How to play back a brief - a maturity model

Early in each pitch presentation, most agencies remind everyone in the room why they’re in the room by summarising the brief.

(Bonus points if it’s on the first slide and you’ve skipped the “about us” - if you’ve approached your sales conversations correctly, the clients already know all that stuff.)

It’s a good idea, because:

• We don’t know how familiar with the project everyone in the room actually is (especially if they’re more senior or don’t work in marketing)
• It shows we were listening
• It makes it clear that we’re here to talk about the client, not ourselves (👀)

…but it’s fraught with danger, because:

• We’re demonstrating to the room how good (or bad) the main client stakeholder is at briefing
• Not everyone in the room will be aligned and some will think the money could be better spent somewhere else
• It can expose us as order taking lackeys who shouldn’t be paid the big bucks.

That last point is crucial to conversion rate and margin (especially if it is the first slide in the deck), so we’re going to make sure we’re all doing this the right way.

The maturity model for summarising briefs

I use this model to demonstrate the stages we go through as we get good at this. The Y axis shows how much effort you put into the slide; the X axis points to the agency’s perceived value as a result.

The lowest level: answering the brief

You don’t include a slide; you just start talking. You miss out on all those good points and the client’s FD spends the meeting fiddling with their phone because they’ve got no interest in the tactics you’re presenting. If this meeting was an internal meeting, you’d have started with a recap and an agenda, right? …right?

The second level: repeating the brief

Might say something like “the brief in brief” or “you told us…”

You’ve pasted the client’s ask on a slide and you read it verbatim (maybe you add a bit of colour as you go along). It’s the wordiest slide anyone has ever seen, so the font is tiny.

The third level: understanding the brief

You verbally recap the brief (you can bring it with you in your notes) and the slide says what this means. You might highlight some of the known blockers; you could quickly reference some relevant case studies where you’ve answered a brief that looks suspiciously like this one (tell, don’t show). You’re effectively recapping the entire sales conversation to date - focusing on the decisions you and the main client stakeholder have made to get to this point - because most people in the room will have seen the brief (some may even have read it), but nobody was present on those phone calls.

…and on those phone calls, you asked some super smart questions, which made the client realise you’re an expert in answering briefs like this one; and in this meeting, you give the client credit for knowing great answers to all those great questions, saying things like “you da real MVP” and making sure they know you’re here to make them look good (not yourself).

The highest level: forecasting the outcome

You do everything in the third level (understanding the brief), but the slide has one thing on it: a really, really big number. With a pound sign in front.

This is what this is worth.

The naysayers in the room can’t argue with that: their project isn’t worth what this one is worth (because they’re talking to agencies that are on the first or second level, like most are).

The FD puts their phone away.

You put your pinky to your lips like Dr. Evil and say the big number out loud…then you recap the fees you’ve agreed with the client stakeholder on the phone prior to the meeting. It’s a bargainous 10% of this number. A huge ROI. Nobody cares how many hours that equates to.

Summarising how to summarise

The client is paying you for your thinking (or, at least, they will be). This is your first big opportunity to show that you can do some big thinking. So don’t waste this opportunity showing the client that you can take orders.