Pitch Kit

In my early years as a young creative director at Blind in 2012, I was responsible for landing new clients. But job after job, I lost to our competitors. I was only closing 1/4 opportunities, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential revenue. Every pitch I lost shortened our business' runway.

The client feedback I got as to why they didn't choose my idea went something like this:

• “Your pitch treatment felt off brand.”
• “The other companies had a better understanding of what we wanted”
• “You didn’t show us how you would execute the idea.”
• “You were too expensive.”

I was frustrated, disappointed and began to doubt myself. I spent so many years trying to master my craft. I couldn't understand why I was losing.

I wasn’t equipped with the know-how to win a client’s business. My understanding of pitching was “the best idea wins.” But how do you define the best idea? This was the critical piece of the puzzle I was missing.

I worked with a business coach, Keir McLaren, to redefine my mindset going into client meetings. Dr. Holtzman, a professor of psychology, trained me on how to ask better questions. Chris Do, the owner of Blind, mentored me on everything he knew about listening, being present, and his process for design. And I read a ton of books on buyer psychology.

A year later I won 20 out of 22 pitches. I brought in the lions share of our companies revenue –$3.9 million. I started landing the biggest clients of my life, like Xbox and Coldplay. And I stopped wasting my time chasing bad ideas. By 2014, I finally understood how to present my ideas in a valuable way to my clients. All because I knew how to surface the clients’ goals, objections, and ideas upfront – before I made anything.

I felt like I had discovered a cheat code for a video game. Pitching went from painful to pleasurable. Because I knew what questions to ask, and how to approach every pitch.

I regained my confidence.

To my surprise, this also resulted in more alignment with my clients and my internal crew. My team was working more autonomously. And there were fewer direction changes from clients after the project started.

This personal growth had little to do with my design skills, and everything to do with how I communicated. The art of pitching isn't something that's taught in school or our careers, but it's such a critical skill in our line of work. So I feel compelled to help.

This is the framework that I’ve developed over the years of pitching in one the most competitive creative fields. It's simple, flexible, and effective.

So what do you say—are you ready to land more clients?