There was a question in the Win Without Pitching Academy1 last week about what the playbook is for those situations where “we have to pitch.”

I wrote a reply which was an almost verbatim lift from The Win Without Pitching Manifesto and the fourth proclamation, We will rethink what it means to sell. 

From The Manifesto in 2010, here is the original framework for navigating those opportunities where you cannot win without pitching. 

The Four Priorities of Winning New Business

To follow the twelve proclamations and Win Without Pitching does not mean that we must always have our way. It is not our goal to replace the client’s rigid and often ridiculous selection process with one of equal rigidity and absurdity. Let us be guided by the following hierarchy of four priorities of winning new business that will ensure we do not become overly rigid in our approach. The goal is to win. The preferred means is to not pitch. A firm that does not win will not last.

The First Priority: Win Without Pitching

We first strive to secure the business before it gets to a defined, competitive selection process in which we are pitted against our peers and asked to give our thinking away for free. This is easiest when the client sees us as the expert and reaches out to us first. It is also easier when we reach out to the client at a time early in the buying cycle, when they are unaware of any need; and we stay with them as they progress through the buying cycle, at first helping over time, then inspiring when appropriate, and finally, reassuring at the end.

To Win Without Pitching is the ideal, but it is not always possible.

The Second Priority: Derail the Pitch

We often do not become aware of opportunities until late in the buying cycle – when the client has already formed intent, has already put a selection process in place and has reached out to numerous firms. In these examples our priority is to derail the pitch – to get the client to put their process aside and take an alternative first step with us. The twelve proclamations offer guidance on the principles of derailing the pitch.

The Third Priority: Gain the Inside Track

There will be times when, try as we might, we cannot derail the client’s selection process. Some organizations’ policies are too strong. Some clients are too unwilling – even when they do recognize and value our expertise. In these examples, we apply the same principles laid out here, but our priority is now to get an edge over the competition within the process.

When we do choose to participate in the client-directed selection process we should do so with the perspective that every competitive bid process has a preferred option.

Somebody almost always has inside information or access to hard-to-reach decision makers. Sometimes the outcome is predetermined and the process is but a veil of legitimacy. Our default assumption should be that somebody always has the inside track. 

If we cannot Win Without Pitching, if we cannot derail the pitch, then we endeavor to be the one on the inside track. We begin to participate in the process but do so while constantly gauging whether the client recognizes and values our expertise. We ask for concessions. We ask for access to decision makers. We negotiate what we will and will not write in a proposal or show in a presentation. 

We measure the client’s words, but more importantly, their behavior – their willingness to treat us differently – and if they grant us the inside track then it may make sense for us to proceed.

The Fourth Priority: Walk Away

In the sixth proclamation (We will be selective) we will discuss the need to walk away. There will be many times when it makes sense to do so; but for those prospects that would otherwise meet the parameters of clients we can best help, walking away is the fourth priority. 

We walk away when we cannot Win Without Pitching, when we cannot derail the pitch and when we are unable to gain the inside track. Good prospective clients who recognize and value our expertise will grant us one of the above. The others are not worth sacrificing our mission on in a long-shot attempt to out-pitch others, one of whom almost certainly has gained the inside track ahead of us.

1The Academy is our new post-training resource, packed with all kinds of free content, forums and coaching for anyone who has been through Win Without Pitching training on The Four Conversations. If you’ve been through training and haven’t received your invitation to join the Academy, reply to me here and we’ll get you set up.