3 things to do before an agency agrees to pitch
August 23, 2025
Your agency has been invited to pitch. Now what? Your hard work has finally paid off – your positioning work is done, your website is prospect perfect, you’re marketing the agency and you’ve built your network. And today an opportunity surfaced! It may be a warm lead, and inbound inquiry or even a formal RFP. You have so many questions! What do we REALLY know about this company? What do they need? Are we actually the right agency for them? How do we read between the lines of their RFP so we can best approach this? This can be a very stressful time without a proper plan to decide if you should even pursue the opportunity. Regardless of the source of the opportunity, there are some important immediate steps needed to determine if this opportunity is one your agency should be pursuing. Here are three key steps to take before you commit your resources to a pitch. Evaluating the Opportunity The three key steps to evaluating an opportunity before agreeing to a pitch include: Let’s explore these key steps. 1. Create a Business Profile Job one is to prepare yourself for the important steps and decisions ahead. Start with some quick homework! Doing your homework allows you to better understand the prospect’s business, industry and potential business issues as you evaluate the opportunity. Not doing your homework is like playing the lottery with your new business approach; someone occasionally wins, but more often than not, you walk away empty handed. Luckily, there is a quick, efficient and proven process that can help you quickly come up to speed on the prospect’s business: create a business profile. A business profile provides a structured overview of a prospect’s company; including their potential challenges and opportunities where you can add the most value. Many agencies only scratch the surface with their research; sticking to simple stats or a brief review of current news. A better alternative is to create a business profile that paints an entire picture of the prospect’s business. By reviewing all aspects of a business, your firm will be better positioned to uncover the right information and to identify the core business issues for a prospect (both positive and negative). In addition to identifying key issues for your prospects, the standard practice of creating a business profile for each new potential client comes with the following advantages: So, what is in this business profile? In essence, everything. Below we’ve outlined the types of information you should be gathering. Yes, it’s a lot of information and requires an investment of time and resources, but this work is both important and necessary in order to move you closer to the winner’s box. Just one of the many benefits of putting together this profile is to gain a clear understanding of how the prospect talks about themselves and their business, enabling you to use prospect friendly language in your discussions and potential pitch. Knowing and respecting a prospect’s language and culture can go a long way to instilling confidence and rapport with a potential client. Business Profile Elements So what goes into a business profile, and where do you access the information? A sound business profile has sections that address the following topics: Most of the information is relatively easy to find. Some key sources include: Once you’ve compiled all of this information, use it to create a brief document that outlines all the important data that will inform the questions you’ll ask and eventually help with pitch preparation. Your newly created business profile allows many distinct advantages that increase your odds of performing well at the pitch by: 2. Ask Questions The business profile and early discussions will have provided you with a good initial grasp on what may be going on with the prospect. However, you are likely to have some key unanswered questions for the prospect, so before you give your formal response to the request, be sure to get these questions answered. We’re always surprised how few agencies ask for clarification or further explanation on anything pertaining to the request. When you first get the RFP or request, you should ask questions before you agree to participate. Ask for a call. Be ready to ask questions that will help you determine if the opportunity is one your agency should pursue. Some initial questions may include: On average, we see maybe three out of every ten agencies come back with questions. It’s nearly impossible to imagine that the other seven agencies have all the answers they need! The key is to recognize that you’re 100% more likely to get an answer to a question you ask than one you don’t ask. The worst that can happen is the prospect will come back with “Sorry, we’re not taking any questions.” This in itself gives you more insight into what it would be like to work with this prospect and could further influence your decision to participate. Are you comfortable working with a client who won’t answer any questions along the way? 3. Qualify an Opportunity For many agencies, the concept of turning down business is nearly impossible to grasp. Regardless of the agency’s bandwidth of available resources, it’s difficult to say no to any opportunity that comes along. But it’s important to walk away from business when enough red flags indicate that it will be incredibly burdensome to say yes. Sometimes, these reasons fall on the agency side, such as when an agency is already committed to other pitches or onboarding new clients. Filters are critical to a healthy business development operation. Develop a list of defined new business filters that can help your agency quickly evaluate opportunities as they arrive. This helps give the agency develop a shared point of view about the kinds of opportunities worth pursuing and the ones to pass. Business development screening criteria often include: When considering pitching a new client, review the opportunity and do your own research to determine if the opportunity is worth all of the necessary expense and effort. The final key questions are practical: How interested are you in the prospect? Is the pitch investment and distraction worth it given the size of the prize? Confirm Participation You’ve asked questions, reviewed the opportunity relative to your screens, are keenly interested in the opportunity and have the resources to go “all in”. Now it’s time to confirm participation with grace and enthusiasm. Steve Boehler, founder, and partner at Mercer Island Group has led consulting teams on behalf of clients as diverse as Ulta Beauty, Microsoft, UScellular, Nintendo, Kaiser Permanente, Holland America Line, Stop & Shop, Qualcomm, Brooks Running, and numerous others. He founded MIG after serving as a division president in a Fortune 100 when he was only 32. Earlier in his career, Steve Boehler cut his teeth with a decade in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, leading brands like Tide, Pringles, and Jif. 
