Big Teeth Productions Blog

Can You Pitch New Business in Flip Flops?

It's pitch time. Quick put on your suit and tie, hook up the powerpoint and memorize those talking points.... Not for us.

We love our direct clients in need of intriguing videos, but also recognize the benefit of working with agencies who have built-in client rosters and could use our production skills. These agencies don't just come to you, so a-pitchin' we shall go. But I think the nature of the pitch has changed. Is it still necessary to button yourself up when new business hunting.

We had a recent meeting at a mid-sized B2B Ad Agency in Chicago. Rather than deliver a "talk at you" Powerpoint presentation, we decided to just go in and chat. This way we could ask them questions about their business practices and what video needs they may have, and they could grill us on what our shooting methods were, editing style, how we do estimates, past experiences etc. We did no slick pitch, just chatted about our respective companies, and then pulled up our website so they could look at some samples of our work and let us walk them through the choices we made.

Some might think this way of doing it appears too casual and shows a lack of preparation (and in some cases with larger companies it might not be the best approach) but I argue that after an hour-plus of this type of meeting, we walked away thinking this is the type of company we would be happy to do work with because the people we met, who would be our direct contacts, all seemed nice and approachable and appreciate the type of work we do. It appeared that they felt the same about us, and will very likely come calling next time a video project comes up.

After all, isn't that what makes for successful working situations; the relationships? As unique as all businesses think they are, there are usually others who can do similar work, so wouldn't you rather work with someone you know you can talk to and trust... even if they wear flip flops instead of loafers?

note: Any flip flops referred to in above post were strictly metaphorical. All toes were concealed, but nice jeans may have been worn.

 

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