The Idea Blog

Remembering William Tecumseh Sherman’s statement about running for President: “If nominated I will not run; if elected I will not serve” (see the very good, long entry on Sherman in Wikipedia, here) …

I turned down the opportunity to pitch a significant piece of business today.

1. We’re too busy to work on the pitch. Too many other big projects at key development points to stop and work on a quality presentation.
2. Merely pitching offers no assurance that we’ll win, and to justify taking the time away from what we need to do, I need some assurance that winning is at least almost certain.
3. One of the key components of their expectations involves a solid PR presence. I know we can deliver that, but it’s not a function we have as part of our staff. This would be a key disadvantage at pitch time, even though in execution it would not.
4. The chemistry with the potential client just didn’t seem to be there. Our first session didn’t go particularly well, and subsequent communications have felt a bit strained. It didn’t feel like the odds were with us, and success on such a major project is almost always dependent on a positive chemistry.

The good news, I guess, is that I think we can afford to be a bit more choosy now than we could, say, this time last year. The bad news, however, is we were perfect for the job … just not the pitch.