How NOT to Win a New Business Pitch

I recently re-read Mike Monteiro’s post, How to Pitch a Project. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. If you have, hopefully this story brings it to life.

Many years ago, I worked at Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village and we were kicking off a 5-year project to make an exhibit about the golden years of flight. We sent off our RFP with details that the finalists would be brought to the museum for a working session with our team. We narrowed it down to three and invited each team for an in-person presentation (their pitch) and a working session (a fun activity planned by our team). Mind you, we were selecting a group of people that we would work closely with for the next FIVE years.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Two companies got it. One company nailed it (who we ended up hiring). They asked lots of questions, rolled up their sleeves and put our team and their team to work solving the problem — together. Everyone had fun, we laughed a lot and got to know their working styles.

And then there was the sad company that choose a different route. Once we briefed them, they turned their backs to our team and huddled amongst themselves to discuss. They took the next hour to work through the activity without including us at all. Not even to ask us questions. They bickered and did not seem to enjoy the experience at all.

I still can’t imagine what impression they thought they were making. It will stick with me my entire career. The client is on your team. You need to work alongside them. Hopefully, it will be fun for everyone.