Pitching opportunities on the rise but so is stress

Marketers and agency leaders feel confident about winning more pitches as more remote opportunities arise, but the changing nature of pitching is having an impact on staff wellbeing.

That’s according to new research* commissioned by Pitch, a collaborative presentation platform, which finds that the emergence of remote pitching has changed the dynamics of winning business across all sectors.

Key findings 

• 51% of marketers and agency leaders are confident their company will win more pitches over the next 12 months compared to the past year (even though 64% acknowledge that the economic climate will make that more difficult).
• 71% of all respondents believe pitching remotely has opened up new opportunities for them; 80% of marketers and agency leaders see this new process placing greater importance on the quality of a presentation’s content and design – suggesting there’s widespread recognition of a need to raise standards. 
• More frequent remote presentations have led 77% of teams to rethink their pitch process.
• Half (50%) of all respondents report experiencing signs of stress or burnout during the pitching process, either personally or in their teams, with those affected taking paid time off work (in 17% of cases), being medically signed off work (11%), or leaving the company altogether (11%).
• 43% said they would like to spend more time building out ideas and concepts rather than formatting slides. 

Why the pitching process matters

“The conventional model of pitching has been turned upside-down, and it’s clear some teams have adapted better than others,” says Sarah Kiefer, chief marketing officer at Pitch. “Stress and burnout are massive contributors to staff turnover rates, so leaders in the marketing sector need to assess if their approach to winning business is sustainable.” 

Key quote

“Working on pitches used to be a badge of honor, but it has become a trigger of stress and burnout in recent years. Agencies need to reevaluate the impact that pitching can have on teams, and provide solutions for making the process easier, more collaborative, and fun again” – Rob Mayhew, Creative Director at Gravity Road.

*A quantitative survey of 1,029 respondents in the US and UK included 221 marketing professionals and senior leaders at creative agencies. Respondents are all pitching professionals whose backgrounds range in terms of role, sector, and company size.

Sourced from Pitch