How to (really) win a pitch

When Joey Asher approached me with an invitation to review his book: How to Win a Pitch: The Five Fundamentals That Will Distinguish You from the Competition my first reaction, frankly, was to recoil.

The word "pitch" conveys everything that is wrong about marketing within the AEC environment -- the stand-em-up, shoot-em-down BS-filled presentation which will never work unless you are so well connected with the project that you really shouldn't need to pitch, anyways . . .

Well, turns out Asher and I agree on the basics: Most pitches are terrible, and most pitches fail because they are, well, pitches!

(Asher doesn't define it this way, but I'll give my definition of a "Pitch". You receive your RFP or "Invitation to Bid" and you bring out your team and hash out some ideas, then show up with your standard power point presentation, and proceed to, boringly, "dazzle" your prospective clients, who had actually chosen someone else already . . .)

Asher makes it quite clear that in most cases you haven't got a chance in a thousand to win this type of "pitch". You have to have a relationship with the people and organization to whom you are presenting -- at least enough of a relationship to know the story behind the story; the real reason they have requested your proposal, and then, your job is to develop a well-thought and researched (and enthusiastic) presentation showing the prospective client how you can actually and truly solve the potential client's challenges.

In other words, you need to wire this story in your favour before you even go into the conference room to deliver your presentation. And you want an environment where the people in the room are peppering you with questions, so much that your focus is engaged in a conversation rather than a "pitch" with the people to whom you hope to do business with.

Of course, once you've done your homework, and followed Asher's advice, you'll likely stand out from the crowd. His point is if you make it to the point where you are on the short list of finalists, you obviously have enough technical capability to win the work: So the real decision is going to be on how you relate to the people who are making the decision -- and the best way you can relate to them is to share real ideas and insights, and involve them in the process, and be really prepared.

There's lots of good stuff in this book. Asher is effectively using it to promote his pitch-preparation and coaching business. But you don't need to pay for his extended services to gain value.

So, he succeeded.

Asher's "pitch" worked because he knew his market and the obvious relevance of his book to this blog.

Next posting, I'll share with you his five fundamentals.

If you want to buy the book, you can find it at Amazon.