For both agencies & clients, pitching is meant to result in picking a long time partner to work with. It should be a collaborative process on both sides. There needs to be a lot of shared information and openness for the working relationship to work. But Sophie Kelly believes that if a client doesn’t want to be transparent and engage in the sharing of their business issues, then an agency may need to consider if that's a company they can work with. Sophie Kelly is the Senior Vice President of North American Whiskey Portfolio at Diageo. She is a committed and well-rounded marketer with a proven track record. Prior to her tenure at Diageo, Sophie was on the agency side herself, running The Barbarian Group, StrawberryFrog, and J. Walter Thompson in New York. She has many years of experience hearing pitches on the brand side as well as making pitches with some of the best agencies in the world.  In this week’s episode, Sophie joins host Michael Quinn to share her perspectives on whether or not pitching budgets should be transparent, how the pitching process has evolved over time, and the need for team participation in the pitch room.

Own The Room

The Evolution of the Pitch with Sophie Kelly

Companies don't pitch companies, people pitch people. And the people you’re pitching to are oftentimes already stressed-out about a problem. What they need is a good pitch that focuses on a solution specific to their problem--nothing more, nothing less. This, Michael Quinn advises, is the right tempo of a pitch: direct to the point and focused on what’s important. Michael Quinn is the Founder of Minor Nobles, a company that helps B2B pitch teams and leaders to change their behavior to win more business. He's also the faculty instructor for pitching with the Association of National Advertisers, the ANA, which is headquartered in NYC. In today’s episode, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Michael. They will be talking about some of the mistakes people make while pitching, why it’s important to focus on the needs of the company which requires the pitch, and how Minor Nobles helps companies avoid going back to their comfort zone.

The Pitch Hygiene Checklist

People want to do business with people they feel a certain connection with. Chemistry is essential to making a partnership work, and a good pitch should try to find some way to build some level of chemistry with the brand that you’re giving the pitch to. After all, you would want to have a good relationship with the company you’re about to do business with. That was the driving force behind Jonathan Levine’s success as he worked to create brand partnerships for his company. Jonathan is the founder and CEO of Master & Dynamic, a New York City-based design-driven premium audio company that makes earphones, headphones, speakers, and earbuds that sound and look incredible. He is an incredibly successful entrepreneur who has grown his sophisticated sound brand to over 500 partner stores around the world. Tune in on this episode of Own The Room where Michael is joined by Jonathan Levine as they talk about how Jonathan grew his company, his best pitching strategies, and the importance of building rapport with your investors as well as your clients.

Creating Brand Partnerships Through Pitching with Jonathan Levine

One of the most valuable commodities we have in business and life is time. As you progress to higher levels in any company, the ramifications of how you spend your time as a leader are much more impactful and pervasive across the organization. So for someone who's consistently receiving pitches as well as presenting them to retail and brand partners, Chris has a lot of advice to share from two different angles.  Chris Gibson is the Chief Product and Marketing Officer at InVue who previously helped lead Humanscale, the world's leading ergonomic furniture maker into the consumer space. His rock-solid marketing foundation is a testament to his years at General Electronic, in different businesses and working with then CMO Beth Comstock. Chris is often on the road with fortune 100 clients and partners.  Michael Quinn is joined by Chris Gibson in this week’s episode to talk about Chris’ best strategies for pitching. They discuss the importance of understanding a company’s mission before presenting a pitch, what to avoid when pitching, and how pitching has changed over the years.

Understanding a Company’s Mission While Pitching with Chris Gibson of InVue

People want to do business with people they feel a connection with, in one way or the other. Chemistry is essential and a good pitch should try to find some way to build some level of chemistry with the brand being pitched to, because of the prospect of working together in partnership if the pitch wins. That was the driving force behind Jonathan Levine’s success as he worked to create brand partnerships for his company. He is the founder and CEO of Master & Dynamic, a New York City-based design-driven premium audio company that makes earphones, headphones, speakers, and earbuds that sound and look incredible. He is an incredibly successful entrepreneur who has grown his sophisticated sound brand to over 500 partner stores around the world. Michael is joined by Jonathan Levine in this week’s episode where they talk about growing Jonathan’s company, best pitching strategies, and benefits of in-person pitching.

Some of the skills Minor Nobles focuses on in their workshops for pitching include learning to read the room and educating vs. selling. Sometimes it may not be hard to read what's happening in the room, but what tends to be challenging is what to do once you've read the room. If there are changes to what you expected, how do you adjust accordingly and on the fly?  Michael, the host of this show, has some pieces of advice from experience. Michael Quinn is the Founder of Minor Nobles, which helps B2B pitch teams and leaders change their behavior to win more business. He's also the faculty instructor for pitching with the Association of National Advertisers, the ANA, which is headquartered in NYC. Michael is joined by Dr. Jeremy Weisz in this week’s episode where they talk about some of the crazy pitch experiences Michael has been through, his advice on when to change pitch tactics, and the importance of understanding the culture of the pitch room beforehand.

Crazy Pitch Experiences, and Reading the Room

Having an established agency with accomplished staff will get you far. But if they get in too much of a rhythm, they may lose focus and lose sight of the goal. A successful team has to use the time it has wisely to build chemistry and develop the relationship so that they can sell and have the audience participate in what they're offering.  As Michael says, some of the reasons people lose pitches include lack of chemistry, lack of trustworthiness, or too much storytelling as opposed to providing solutions to a client's particular problem. Michael Quinn is the Founder of Minor Nobles, which helps B2B pitch teams and leaders change their behavior to win more business. He's also the faculty instructor for pitching with the Association of National Advertisers, the ANA, which is headquartered in NYC. Jeremy Weisz flips the script today and he'll be interviewing Michael Quinn about winning pitches, educating prospective clients before selling to them, and building chemistry.

The Delicate Balance Between Educating and Selling to a Prospective Client

Presenting a pitch is a team effort. It is not a one size fits all endeavor, and all pitches are not created equal. The pitch team has to be able to move the right dials of their pitch in order to succeed. There are also benefits to working as a team because the members generate their own energy, momentum, and enthusiasm such that the audience feels it and wants to be part of that collaboration. So how do you go about preparing your team for pitching? Michael Quinn, the host of this show, tells us how. Michael Quinn is the Founder of Minor Nobles, which helps B2B pitch teams and leaders change their behavior to win more business. He's also the faculty instructor for pitching with the Association of National Advertisers, the ANA, which is headquartered in NYC. Jeremy Weisz flips the script today and he'll be interviewing Michael Quinn about a PR agency’s case, how a pitch team should prepare before presenting, and how many people should be in a pitch team.

Case Study of a PR Agency

Michael Quinn is the Founder of Minor Nobles, which helps B2B pitch teams and leaders change their behavior to win more business. He's also the faculty instructor for pitching with the Association of National Advertisers, the ANA, which is headquartered in NYC. Jeremy Weisz flips the script today and he'll be interviewing Michael Quinn to find out why he decided to start this podcast, who the expected audience is, and what type of information will be shared.

Background on Minor Nobles with Michael Quinn

Own The Room is the weekly podcast that helps B2B pitch teams and leaders change their behavior to win more business. Host Michael Quinn talks with industry leaders and professionals to help pitch teams learn the skills they need to land more business.

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Own The Room

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