Pitching experts share tips for agencies answering client RFIs

With that in mind, The Drum spoke to a selection of intermediaries and new business consultants to get their advice on how best to run the pitching gauntlet.

From a client’s perspective, the initial stages of a pitch, which typically involve a request for agency credentials or a request for information (RFI), are about removing options rather than finding the end product.

“At the credential stage, clients are looking for reasons to exclude you, not reasons to include you,” says AAR lead consultant Rebecca Nunneley. As such, responses to requests need to be succinct and easily comparable.

Agencies needn’t fear providing a boilerplate as long as it matches the brief, says Russell Oakley of the GO Network, a consultancy that specializes in matching SMEs with agencies.

“[Agencies] want to demonstrate every single element that makes them suitable. We advise the other way – make it simple, make it as standardized as possible,” he tells The Drum. “A trap a lot of agencies fall into is to write War & Peace. Agencies like to put their own stamp on things, but from the recipient’s point of view they want to get straight to the point.”

Nunneley agrees: “When it comes to credentials and the RFI stage, they’re probably looking at at least 10 agencies. If you give them a 50-slide presentation, they’re not going to be able to look through all of it. Less is more. Your RFI is giving them enough of a reason to want to have a chat with you and invite you to a chemistry meeting.”

Conciseness should be the guiding principle when discussing past work, too, she says. “Logos on the page can be dangerous. If I am a smaller client and I see a big list of clients you already work with, I’m thinking you’re not really going to have time for me. I’m not going to feel important.”

As obvious as it sounds, paying attention to the initial brief set by a client is vital, even if it’s being used as a means of sifting competitors rather than a true problem. Gill Huber of Oystercatchers says it can be key to understanding what a client is really after. “Understand why they’re looking to pitch: what do they need? What kind of work do they need?”

Nunneley says it’s important to only discuss agency capabilities relevant to a client’s brief. “Sometimes the temptation is to list everything that you do, or these are the types of clients that we’d like to work with. Actually, it’s more helpful to say what you’re not looking for in clients, what you don’t do. We always tell agencies to talk about what they’re not right for as much as who they are right for.”

In some cases, brands will use an initial brief to see whether their internal values match those of agencies up for the gig. David Muldoon of Medialink says this is a common practice among clients with an interest in working with diverse and inclusive suppliers.

He says they’ll be looking for key answers to get a better idea of an agency’s DE&I approach. “Are they diverse-owned? Are they women-owned? What is their approach to diversity overall?”

An agency’s response – or lack thereof – can be a major giveaway during a pitch, he adds. “On a pretty big holdco pitch I’ve worked on in the past, we were very clear within the brief of the importance of diversity and inclusion. One of the agencies turned up and literally did not meet the brief at all. It’s almost like they had completely disregarded us. They didn’t meet the brief and didn’t continue in the process.”

When clients include ‘exam questions’ designed to elicit info on an agency’s approach to big issues of the day – not just diversity and equality, but AI, automation or the fate of the cookie – Nunneley advises against playing it safe.

“It’s really important to have a strong point of view. One of the mistakes agencies make in their RFIs, particularly when they’re asked to answer an exam question, is to play it safe and give generic advice. But the start of the pitch is the time when you can have the strongest point of view because you haven’t had a brief and you haven’t met the client. You’ve got nothing to lose.”

Muldoon agrees. “What is the one statement that you want the client to remember? Clients forget things – they’re incredibly busy people within the pitch process. They’ve got 101 priorities. Therefore, an agency should be really clear in terms of the one message they want to get across.”

Pitching for new work is a costly, stressful affair for agencies. In this series, we speak to agencies across the industry taking alternative approaches to the pitching process.