I’ve recently written a great pitch for work with a potential new client.
The problem was I didn’t know the client personally.
I had no rapport to begin with. It was like pitching into the abyss. The client didn’t even ask for the pitch. I simply made my own assessment of the client’s business interest, and pitched to that.
It’s been a disaster.
Complete failure to get past square one. The ‘client’ rejected the proposal without seeming to consider it in detail. Judging by the email reply I got, I hadn’t even communicated the key feature of the proposal. I don’t think I’ve ever bombed so badly – not even a chink of light left open for a follow-up face-to-face discussion. And we didn’t even get around to discussing how much the proposed work would cost the client.
I’m incredibly disappointed.
I so wanted to do the work. It was one of the best projects I’ve ever designed.
However, there is a good side.
The design is inspired: the template can be used with another client – when the rapport is there. The project was conceived with a collaborator: we have had the experience of working up the proposal together on Google Wave. We are much more ready to pitch other proposals to others. The work of thinking, talking-over & drafting the proposal was quick: not a lot of time has been invested. What we invested were our professional skills. Life goes on…
I got this blogpost out of it…
Turning adversity to advantage is one of my strongest traits, thank goodness.
