We all make pitches every single day of our lives. From “Would you like fries with that?” to “Will you marry me?”, proposals permeate our lives.

If this is so common on a personal level, why isn’t everyone an expert at pitching new business on a professional level?

Obviously, it’s not that easy. Nothing in new business is black and white – you have to be flexible and adapt to the needs of each potential client. Pitching is an art that, once perfected, still doesn’t guarantee a win every time…but wouldn’t you rather know you couldn’t have done anything better than wonder what you did wrong?

Here’s a quick look at five naughty and nice behaviors to keep in mind when you’re on the pitcher’s mound.

Naughty List

1. Pursuing EVERY opportunity. Think about new business the way you think about marriage – are you compatible? Do you have what it takes to make a happy long-term commitment? If not, don’t waste the time and resources required for an effective pitch.
   
   
2. Telling clients they’re wrong. If we want clients to treat us as experts in our field, we need to treat them as experts in theirs. If they identify a problem, solve it. If they come to you not knowing the problem, figure it out and then solve it. Just don’t pretend to know more than they do about their day-to-day biz. That’s insulting.
   
   
3. Talking at them instead of to them. This isn’t lecture hall. If you bore them, what does that indicate about future working relationships? Keeping clients engaged and excited is half the battle.
   
   
4. Badmouthing the competition. This isn’t a mudslinging fight. Don’t even acknowledge the competition – you’re selling YOUR expertise and talent. Mentioning anyone else just takes focus away from that. Should the client bring up another agency, politely sidestep and move on.
   
   
5. Presenting every ounce of research you have. Presentations are your chance to shine. Highlight the research and insights you developed, but leave the fine print in the appendix. They’ll thank you.

 

Nice List

1. Treating clients like partners. It’s not always possible, but if the opportunity arises to use the client as an asset, do it. Absorb their insights, learn their biases and make them feel like part of the team.
   
   
2. Doing your homework. Sometimes clients provide you with insights and sometimes they don’t. Either way, take the time and make the investment in your own research. Look at the target demographic, evaluate competitive sets, test your creative – whatever is appropriate to your situation.
   
   
3. Presenting in an appropriate format. Know your audience and where you’ll be presenting. Do you need boards? An electronic presentation? Both? Neither? What about leave behinds? Should you bring thematic props to engage the client, or keep things more formal? Each pitch is different – adjust accordingly.
   
   
4. Keeping things interesting. We’ve all sat through awful presentations. Don’t inflict that on others. Present with passion, excitement and a sense of humor, and don’t read from a slide. Use visuals with big images and brief headlines to serve as a background for what you have to say.
   
   
5. Following up. After the presentation, send a thank-you to the client. This can be as elaborate or simple as you deem appropriate, but it’s important. Thank the client again for the opportunity and make sure they know you’re available should any questions arise. If they know you’re easy to work with, that’s just one more gold star by your name.

 

Moose was abuzz last week when a local TV crew showed up unannounced to interview Tyler Davis, one of our Account Coordinators. They were doing a story on PleaseRobMe.com, which you can check out here.

So after all the watercooler talk and feisty comments on KSDK's website, we invited Tyler to write a response...

My recent run in with KSDK as the “Potential Target” on their “Please Rob Me” story was rather eye opening. Not because I learned that they were able to track me down and find out where I worked. Rather I was more surprised at the lack of information they chose to report on social media sites such as Twitter and Foursquare. Instead, they focused on scare-tactics.

PleaseRobMe.com, which is basically a Twitter search for all Foursquare posts, states their goal is “. . . to raise some awareness on this issue [online privacy] and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc.”

Foursquare, the newest and emerging social media, allows consumers to check in at certain locations, ping it across their social networks and earn points in the meantime. (It’s a little more complicated than that but those are the basics). 

So because of Foursquare’s nature, KSDK reported that PleaseRobMe.com is “A new website [that] lets potential crooks know when you’re not at home.” However, as the website states, this is not the case. Rather it is an over exaggerated way to raise awareness.

I agree completely with PleaseRobMe.com’s mission and believe that in the social media world, you have to be aware of what information you offer up. You need to keep your personal information private. That’s why I don’t publish my address or phone number on my social networks. That’s also why, when KSDK showed up at Moosylvania with a microphone in my face, they were unable to clearly identify my correct home address.

Sure if you dig hard enough online, you can find public records with my address attached. But that doesn’t mean when I check in on Foursquare that my roommates aren’t home or my alarm isn’t set or my dog isn’t hungry for human flesh.

New to St. Louis, I personally joined Foursquare to learn more about the city. I am able to see where my friends have been or check in and invite them to join me. Truly, it’s an online network that allows me to be social. 

As a marketer on the other hand, I use social media to explore and understand how consumers interact with it. In fact, both Bravo TV and Pepsi have recently joined forces with Foursquare to offer up specific check-ins and badges to consumers. Having this knowledge and understanding emerging media makes me a better marketer.

Since the KSDK airing, I haven’t shied away from Foursquare. Rather, I’ve embraced it. As of right now, I’m the mayor of Moosylvania. (How many entry-level account coordinators can say they’re mayor of their company?)

I encourage everyone to check actually check out Foursquare. Hopefully, the KSDK article piqued your interest instead of scared you away. If you do want to learn more, I suggest starting with this article from Mashable or this one from AdAge. 
 

During a brainstorm for Martini & Rossi, we had one of those 'ah-hah' moments. It went something like this:

"Wow, this sangria is good." 

"It was really easy to make – REALLY easy come to think of it."

"Sounds too good to be true. Will consumers believe that?"

Yep, it's an age old problem with a simple solution. The answer, we decided, was in showing (not telling) how simple the recipe was:

 

Moosylvania sent its first contingent of SXSW Newbies to Austin this year.This envoy from the Embassy was suitably impressed, inspired and basically blown away. Just ask us anything about the Interwebs now.

 

A mad mashup of technology, sociology, trendology and general nerdology come together for five days. The energy generated from such a large group of presenters and attendees was surely visible from space. There were presentations by internet celebrities including Gary Vaynerchuck (“Wine Library TV”) & Christian Lander (“Stuff White People Like”). Creativity, marketing and design were well represented by the Behance Network, Alex Bogusky and David Carson to name a few.

 

The big wave to catch will be anything that starts with the word “User”. User experience, user-generated content, user user user. Time Magazine had it right way back in 2006 when they named “You” as person of the year. Marketers who get this right will find themselves in the first class seats of the superfast train to the future. For all appearances,  the audience has already taken control of branding and content. This is now a two-sided conversation. Our take—it’s a lot more fun, get used to it.

The biggest loser, as anyone following SXSW have learned was AT&T. Austin was descended upon by thousands of maniacally Tweeting iPhones that immediately overwhelmed the hill country cell tower matrix. It did not get fixed or get better as the days progressed. Seriously, AT&T and Apple (no innocent bystander), only AIG could claim worse PR than that.

What was blazing hot and now cooling off? Blogging. Twitters are definitely the new blog. It seems like our collective attention span is now too short even for the blogosphere. A question was asked of a panel of celebrity bloggers about whether this kind of writing was addictive, making it even more difficult to write long, like a novel or even an essay. This was a big yes. In fact, Ana Marie Cox (former Wonkette) has given up blogging altogether and now spews content only on Twitter. Which Moose highly recommends following for those who enjoy a good Tweet.

For a good contact high, much of this is available online. SXSW.com has podcasts. YouTube also carries some of the video. NYTimes, AdAge and many others have reports that can be easily Googled. Take the time to plug in, and enjo  

Lynn

This is a must-download program -- Cool Iris...it is a firefox plug-in.

No more page after page, just one big wall of images.

 

  Author: Nick Becker