We’ve focused recently on the people side of pitching: the importance of building collective capability, the 6 essential roles every pitch squad needs and why rotating your talent matters as much as selecting it.
But there’s a harder conversation underneath all of that. One that most agencies avoid because it requires looking honestly at how they actually run a pitch, not how they think they do.
Team chemistry and strategic thinking – the things most agencies compete on – are non-negotiable. Businesses with a consistently high win rate aren’t just better at those things, they’re better at the process around them. And that’s a discipline most agencies never deliberately build.
One owner. From day one.
The single most important structural decision in any pitch is assigning one Pitch Owner – someone who holds the process, acts as the client’s single point of contact and makes the calls when the team disagrees. Not a steering committee. Not whoever’s most senior. One person, with genuine authority and protected time to do the job properly. When ownership is diffused, so is thinking. The brief gets interpreted four ways, the deck loses its thread and the client senses it.
Open with their problem, not your credentials.
Every brief tells you what the client wants to hear. The best pitch teams spend time working out what the client really needs – and those are rarely the same thing. The real brief lives in the business context, the competitive pressure and the decision-makers who may not even be in the room on pitch day. Agencies that open with a sharp, confident observation about where the client sits in their market demonstrate within the first five minutes that they’ve done the thinking. And that’s when you earn the right to talk about yourselves.
Strategy on a page before the deck exists.
Within 48 hours of receiving the brief, the Pitch Owner and strategic lead should have one agreed and signed off page – the core strategic direction, the key messages and the team. This is not a linear or prescriptive answer to the brief, nor is it a skeleton deck – it’s how you want them to feel about you as they leave the meeting.
Get specific or lose ground.
The section most agencies get wrong is the 90-day plan. Anything vague reads as agencies that aren’t ready. Name the people doing the work. Show the week-by-week sequence. Be explicit about when the first real output lands. Back it up with proof – similar clients, comparable challenges, what you did and what happened. Clients want evidence, not intentions.
Rehearse the things that break first.
Two full run-throughs (minimum) before a final run on the morning with every squad member owning their section. Pay particular attention to the handovers – an awkward transition at the wrong moment undoes the momentum and energy. And prepare for the Q&A as seriously as the pitch. It’s often where pitches are decided and agencies that treat it as an afterthought risk losing ground they’ve just spent 40 minutes building.
Debrief immediately. Follow up fast.
Internal debrief while it’s fresh. What landed? What didn’t? Then follow up with the client – a short note that reflects the conversation you just had, not a generic thank you. Win or lose, call the client when the result comes in. Not to manage the relationship but to understand what happened and then feed it back to the squad.
Treat your potential client as a client from the start.
You can have the best squad in the room, but without the process around them, you’re pitching blind.
Before you walk in, ask the team: what would we do if they were already a client? You’d be having a direct, authentic and honest conversation – rather than a rehearsed one. Clients aren’t just evaluating your ideas. They’re working out what you’ll be like to work with, so stop performing and start connecting.