Who it's for
Level One is designed for senior cross-functional team members throughout the agency who play an active role in pitching new business.
See More >How it works
This training program is delivered live over four remote sessions of two hours or less.
See More >Who it’s for
This training is for mid-level client-facing team members who manage accounts and projects.
Depending on your agency’s structure, this may include account management, client services, project management, department leads, practice leads, etc. For those in account management/client services, consider those who are Senior AE, up through Account Supervisor and Junior Account Director.
If you are sending a group, it is ideal to have those who work together on a client. The training is a series of sequential building blocks, with interactive breakout exercises that are applied back to an account in the agency. When teams work together on these exercises, the impact on that account is almost immediate.
How it works
By participating in this training, your new business teams will learn how to:
- Better qualify the agency — and the prospect — to make more effective Go/No-Go decisions
- More effectively understand and address each prospect’s most pressing business needs
- Develop pitch messaging strategies that will set your agency apart
- Get better access to and intel from senior pitch decision-makers
- Create differentiated and client-centric RFI responses
- Better tell the agency’s value story with a new approach to capabilities presentations
- Leverage target audience insight to convert more business
- Develop compelling, persuasive final pitch presentations
Interactive Breakout Exercises
To ensure attendees apply the training back to their own unique situations, participants will select one client prospect category to focus on. They will participate in exercises and apply the lessons back to this category. The training will conclude with new skills and plans to improve their ability to convert new business.
Sending a group?
If you are sending a group, it is ideal to have those who work together on pitches (business development leads and those who work with them). When teams collaborate in the exercises, the impact on the pitch process is even greater. Groups of 2-4 people focused on one pitch prospect category are ideal. If sending more, choose more prospect categories to focus on.
More valuable new business teams
Ultimately, the goal of the training is to provide the new methods, models, and tools to immediately improve the effectiveness and value of those who participate in new business pursuits for the agency.
Who it’s for
Applicable to various client-facing roles
Depending on your agency’s structure, this may include new business, account management, project management, department leads, practice leads, etc.
Sending a group?
If you are sending a group, it is ideal to have those who work together on pitches (business development leads and those who work with them). When teams collaborate in the exercises, the impact on the pitch process is even greater. Groups of 2-4 people focused on one pitch prospect category are ideal. If sending more, choose more prospect categories to focus on.
Four-part virtual training series
Create a Conversion Strategy to Disrupt & Win
Jun 4
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
Uncover & Address the Real Pitch Objectives
Jun 6
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
Write RFIs and Capabilities that Communicate Your Value Story
Jun 11
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
Deliver Final Pitch Presentations that Command the Room & Win
Jun 13
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
Create a Conversion Strategy to Disrupt & Win
Jun 4
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
You’ll learn how to kick off every competitive review/RFP with a strategy that sets you up to convert the business (whether remote, in-person, or both). We’ll begin by outlining how to develop a pitch messaging strategy:
- Become clear on what it’s going to take to win
- Clearly communicate why you are the only one to achieve their objectives
- Align your team
The goal is to have your pitch messaging strategy direct all aspects of what you communicate to the prospect. With this foundation in place, we’ll then review how to:
- Cast the team
- Align against a strategic kick-off plan
- Manage everyone under tight deadlines
Ultimately, by developing a more strategic approach to each pitch, you’ll get your team to better align and execute on exactly what it’s going to take to win.
Uncover & Address the Real Pitch Objectives
Jun 6
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
To win the pitch, you must deliver against the expectations of the senior decision-maker – not the mid-level manager who is managing the pitch process.
In this session, you’ll learn how to get more access to the right people (even when remote) and how to leverage this into a more effective pitch strategy. We’ll address how to ask smarter questions to get better answers, along with the external sources you will use to fill in the gaps.
The sooner you gather this critical intel, the faster your team will get to work on building the pitch. Ultimately, this will result in elevating your team’s thinking, placing the focus where it belongs – the specific business outcomes most important to the senior decision-maker.
Write RFIs and Capabilities that Communicate Your Value Story
Jun 11
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
Whether provided as a written submission, live in a capabilities meeting, or inserted at the outset of a final pitch presentation – the goal is to position your firm as the only answer in their quest for a new agency partner.
However, most agency capabilities are generic, cliché-ridden, and frankly, self-indulgent monologues. There is little that is tailored to communicate exactly how your team will impact the client’s objectives – annoying many clients.
This session will outline a framework by which the best agencies are converting more business. We’ll address how to more effectively provide an overview of your offering – in a way that is meaningful to the prospect, interactively engages them, and separates you from the sea of agency sameness.
In fact, you’ll learn how to create a standard framework for your capabilities that can be quickly personalized for each individual pitch, setting you up to win in the final round.
Deliver Final Pitch Presentations that Command the Room & Win
Jun 13
12:30 pm -
2:15 pm ET
In this session, we’ll outline how to turn your final pitch presentations into hard-hitting “experiences” that win more business.
We will review both the design and written elements for effective pitch presentations (in-person and remote), using principles from the practices of management consulting firms and storytelling to create an artful, focused, and provocative narrative.
We’ll also take a look at techniques to improve your “presentation theater,” with visual aids, big openings, and strong closings. Ultimately, the result is a greater command of the room with your presentation and team.
You will learn how to transform pitch presentations into dynamic, persuasive experiences that engage your audience from the start and keep them hooked until the end, and you will leave with a framework that is scalable across all new business pitches.
Past Mirren workshop attendees have included
