Agencies need to be treated with respect when pitching
Debriefing unsuccessful agencies should be a mandatory part of the pitching process argues Chris Gray, director of the Daylight Agency.
It’s exciting when that perfect pitch opportunity lands in your Inbox. Ideas start flowing, the team gathers to look at resource availability and the intense period of understanding and dissecting the brief begins. A brainstorm session happens. The response process starts. Endless hours. The submission is in. Waiting. A standard unsuccessful response letter is issued. No explanation. No offer of a de-brief.
Chris Gray is a director of the Daylight Agency
This is not good enough and is unacceptable.
Our industry is full of exceptional creative talent who give 110 percent – no 150 percent! – when responding to a pitch or tender. There is debate as to whether agencies should be remunerated for their efforts and opinions are divided over this, but at the very least we would call for a mandatory de-brief to all agencies who invest their time in responding.
In any tender or procurement process, the prospect receives a deep pool of intellectual property and strategic ideas, developed through countless hours of top industry thinking and input – all for free! If a dollar value was put on the total hours spent by us all in responding to a particular brief, that figure would be enough to fly a team to Mars!
And in many cases not even a de-brief is offered!
But there is some light amid the darkness: we have recently been on the receiving end of a very detailed and tailored de-brief. It was offered as part of the process and the prospect was indeed surprised when we indicated this isn’t usual practice! This de-brief was thoughtful, constructive and provided invaluable information we can now use in our approach to future opportunities.
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Our first thoughts following this de-brief was what an amazing organisation they would have been to work with if this was the focus and attention given to one of the unsuccessful agencies!
But we also felt the time we put into this pitch had been respected and rewarded with constructive feedback. And believe it or not, it was a Government client, not a private sector organisation!
On the other hand, we have been on the receiving end of having to chase for de-briefs with absolutely no feedback offered at all. Worse, we have recently been told we have to wait six months for a de-brief following a submission to a major organisation! Six months? Really! Feedback so long after we have submitted our tender response will now be redundant. Certainly, we will have probably forgotten the reasons we even submitted in the first place, let alone much of the detail from our 50-page submission!
Like so many of our counterparts in the industry, the best approach to new business is to keep focusing on incremental opportunities from existing clients and word of mouth referrals. This certainly reduces the risk of spending countless hours on a tender pitch that goes nowhere.
Sadly, our observation would be that procurement teams are micro-managing the tender process with little or no alignment to the communication or marketing teams who are seeking the best thinking for their respective organisations. Perhaps this is why the de-brief is not offered – as those running the procurement process are not in a position to provide the most accurate or helpful feedback.
We are calling for a de-brief to be a mandatory part of the tender process in Australia. While the industry is still a long way off being paid for all submissions, a proper and thoughtful de-brief is the very least we can all expect.
Pull back on your overuse of exclamation marks.
You might win more pitches.
If I don’t buy something from someone, I see no need to explain to them why not? That is my business. If I choose to do, fine, but I should not be compelled to.
Why would you think I should be?
Maybe agencies need to consider how they treat themselves with respect in these situations. You can’t control what someone else does, but you can manage your own behaviour. How would an agency approach a pitch to ensure that whether feedback is available is a non-issue?
@David Hague, this isn’t buying bananas at the supermarket – agencies put a ton of work into these proposals, and whether brands admit it or not good ideas that are presented tend to be used – regardless of who ends up winning the pitch.
So why should you feel compelled to provide some insight into your decision?
1) Because it’s not that hard to do, and is massively appreciated
2) It ensures that professional bridges aren’t burnt
3) It gives you the opportunity to provide feedback that could be used to help that business build a better product/service that you can use in the future
Ha.Fair call. Even though I am former journo, I still love a good exclamation mark! Point taken.
Ha. Fair call. Even though I am former journo, I still love a good exclamation mark! Point taken.
Recently went through a pitch process with a major resorts group and have to say I was incredibly surprised. Even though we didn’t win the process was conducted with integrity, investment and respect. Walked away with extremely high regard for the client and nothing but good things to say.
Good pitches still exist.
I agree! With so much effort, time and expertise that goes into a pitch, surely it’s professional courtesy that the client offers some type of feedback. Even if the decision is purely financial any de-brief is helpful.
Well said Normal Person. Respect and common courtesy are strong values to demonstrate in the industry we work in. Clearly David does not seem to share a similar perspective.
@David Hague this comes from a very transactional position. Agencies have poured intensive investment into a pitch, and with this kind of comment, it highlights all the issues still wrong with the system. The industry is super small, so this kind of attitude will mean no-one will be lining up to pitch, let alone want to partner (yes, partner) with you.
As someone who works sales side, I’d be much happier receiving “A standard unsuccessful response letter” in regards to brief responses, rather than any or all of:
-Sitting patiently waiting for agency update
-No response from agency to email
-Agency decline to take phone calls
-No response from agency to voicemails left
-No response to the “I’ve left a voicemail” email
If only agencies would commit to this in return for the publishers and media owners too. Especially in the age of branded content where the same enormous amount of work goes into coming up with creative and bespoke solutions, to hear almost nothing in return from agencies. In five years of working strategy side at a publisher I think our sales reps got reasonable debriefs maybe 3 or 4 times total. And if we were being honest, they felt reasonable because of how poor or silent the others would be. There was rarely meaningful feedback that could work for both the publisher and the agency. Good feedback works in your favour next time you ask for a brief. You’ll get a response closer to what you need. Take the time, and invest in your publisher relationships with good de-briefs.
Here is your precious debrief:
“The assignment attracted many high calibre applicants. Unfortunately other applicants demonstrated a closer alignment to our values and strategic thinking, thank you.
Thanks TT1. I feel so much better now!
Well said Chris. The best client-agency relationships are those built on mutual respect. It starts with the pitch process whether you win or not. We’ve been in a situation where we didn’t win the main prize but were invited in for a specific high-stakes project. We were happy to help because the debrief was clear and we understood the client’s thinking.
Agreed. It’s the same with photographers and directors/production companies. We all put so much time into our pitches and rarely hear back any feedback as to what didn’t work… Far too often, we have to chase to hear we didn’t get the job in the first place, let alone any other feedback.
Can say from pitching on a job for Daylight that they do give you feedback, which was brilliant. Nice to see people practising what they preach.