11 October 2006
Recently we've been lucky enough to visit two new potential Clients... but in neither case did we bring what they really wanted, a detailed proposal. We just came in for a chat.This can be a dangerous strategy in competitive pitches, particularly if other companies turn up armed to the teeth. One of these potential Clients had already seen a full-service Marketing Agency who offered lots of detail; timetables, break-downs, research plans etc... and not just for the web site, for all their marketing needs. Phew.
The other had sent us a written brief a week or so before the meeting, and expected (not unreasonably) that we'd arrive at the meeting with a solution.
But we don't really do business that way - our style is too collaborative. We want to spend a little time getting to know our Clients before suggesting how they spend their money... not least because what they need often differs from what they want.
And anyway, I always enjoy that first meeting - the one about aspirations and possibilities... and the one where you get to dig into the issues, and behind the public face that's being presented. For example:
- With both these clients we actually discovered that they really needed two sites, not one... and we only discovered this IN THE MEETING.
- In both cases there were underlying technical requirements and constraints that only became apparent IN THE MEETING.
- In each case we were only able to gauge the others personality (a critical factor in successful relationships) IN THE MEETING!
In our experience writing a proposal before you've met the Client is putting the cart before the horse... not always, but usually. It's also one of the reasons why Semantic often doesn't do well in competitive pitches. I'll write about that, and how we write proposals in future entries.
Posted by Nick Warren at 6:52 AM
