I attended a pre-proposal meeting recently that our agency was invited to. Without divulging too many details, this city commission asked several regional advertising agencies, marketing agencies, new media agencies and communications firms to participate in their RFP process. JASE was selected to be a part of this prestigious process.
As I quite often do, I exited the meeting wanting to call every person on our team and begin brainstorming ideas instantly. As I ran through this list of people in my head I noticed the types of folks I wanted to talk to - creatives, operational, techies, thinkers, and the list goes on.
Now to make my point - I promise there is one. 
In order to keep your agency in the running during the bidding process of a project, both right-brain folks and left-brain folks are equally important and must work together. One side out maneuvering the other would be catastrophic. What do I mean?
Left Brain
Your initial contact (in our case, the written Answer to the RFP) with the potential client is all about convincing them that you belong on their pitch process. They need to see:
- Your team’s professionalism and confidence in your work.
- How your team thinks logically, strategically and on-task.
- The quality of your team’s credentials.
- Examples of successful campaigns.
- The creativity your team can demonstrate.
Right Brain
Once your pitch has made it through the cut process, you must then address the more emotional senses and concerns that will differentiate you from the next agency. They need to see:
- The passion your team has for their project.
- The overwhelming innovation your team’s brainstorming processes have produced.
- Your team’s creative concepts have aligned with their strategic goals.
- The working chemistry your team can share with the client.
We hope to have a very successful bid process on this particular RFP. And hopefully these points can help you. Good luck in your agency’s next pitch.
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