How Short Surveys Can Improve Your Next Client Pitch

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Too good to be true, or the future of marketing? Learn how to become a data-driven creative agency in 15 minutes or less. 

Crafting the perfect new business pitch requires knowledge and skill. You only have a few moments to convince a prospective client that your company is the right fit for them. 

In this post, we explore how and why incorporating unique consumer insights into your pitches can help you stand out from the crowd of other marketing and advertising agencies pitching the same account.

Recommended: How agile research adds value to The Evening Standard’s commercial partners

When to Use Research

Most companies have a general idea of who their target market is. They may even have well-developed customer profiles. Key decision-makers won’t be impressed if you regurgitate their own research findings back to them. 

Instead, try this three-step process to add value to your pitch:

1. Explain the competitive landscape.
2. Illustrate why something needs to change.
3. Sell your concepts and ideas
   

1. Explain the competitive landscape.

While most businesses may understand their target market, they’re not always up-to-date on their overall brand health. Use surveys to illustrate how a company stacks up against its competition.

Ask questions and select data points to identify the most timely threats the company faces from a competitor. The goal is to use the research findings to underscore the urgency of why the company needs to act now.

Agile insights in action: 

Let’s assume you’re an advertising agency pitching a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer business. You could use data to show how younger shoppers prefer one of the two new digital direct-to-consumer brands that launched in the last couple of years. 

If the company doesn’t revamp its marketing strategy, it’ll be completely forgotten by the next generation of shoppers. 

2. Illustrate why something needs to change. 

No one wants to put their foot in their mouth in the middle of a new business pitch. Nothing is worse than telling a prospective client their current logo is hideous only to find out the CEO you’re pitching designed it themselves.

Agile insights in action:

Use both qualitative and quantitative questions in your research to illustrate the problem. You don’t have to tell the retailer that their logo is ugly. Instead, you can say 75% of consumers said the logo was dated with comments like “looks like a store my Grandma would shop at.”

This “don’t shoot the messenger” approach allows you to gently deliver criticism of the company’s status quo. 

3. Sell your concepts and ideas.

At this point, you’ve explained the urgency of the need to change and use data to show what needs to change. Now it’s time to sell them on the solution.

To modernize your geriatric retailer, you propose an ad campaign emphasizing their e-commerce capabilities while also highlighting their exclusive private labels. 

Agile insights in action:

Imagine how much more convincing it would be if you included data from an initial round of concept testing in your client pitch. Use the data and campaign verbatims to show you’ve validated your concept and can deliver a proven solution to the client’s problem. 

Show that consumers had a more favorable opinion of the retail brand after seeing some of your concept ads for the campaign. 

Benefits of Using Consumer Insights in New Business Pitches

Adding research and data to your new business development process helps you close more deals. To understand how, let’s look at some of the key benefits of using research for business development. 

• Craft more convincing pitches. Better data leads to more compelling and confident pitches. Get the pulse of a client’s customer base throughout the process. Use the data to confirm your assumptions and validate your ideas. There’s no reason to feel unsure about a presentation when you can easily test out the idea first. 
• Illustrate value for clients. Companies love data. Illustrating that you’re a data-focused company and can quickly gather and analyze data will win over new clients. Any agency can look up a generic stat about an industry or demographic. Showing data specific to the client’s brand or products helps you stand out. 
• Test and improve your ideas. Mobile surveys are great for testing out ideas. A little concept testing goes a long way in improving your campaign ideas. Don’t wait to get feedback on an idea in the pitch meeting. Test it out with the client’s target audience first so you can walk into the pitch meeting knowing you have the best ideas. 

How to Win Business with Market Research

Many companies assume they don’t have the time or money to get research for new business development. But that’s not true.

Unlike other methods, agile research gives you the flexibility to gather insights whenever you need them, and at an unmatched speed. You can quickly deploy a survey without hiring an expensive third-party research firm.

Consumer opinions have the power to influence everything from public policy and brand innovation, to purchase habits and hairstyles.

Insights solutions like OnePulse are right in the middle of it all, giving you the opportunity to gather the insights you need whenever you need them. 

When you’re working on a pitch, you don’t have weeks or months to wait for research. OnePulse delivers same-day results. Each bite-sized survey only includes three questions to combat fatigue and averages 15 minutes for 500 responses. That means you can even get insights live in the middle of a pitch to wow a client. 

Gathering real-time responses with OnePulse will validate all of your concepts and ideas with insights that matter in the moment.