Pitching Perfectly

Today I was asked to join the agency CEO and company secretary for a client pitch.  The client was a small hospitality business looking for public relations assistance in its launch.  We all sat down with a coffee, the CEO had a prepared PowerPoint presentation he ran in the background throughout his speech.  We had bought along a projector, as is customary with pitches but the small business did not have the office space to facilitate this so we had it running on the laptop at the end of the table.  The CEO spoke with a confident and casual demeanor, drawing attention to the parts of the presentation that were of particular importance or relevance to this client.

The pitch presentation included:

- The agency’s credentials including their multiple awards.

- Their selling point:  ‘Tailored press releases to each and every media outlet’.

- Working process: Initial meeting and brainstorm with entire team.

- Past projects specific to client's industry and goals.  They gave the specific example of a past Burger joint launch with a Barack Obama look alike. The client was impressed with the way the launch built confidence with investors, gained wide media coverage and lots of customers on launch day.

- Free advice: Client wanted to hold its launch during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, the CEO warned against it.

- Budget: The client did not have a set budget.  The CEO explained the importance of setting at least a rough budget for the benefit of both the firm and the client; otherwise it is hard to gauge expectations of both parties.  Competing PR firms that the client had previously met with, had given quite low quotes.  The CEO was upfront and honest about prices (ie.professional fees, additional costs for events etc).

Today’s venture beyond the office was a great learning experience.  It was really good to see the CEO, a winner of Best PR Practitioner, in action.  I feel like I learned a lot today just from watching the way he discussed sensitive topics with clients ie budgets and telling a client when they are wrong.  These are things they don’t teach you in the classroom and things that are taught best through practical experience.

Georgia Gunther
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