Why your pitch didn’t win
We’ve all experienced that feeling when a pitch goes wrong. The moment you hear yourself say, ‘let us come back to you in the morning with some alternative options.’
27-minutes ago, you were stood in front of a room full of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed executives. Now everyone keeps checking their phone. The stakeholders who dialled in all have the same vacant expression of people who are on camera, but typing. And the rash on your neck you only get when you’re nervous, is back.
Their account manager—who’s name you’ve forgotten—mentions something about the room being ‘booked for another call’ and everyone gets up to leave. You get in a cab back to the studio and Debbie the project manager, looks at Brian the senior designer and says:
‘Well, that went well didn’t it!?’
Debbie, I know you’re just trying to lighten the mood because Brian looks like he’s one slammed door away from a WW2 flashback, even though he’s only 28…But no Debbie, that did not go well.
Everyone thought this pitch was bulletproof. Thank you. Goodbye. Green lights till guidelines. But instead, you got clotheslined by red tape and you’re not quite sure why. Enter: The Tsunami of Self Doubt:
‘The strategy made sense, didn’t it?’
‘The deck wasn’t too long, was it?’
‘The routes were fleshed out, right?’
‘The ideas were good…weren’t they?’
You worked hard. You ate lunch at your desk all week. Brian missed bath time. Debbie cancelled date night. And that anonymous aardvark last seen in Google Slides at 2:59 a.m. this morning, was you. You even got the slower commuter train, just so you could mumble under your breath for an extra 20-minutes rehearsing the beats of the deck one last time.
So, where did it all go wrong?
The truth is I have no idea. I wasn’t there. But if I had to guess, from the last 14 years of pitching ideas to people that have no reason to care until you give them one. Chances are, your pitch didn’t land because you made one, or more, of these six mistakes that I learnt the hard way. (And still make today).
Six Easy-to-Fix Mistakes Not to Make Pitching
1. Lamborghini in a ULEZ
Your pitch is big, bold, bright and beautiful, but for all the wrong reasons. You’re overcompensating. This happened because you jumped on a computer too soon.
You began searching for answers instead of researching an idea (there’s a difference). Resulting in fragmented thinking, which translated into a fragmented pitch. And instead of starting again, you told Brian to turn the Style Dial™ up to 11 and hoped the client wouldn’t notice. They did.
Although it’s possible to arrange work in such a way that alludes to an idea that isn’t there, it’s not recommended. Just like ‘pretty’ is not a concept and a ‘vibe’ is not a solution, a Lamborghini in a ULEZ ain’t got nothing on an E-scooter in a cycle lane.
To be seduced by trends is nothing to be ashamed of. Aesthetics are important to articulate the tone of an idea. But beginning and ending with style can—and will—only get you so far.
Your pitch should be able to withstand, if not welcome, interrogation and scrutiny. You don’t have to have all the answers, but you do need to know what problem you’re solving. This means there needs to be a strategic decision behind your work. Or at the very least, a strong and well-articulated sentiment*.
*I prefer ‘sentiment’ to ‘argument’ because a pitch is about communication, and in an argument, no one listens.
Solution: Begin a pitch offline and on paper. Or if you have to, create a default document and turn your wifi off. The internet has an answer for everything. But if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll be overwhelmed. Get inspiration for how to make, not what to do.
Avoid working directly into a deck template. Avoid blog-fishing for ideas. Don’t lose sight of the problem you're solving. Spend time with the brief. Get clarity about your idea before you give it horsepower.
2. Tunnel Visionary
Your idea is genius. No doubt about it. But despite that conversation with Debbie, you’ve ignored what the client needs. Instead, you’ve focused all your time and effort on solving a different problem. A very valid problem, but a very different problem that you decided was more important than the one written in the brief.
For example, your pitch outlines a step-by-step blueprint to reposition the company, scale the business and deliver 10x profits by next Tuesday. But all they want (and need) is a widget.
Going above and beyond will get you noticed, but make sure it’s ‘as well as’ answering the brief and not ‘instead of’. There will be a time when you see an opportunity of a lifetime, but if you want people to listen, put it at the end of the deck. If you’re prone to blue sky thinking, clarifying the brief upfront will help tether you to the problem and calibrate your pitch to your audience’s expectations.
Don’t try to fix a leaky pipe by building a water fountain. You will just piss off the water company.
‘Understand the brief’ is the design industry term for ‘do your job’. I recommend going further than that.
It’s important to know who wrote the brief. Was the brief written by an individual or by committee? Are they in the meeting? Who else are you pitching to? If the brief is hyper-specific, are the people with the relevant skill set and Yes Power™ in the meeting? If not, why not?
Solution: Don’t be afraid to ask questions upfront. Get the answers you need before you start. This will save a lot of headaches later. Remember, a great idea in the wrong pitch is just a bad idea. (Do your job).
3. New Parent Blindness
You care so much about the idea, love has blinded you to the research telling you it’s not right. Or you’ve been so preoccupied tending to your idea, you lack the research to know you’ve gone in the wrong direction.
It’s easy to get excited about ideas; especially when we’re invested in the work. But the longer you let bad or mediocre ideas stick around, the harder they are to get rid of. (A lot like politicians).
Solution: After you’ve identified the problem in the brief, but before you turn on the ideas machine, define a list of traits describing what a good idea looks like. This is not an exact science, but will help you see straight when you need a creative cull. It’s easier to kill ideas if you can categorise, rationalise and grade them against each other without emotion. Sometimes the baby and the bathwater have to go.
4. Jazz Concept Album
You start by pitching a good idea, but instead of delivering the instant classic you promised on slide one, you’ve gone way too deep and by slide nine you’ve lost your audience and alienated your client.
It’s easy to look at the Moon through a telescope from Earth. It’s hard to look down a telescope on Earth from the Moon.
In 1969 Miles Davis recorded an album called Bitches Brew. A six track wall of sound lasting three seconds short of 94 minutes. The longest track on the album (Bitches Brew) is 27-minutes long.
Bitches Brew is regarded as one of the greatest Jazz albums of all time and arguably the beginning of the sub genre Jazz Fusion. This article written by The Guardian, described the album as ‘Picasso in Sound’.
But if Miles Davis had had to pitch Bitches Brew, it would never have been made. Fortunately for Miles Davis, he was Miles Davis and didn’t have to pitch. Most creatives don’t have that luxury.
Solution: Get out of your head. Then get feedback. Test your ideas on people that don’t do what you do or think how you think. Sometimes we can over intellectualise a good idea to the point of confusion. Clarity is king. (And so is Miles Davis).
5. Defend the Castle
Someone just asked a question and it caught you off guard. They poked a hole in your strategy. Saw a flaw in the system. Spotted an inconsistency in your argument. Or disrupted your flow. Either way, you're embarrassed, your ego is bruised and you are now firmly on the defensive.
Questions that would normally sound like questions, now sound like coordinated attacks. The more they attack, the more you defend. Debbie is staring at Brian. Brian is staring at his feet.
You don't let people finish, because you already know what they’re going to say, and they’re wrong. The room feels different.
This has nothing to do with your idea. This is about you. If you get defensive during a pitch, it can derail a meeting or the entire job.
When you’ve worked hard on an idea and it gets critiqued, it’s either completely fine or hurts like hell. Speaking from experience, if it hurts like hell, this is because you have attached your self-worth to your work. Meaning, a criticism of the work is a criticism of you. These are two very different things (or at least they should be). To be clear, no one in the room is criticising you. It just feels like that.
Yes, the client is misaligned with the story you’re telling. But the client is also responding appropriately to the work from their perspective. They are not being malicious. Ideas are subjective. Creativity is subversive. But ego is disruptive (in the wrong way).
Solution: Give the client credit for their insight. Ask questions.
If the client reacts differently to how you thought they would, this means there is an overlooked assumption you can learn from. This will make the idea stronger, not weaker.
Try to identify when and where work gets personal for you and delegate it to another member of the team. Ask the question, does this serve my ego or the brief? Separate yourself from the work. Ego has no place in hired work. But if you’re an artist—crack on.
6. Black Turtleneck Jumper
The pitch is going so well you decide you’ll have to turn it into a TED Conferences Talk. You make a mental note to start writing your D&AD Black Pencil acceptance speech as soon as you win the pitch. Then you notice Debbie is frowning at you, and Brian hasn’t moved in a while. Suddenly you realise everyone’s eyes have glazed over, and your client is looking out the window.
Your pitch is suffering, because you are suffering from delusions of grandeur. You are not and will never be Steve Jobs.
We’ve all over-intellectualised a circle. We’ve all oversold the quality of a line. We’ve all used ‘layers’ as a metaphor. We’ve all imagined ourselves giving a TED talk. But people who take their career, their work and themselves too seriously, are not fun to work with. Seriousness rejects playfulness and play is the path to creative ideas.
Solution: Loosen up. Pressure can make a diamond, but it can also ruin a pitch. Be serious about doing the work, but not serious about the work. Try to have fun up there. Lower the stakes and people will pay more attention. As my old boss 👋🏼 Simon Manchipp used to say ‘it’s only graphic design’.
Need help with your pitch? Say hello@tristanidea.com
