The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.

The best way to have chemistry is to do your homework about the person you’re talking to and their company. You need to know the brand and know the client, really know them.

It needs to be rehearsed like a tight jazz ensemble. The junior people can present, just make sure that what they say is clear and adds value.

Research shows that establishing similarity between people is a critical component of chemistry. A few other core components are mutual trust, empathy, being non-judgmental, and effortless communication.

agencies ultimately win or lose based on interpersonal chemistry and corporate culture alignment.

group, as a whole, needs to demonstrate an understanding of the client group’s challenges, a commonality of purpose, matching emotional commitment (passion), empathy for shared problems, and a common language.

remember that the pitch is much more about them, not you.

The best situations for performance-based compensation are where the agency or agencies are responsible for direct response. This is increasingly common in the digital domain where consumer behavior can be tracked and the agency rewarded with significant bonuses for delivering increased leads or sales and reducing the cost per acquisition.

lean in and listen and make adjustments to your side of the conversation to demonstrate your interest. You won’t bore them with endless stories that are all about you. You will flatter them.

we see as a default that the measures are reduced to the lowest common denominator such as client satisfaction. This has low risk for the agency, but also low value for the advertiser, and so we see this as a performance payment of 5% or 10% of the agency fee.