be of help.
The nine people you are likely pitching to.
You can think of the panelists receiving your pitch as fitting into nine behaviour archetypes.
- The advocate
- The complainer
- The detail lover
- The late comer
- The multi-tasker
- The narcissist
- The skeptic
- The spectator
- The surpriser
Right let’s get into this and meet the nine people.
The advocate
The advocate may be apparent before you are in the room for the pitch. They may have worked with the agency before and have likely advocated for the agency to be on the list. A good pitch lead with enough time will have primed the advocate with the thinking and themes that they would be sharing in the pitch.
Or not, some people are just very agreeable in nature.
How you’ll recognise them
They will seem receptive and positive to everything. Pitch teams and process tends to overlook the advocate in the pitch. But they can be used to the pitch team’s advantage.
The complainer
The complainer may be an advocate of the existing agency, may be having their budget cut to pay for the activity that the new agency will do, or may have been left out of the early process that started the agency search.
How you’ll recognise them
Negative towards everything, can be mistaken for the skeptic or the surpriser.
The detail lover
These people usually fit into one of three categories:
- They are currently really in the trenches and want to ensure that you can really make their lives easier
- They are product people who are domain experts on their area: use cases, technical details and probably less likely users
- In a highly regulated sector they could have a legal or regulatory responsibility, in pharma companies they may be called MLR (medical, legal and regulatory)
How you’ll recognise them
Prior the pitch these people are most likely to push an agency to put much more detail in their decks so they become lengthy and take a lot of time to create. All the while the storytelling red thread goes missing.
In the pitch, given the volume of questioning you may mistake them for the surpriser or the narcissist. The key differences being that the narcissist won’t usually give you an opportunity to answer and the surpriser will bring completely new areas of questioning in.
The late comer
They turn up the meetings late. This could be personal factors such as workload and time management, or it could be an attention diverting tactic.
How you’ll recognise them
They turn up late, its more important to identify why they turn up late as you could actually be dealing with the narcissist, the skeptic or the surpriser.
The multi-tasker
This usually comes down to company culture usually rather than a character trait.
How to recognise them
If it’s company culture you will be likely dealing with a sea of laptop lids, or smartphone being used on the desk. Assume that they are listening, although they might be commenting and norming in real time on your presentation in a conversation thread on Google Workspace, Teams, WhatsApp etc.
If it’s one person then it might be the sign of distraction (child minder gets in touch saying their child is running a temperature or similar). Or it could be a sign of dissonance, keep an eye out for the complainer or the skeptic
The skeptic
They may have similar world view to the complainer in that they would prefer the status quo. Though they may view the status quo as the least worst option rather than be an advocate for it.
They may be:
- Risk averse by nature
- This may be completely new to them
- They may have been part of a project that has gone wrong in the past
How you’ll recognise them
This could be tricky as they may look similar to the spectator or the surpriser. Generally statements and related questions made will seek proofs as part of the response.
The surpriser
The surpriser usually is a symptom of a client that doesn’t have internal alignment on their brief.
How you’ll recognise them
They will come in with new information, ideas and questions that may disrupt the meeting agenda and possibly the whole pitch process.
How to deal with them as you encounter the nine people?
General rules to work with
Which ever of the nine people you are engaging with it’s good to remember for your own sanity that it’s generally not personal so don’t take it that way. All of the nine people archetypes are under some sort of pressure / stress. At most, you’re a non-player character in the video game that they call life.
Given what I said about their likely personal stressors, try and empathise with what might be the root causes of their behaviour. You’ve experienced agency life and the way it clobber you – you get similarly interesting times in most corporate environments.
Hanlon’s razor says something to the effect of “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.” You can swap out stupidity for ignorance, thoughtlessness etc. but the message remains equally valid. I know it’s tough to be empathetic in the stressful environment of a pitch but try. Engage in a positive way.
If you are pitching an international team or a large company there is likely to be cultural differences. In my experiences large companies like Alphabet and Microsoft have their own language and world view just in the same way as the agency world has its own jargon.
If you are pitching in another country there is another layer of cultural differences. Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map is a great primer for different country cultures. Be mindful of cultural differences and sensitivities.
When you are making claims, assumptions or answering a question provide relevant proof where appropriate.
However tempting it is, never get into confrontation with any of the nine people archetypes. You won’t win and you may cause friction with your colleagues that would outlive the pitch. There’s a fine line between being clever and a ̶d̶i̶c̶k̶h̶e̶a̶d̶ misanthrope.
Specific tactics for each of the nine people portrayed.
The advocate
- Get them to share their feedback.
- If you can arrange it prior to the pitch, give them a role in the meeting.
- As a watch out they are easy to ignore because you often focused on solving for other behaviours.
09The complainer
- Make them feel heard, for instance ask them about what is important in an agency partner.
- Be prepared to move on, don’t get hung up on their questions.
- Share evidence that would reassure the complainer such as case studies demonstrating competence, experience and expertise.
The detail lover
- Emphasise the limited time to present and ask how the additional information will aid the decision-making process.
- Co-opt other attendees in the room by asking them who would also find the additional information valuable to included.
The late comer
Prior to going into the pitch, have a plan on how you will handle a delay on the pitch. Having this pre-planned will make you feel far more settled if you need to use it.
In the pitch:
- For the beginning of the presentation, see if you can cover the less important details first, so that late comers don’t miss out on the important items.
- Offer to bring the late comer up to speed.
The multi-tasker
Dealing with the multi-tasker is down to going into the pitch with a high degree of engagement designed in that makes multi-tasking behaviour difficult to do. You need to outcompete other calls on their attention.
The narcissist
- Acknowledge their input, but ask for input from others. This shifts the focus away from them and puts their input in a broader context.
- Once you know who they are, reduce their impact on the meeting by looking for other people’s input first.
- Make them feel that their input is valued by ensuring they know that you have captured their input.
The skeptic
- Enquire about what causes them the greatest challenge.
- Ask them about what good looks like from their perspective. What would help address their greatest challenge?
- Reassure by sharing case studies, expertise and experience where similar challenges have been successfully addressed.
The spectator
- You need to strike a balance between engaging them to ensure that they are heard, but not putting them on the spot. Everyone’s input is crucial. Acknowledge the value of their contribution.
The surpriser
- Acknowledge their input, not doing so would quickly turn them to a complainer.
- You need to make a judgement based on the situation in the room, if it makes sense to include their new input based on agreed goals. This will likely require one-or-more follow-up meeting.