Perfect Pitch Process – Don’t just parachute in the fee-earners

May 28, 2025|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Marketing, Relationship Management, Selling|

At a PM Forum – PM Forum training “Perfect Pitches” workshop for marketing and business development professionals earlier in the month, it was interesting that many delegates felt that they were expected to take a much larger role in managing the tendering process. Almost as if the fee-earners just wanted to be parachuted in at the end to talk at the presentation. There were expectations that MBD would: manage the entire pitch process, maintain information resources, lead on client contact, develop a suitable sales strategy, liaise with those able to develop a pricing strategy, prepare documents, assemble presentations and ensure success. Fee-earners must be involved throughout the entire process – although MBD can manage the process so that the best use of fee-earner time is ensured. Perfect Pitch Process – Don’t just parachute in the fee-earners.

Facilitate a better pitch process (“Be more ringmaster”)

As we talked through the entire pitch process we looked at opportunities where MBD could:

Design and manage the overall process to maximise the use of time invested by fee-earners and meet the deadlines
Organise research and input from different parts of the firm – adopting a co-ordinating and collaboration role
Ensure that the client’s needs are front and centre of everyone’s attention at each stage Pitching – Focus on the client’s needs (Let the client do the talking)
Improve systems, resources and assets so that there was minimal time required to access, assemble and edit the required information
Build a feedback loop so that everything learned is fed back into and incorporated into systems, templates and processes

Pitches, tenders and proposals – Efficiency (systems)

pitch insights – M&BD adding value, pitch processes, knowledge base

Pitch points from a pitching and tendering training workshop

Ensure fee-earners are involved at critical points

Parachuting in fee-earners at the end of a pitch isn’t a successful strategy. They need to be involved in the tendering process throughout. Although we can ensure that their time is invested in an efficient way.

Fee-earners need to take the lead on client contact during the pitching process. After all, it is essentially about building a (sales) relationship. A key decision-making criterium for clients is likely to be how well the clients’ staff get on with the professional firm’s people. Salespeople or fee-earners being part of the value proposition is the basis of consultative, insight and challenger selling models. Insight selling – building on consultative selling models

Furthermore, we need the fee-earners’ understanding of the likely client concerns, their technical and sector knowledge, ideas on how to deliver innovative solutions and help in formulating a winning sales strategy that differentiates.

Naturally, the fee-earners will be required at key points during the development of the pitch document. And in preparing for the presentation.

Manage information resources and assets

MBD professionals create, manage and maintain the assets that are needed to support the pitching and tendering process. For example:

Systems

Marketing and business development plans and lists of target organisations
CRM or CDP (Client Data Platform)
Sales and opportunity pipelines
Research resources
External agencies
Document and presentation design and development systems

Knowledge hub

Standard information about the firm – e.g. history, network, insurance
Firm policies and data monitoring (e.g. diversity, social value)
Case studies and testimonials
CVs of all fee-earners
Firm’s standard terms and conditions of business – and comparable frameworks
Library of pitch and tender documents and presentations
Past pitch and tender success statistics

Processes

Bid/No bid decisions
Managing scope and agreeing deliverables and timescales
Branding guidelines and templates
Approvals – for documents and presentations
Internal communications and conflict checking
Compliance
Project management
Pricing development models
Creating persuasive value propositions tailored to the client’s needs
Rehearsals and run throughs

Obtain data and research to deep dive into client needs and differentiate

A key role for MBD is to conduct research into the client’s sector, organisation and people.

As well as the firm’s internal systems, delegates reported using tools such as Beauhurst and Introhive. Some firms have dedicated research and analysis teams who can help with this process.

It also helps if MBD can help fee-earners focus on the key issues arising from the research. Some prepare pitch packs or research briefings.

Selling – research in the pitch process

Pitching, differentiation and competitor analysis

Key Account Management (KAM) – Research companies

Often, MBD professionals will work with the finance team and pricing professionals to assist in developing the appropriate price models – that ensure profitable work but remains attractive to the client.

Use AI to increase efficiency

One of the delegates was keen to obtain information on the use of AI in tendering and pitching. We considered the following areas where AI could support and supplement current processes:

Before pitching

Review contacts and communications to develop relationship maps
Research sector trends
Research competitors
Research the client organisation and its people
Produce research packs
Review client RFP or ITT to highlight trends or key points of interest
Transcribe and analyse client scoping meetings and other client contact
Automate the pitch/no pitch decision process

For the pitch

Draft case studies in consistent format
Create consistent CVs with focus on client needs and agreed messaging
Summarise information to fit word count restrictions
Modify tone of voice to reflect firm’s brand and client culture
Develop and compare alternative price models
Ensure consistent style and messaging where there are multiple contributors
Use creativity and design tools to help with presentation aids
Repurpose documents and presentations

After pitching

Analyse client feedback
Compare against past pitch performance
Update standard materials systematically

Pitches, tenders and proposals – Efficiency (systems)

Key Insights from the AI in Marketing training by Optix at PM Forum

questions from Proactive Marketing/BD Executives

Lessons from digital marketing webinars (June 2023)

Pitch points from a pitching and tendering training workshop

Delegate information

Delegate aims

Establish the various processes we need
Streamline internal communications about tendering and pitching
How to add value to pitch meetings when we have no technical knowledge and we are not face to face Confidence – How to get a word in when people keep talking
Expand beyond our current roles to provide more assistance on bids and tenders
Bring more efficiency to the tendering/pitching process
Answer social value questions effectively
Tailoring over 50% of the information that is not practice group specific
How to coach and support fee-earners who are pitching
Promote greater collaboration across the firm when tendering
Fee-earners want us to manage and control the entire process

Key delegate takeaways

Manage time and bid process – add placeholders to diaries, milestones etc.
Tailor language (YOU v US/WE) to make the document about the client
“Telling isn’t selling”
Tell a compelling story Book review: Unleash the power of storytelling by Rob Biesenbach
19% say their law firm is a good source of ideas – again, how are we speaking to their issues?
Schedule planning time at the start of the process – effective time management is key
Lighten load of fee earners
Ask the right questions
Get involved in more stages of pitching
Review our processes
Look at producing a new Go/No Go bids policy
Prepare research and pitch packs and use this as relationship foundations Selling – research in the pitch process
Review Digital Body Language resource Book review: Digital Body Language – How to build trust by Erica Dhawan
Ask team about post presentation team debriefs
Increase internal touch points and diary placeholders to demonstrate management of process and reduce anxiety
Hone my skills by looking at some of the resources highlighted Book Review: Strategic Tendering for Professional Services

Delegate poll results

Delegates find it useful to compare and benchmark their responses with their peers.

How much of your time is spent on pitches and tenders?

30% Less than 25%
40% 25-50%
30% 50-75%
0% Over 75%

How much experience do you have on pitching/bidding/tendering?


1	10%
2	10%
3	20%
4	20%
5	20%
6	0%
7	20%
8
9
10

Is your role primarily:

0% Part of the sales team (client facing)
0% Strategic support
80% Content development
10% Process support
10% Information/administrative support

Which pitch/tender metrics do you use?

80% Conversion rate
70% Volume of pitches received/submitted/won
60% Existing client vs new/target client
50% Value of pitches received/submitted/won
50% Analysis by department/service/sector/territory
20% Profitability of pitches won
10% Client rankings of pitch submission
10% Fee-earner and M&BD time on pitches

Do you have a policy/system for agreeing which pitches to accept?

30% Yes
10% No
60% Sort of – but it’s rarely observed in practice

How much research do YOU do to support a pitch?

0% None
30% An hour or so (mostly internal systems)
60% Between two to four hours (including external research)
10% Over five hours

How often do you conduct a structured competitor analysis when preparing a pitch? Pitching, differentiation and competitor analysis (kimtasso.com)

10% Always
60% Sometimes
30% Never

Which do you think is the MOST important factor when writing a pitch document?

50% Focus on the reader’s interest

20% Accurate information
20% Correct spelling and grammar

10% Proposition and benefits

How much time do you spend planning pitch presentations? Perfect pitches – Five key points (Video) Kim Tasso

11% We don’t plan presentations – we just produce them
22% Up to an hour
33% One to three hours
33% We spend more time refining the presentation once its produced

How often do you help with rehearsals?

30% Always – every time
10% On the largest/most important pitches
40% Only when requested
20% Rarely

Do you make post-pitch debrief calls to clients?

10% Yes – Always
20% Yes – sometimes
60% Someone else does it
10% Never/We don’t do this as a firm

Facilitate a better pitch process (“Be more ringmaster”)