Marketing Intelligence by Iain Johnston

Ok, one more to make it a hat trick of sporting references this week.

In the current climate the tendency is to go after every possible new business opportunity that comes along.  But I have suggested previously that in many cases it is better not to pitch for a project where you cannot be absolutely sure that you have a decent chance of winning, which in turn is often based on how much access you can get to the client through the process.

Sometimes the incumbent agency might seem so entrenched that the challenge to win out just seems too big a hill to climb.

I love most of Dave Trott’s posts, but the one I really love is his summing up of excellent  advice on how to deal with a really BIG problem. So make yourself a cup of tea, divert the phone, and take 5 minutes to read it here.

Now, of course I love the subject matter anyway: the idea that an underdog comes from behind to win out against impossible odds; that arrogance gets punished, and hard work and passion can overcome anything; and yes, that my team won the biggest prize of all.

But this story combines two maxims which I hold dear:

1.         “eat your elephant a spoonful at a time”. Yes this is the worst possible kind of management consultancy mumbo-jumbo <cough> from time management courses which encourages us to break huge and daunting tasks down into smaller, bite-sized chunks. But it is good advice.

2.         “BANJO” or “bang a nasty job off”. When there is something that looks too tricky or just plain unpleasant hanging over you, then just get on with it and get it done. You’ll feel better afterwards.

Agencies should apply some of this to their approach to really big pitches. Rather than slimming down the amount of work going into a pitch to fit the time available and limited resource, try allocating MORE time and resource to a smaller number of pitches.

Break the process down into many more bite-sized elements, and put more into project management. Let’s eradicate our own failure to communicate that we are the best, leaving the remaining reason for loss being that we are not right for the client after all.

Am sure it will never catch on.