I have been in and around agency pitching for 25 years. I have run the process from the new business side, sat in the rooms, coached the teams, and done more post-pitch debrief calls than I would care to count. So when The Pimlico Group ran our webinar last month on whether the pitch process is broken, I was not expecting to be surprised.
I was.
Not by the data, which most of us already knew. Not by the war stories, which were familiar. But by how many of the same problems are still there, unchanged. And by how resolvable most of them actually are if both sides decide to act on it.
Here is what came out of the session.
The pitch is not broken – but pitch processes are. The debate about whether pitching should exist at all is largely academic. Pitches are here to stay because they serve a genuine governance purpose. The question is not whether to pitch. It is how to run the process with more rigour and more respect on both sides.
Pre-qualification is the most powerful moment in any pitch. Most agencies treat it as a formality, a quick read of the brief before saying yes. Pre-qualification is when an agency has the most leverage: before committing, when they can ask hard questions about cultural fit, timescales, decision-makers, and budget. The agencies that get this right stop pitching the wrong clients and start winning the right ones.
Pushing back is commercially wise, not confrontational. Agencies that significantly influence the pitch process convert at seven in eight. Those that do not push back at all convert at one in eight. That single statistic is the strongest possible case for changing behaviour.
The pitch process does not start when the brief arrives. The strongest agencies have built a relationship with their target client over six to nine months before the brief exists. By the time they are invited into the process, they are on the list for a reason. That is pipeline strategy, not luck.
The human cost is real and largely unaddressed. 71% of pitches are lost on softer factors, not the quality of thinking. The whole investment can be lost without first class presentation with confidence and conviction. Often the same pitch squad is deployed again and again until they lose their edge.
We have to learn from every engagement. The post-pitch debrief almost never happens properly. Make debriefs a precondition for participation. Share learning internally – win or lose. A CEO email on a Friday at five is not a debrief. None of this is inevitable.
The Pimlico Group works with agencies on pitch strategy, new business development, and the commercial structures that make growth sustainable. Our ten commandments for pitching, five for agencies and five for clients, follow shortly.
If your agency is rethinking how it approaches new business, we would welcome the conversation.
Reach us at emma@thepimlicogroup.co.uk; david@thepimlicogroup.co.uk or visit thepimlicogroup.co.uk.