pursuit guide-powerpoint presentation

Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™

Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit

September 2014

This Pursuit Guide should not be used for Federal Government, State, Local, and Multilateral (e.g., UN, World Bank, IMF, etc.) accounts which are covered by complex and specific rules

and regulations that dictate interactions with the client, sharing of information and other relevant interactions and where failure to abide by the rules and regulations could subject the firm

to penalties—civil and criminal. Questions for Federal Government accounts should be directed to the WFP Contracts Group on myKcurve. Questions for State, Local, and Multilateral

accounts should be directed to the State & Local Government Coordination Center email at [email protected].

Also, please note there is a customized version of the Pursuit framework for Public Sector, Public Sector Pursuit; and related guidance has been developed to meet the unique needs of the

Public Sector practice. Advisory professionals pursuing work in the Public Sector, including the federal government, should use the Public Sector Pursuit framework.

Recognizing our professional responsibilities Throughout this Pursuit Guide, we’ll talk about our clients, the importance of building strong relationships with them, and bringing them value (including fulfilling our professional obligations) as key elements of Pursuit. Before we get started, let’s quickly define how PwC views these key components to our success as well as the regulatory environment in which we operate. We must all keep these views in mind as context for the guidance provided.

Clients: As a firm, we have a professional responsibility to both our clients’ and PwC’s stakeholders (e.g., management, the board, audit committees) and we also have responsibility to help create value for our clients. We think about our ‘clients’ as encompassing the interests of multiple stakeholders including the individual, the client organization, the board, and audit committee. We likewise steer our actions toward the facilitation of consistent ‘client-stakeholder’ needs. Our discussion of clients throughout this Pursuit Guide should be viewed in this light.

Relationships: Building relationships with our clients is a critical factor in the way we do business and allows us to understand their perspective, motivations, and deliver an independent and objective viewpoint. Having robust client relationships will help position us to work with our clients to effectively deal with the difficult issues when they arise. As we seek to build strong professional relationships with our clients, we must do so in such a way that is consistent with our professional obligations and does not impair our independence or objectivity. As PwC professionals, we should always consider the nature of the relationships we want to build in the context of our professional responsibilities as independent auditors. Our discussion of relationships throughout this Pursuit Guide should be read in the context of this view.

Quality and value: As a firm, we strive to make a difference for our clients and stakeholders by delivering quality service, bringing relevant value-add, and becoming truly distinctive in their eyes through personal delivery of a customized experience every day (our professionalism, the way we communicate and listen, etc.). We work toward these goals while at the same time maintaining objectivity and a due level of professional skepticism.

Recognizing ‘value’ is in the eyes of the beholder, we want our clients to recognize PwC ‘value’ in our consistent delivery of quality in accordance with our professional standards, our objective perspective, the additive insights from our unique and deep position as objective and independent auditors that we bring through and beyond the core deliverable or service (e.g., new ideas, industry expertise, connectivity and effectiveness of our global network, thought leadership, benchmarking, connecting them with subject matter specialists) and in the way we interact with them (respectful, responsive, reliable, professional, telling them things they might not know/delivering difficult messages, addressing issues head-on, timely, etc.). See Exceed Expectations for further discussion of these important elements that help differentiate PwC (e.g., the PwC Experience), and view discussions of quality and value that occur throughout this Pursuit Guide in this context.

Cross-selling and independence: PwC partners are neither compensated nor otherwise rewarded for selling non-audit services to their audit clients; however, they are expected to add value and deliver the firm – consistent with the SEC’s, our profession’s independence standards and public policy interests, and perspectives regarding our delivery of permissible non-audit services – within their line of service and across lines of service to raise the quality of audits. All PwC professionals are expected to maintain independence in accordance with firm policies and remain objective. Our discussion of Pursuit and related activities throughout this Pursuit Guide should be read in the context of these protocols.

http://mykcurve.pwcinternal.com/wps/myportal/us-staff

mailto:[email protected]

https://pwc-spark.com/groups/public-sector-pursuit-creating-opportunities-and-winning-work-in-the-public-sector

Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™ l Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit

Interact

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Conduct a great meeting

Set the stage for success

Build some rapport before the meeting begins

Get off on the right foot in your opening

Lead a collaborative discussion

Resolve objections and learn something in the process

Close the meeting

Follow-up from the meeting

Immediately debrief with the team

Follow-up seamlessly with the client

Contents

Contents

2

Propose 45 Propose covers the many areas to consider when you’re in a live pursuit—whether in the form of a responsive opportunity (RFP) or a proactive opportunity you’ve co-developed with the client. Regardless of the type of pursuit, the process to win remains the same.

Recognize the opportunity 45

Qualify the opportunity and make a ‘go/no-go’ decision 46

To pursue or not to pursue…that is the question 46

Required gate reviews 48

The all-important kick-off call 49

Involve a Pursuit Coach early 50

Assemble the right team 51

People matter 51

Roles are important 52

Leadership can make a difference 53

Marketing & Sales and other key resources can help 54

Understand buyers and scope 55

Make sure you know what you’re proposing on…and with whom 55

Introduction to the six professional services character 56

What if Procurement is involved? 58

Why do I need a client coach? 59

Put your scope and approach to the test 60

Understand the competition 61

What you don’t know can hurt you 61

The client may be your biggest competition 61

Develop win themes 62

Win themes that stand out in a crowd 62

Getting started

Target

Provides background on what to consider so we identify and pursue the right kind of business—business we want to win, and can win. It helps us think through our relationships and how to identify opportunities that will bring value to the client.

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Laying the groundwork

Assess your relationships

View your relationships through a client lens

Professional and/or personal

Individual, team or institutional

Familiarity, comfort/reliability—and ultimately trust

The importance of building trust

The trust equation

Where are your relationships on a scale from -1 to 4?

How would you classify each of your client relationships?

What do past Client Experience Surveys tell us?

Tips to apply at each level of the relationship

Uncover your client’s top business issues and match PwC’s capabilities

Step 1: Always start by thinking from the client’s perspective

Step 2: Think about how PwC can bring value

Step 3: Prioritize opportunities to pursue

Develop the action plan

Interact

You’ll use the concepts in the Interact phase throughout the pursuit process, particularly the guidance on ‘what you want to say’ and ‘how you’re going to say it’ as this serves as the backbone of all interactions you have with the client.

22

Time to take action

Get the meeting

Prepare for the call

Make the call

Follow-up after the call

Prepare for the meeting

Plan for an effective meeting

Consider logistics and other factors that can impact your meeting

Plan for a great discussion

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Propose

Craft/test/refine your value proposition 63

Nail your value proposition 63

Develop your pricing approach, propose and test pricing with buyers 65

So, what’s it going to cost anyway? 65

Make their budget your business 67

Present your fees with confidence 67

Manage the proposal document 68

Proposal Hub resources can help! 68

Plan first and write last 69

Forward, march! 70

Prepare for references 71

It’s who you know that can help you…or hurt you 71

Excel at orals 72

Lights, camera, orals! 72

Don’t forget about good coaching 75

Be prepared to go ‘off-script’ 76

Now it’s time to execute! 78

Follow-up from orals 79

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over 79

Exceed expectations 95

Exceeding clients’ expectations isn’t something that occurs only after an engagement is won, it’s a mindset we use throughout our pursuits and over the lifecycle of an account.

Creating a client experience that delivers value and differentiates PwC from our competitors

95

Elements that build a distinctive client experience 96

Making it happen—understanding what’s meaningful and most important to our clients and stakeholders

97

Pursuit tools 98

Additional deeper-dive tools that provide you with more detailed tips and tactics to increase your success in every phase of the Pursuit framework.

Contents 3

Close 80

Close provides tips to help you close the deal and negotiate the fees and scope

Secure the engagement 80

Sum it up 81

Do a test close 82

Ask for the business 83

Negotiate the fee 84

Plan for a successful negotiation 84

It’s time to negotiate 89

Handling objections in negotiations 92

What’s different about negotiating with Procurement? 93

Conduct a formal debrief 94

How did PwC measure up? 94

What’s in it for the client? 94

Who can debrief your client?

94

Getting started Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™ l Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit

Ge

ttin

g s

tar

ted

We do two things everyday. We do work. We win work.

Doing work is a ‘science’ involving technical knowledge, training, and skills applied with the consistency and certainty that comes from experience.

Winning work requires another set of skills: the ability to think through business issues using the client’s lens; to discover ways to add value – clients want this and expect this; and to communicate that understanding with clarity. That’s not a science. That’s an art.

Combining these two skills—the science and the art—is the secret to creating opportunities and winning work. This is the idea behind Pursuit.

We created Pursuit by listening. We asked you, outside experts, businesses we’ve acquired, and (most important) our clients a simple question: what works best? The resounding answer is that it’s not about what we do, but how we do it—how we conduct meetings, interact with clients, and close the deal that matters. And there are proven ways for everyone—no matter how experienced—to improve your win rate.

Pursuit is a unified approach to business development that takes the best of the best proven practices for creating opportunities and winning work and gives them to the person who can use them best: You.

So much more than just training*, Pursuit is a new way of thinking that will give you the confidence and clarity you need to directly contribute to the growth of the firm in a way perhaps you’ve never done before.

You’ll understand how to:

• Nurture and maximize your long-term relationships • Step out of your own shoes and into your client’s • Create new opportunities, rather than wait for an RFP • Tell a compelling business story, not just write a proposal

You’ll combine the art and the science of Pursuit to develop relationships, improve client satisfaction and win work.

Let the pursuit begin!

Externally, Pursuit has been recognized as a "best in class" sales training program, being awarded two Gold Medals in the prestigious 2012 Brandon Hall Excellence Awards For Sales and Marketing (the preeminent research and analyst organization for corporate learning). Pursuit was recognized for excellence in two categories: Best Program for Sales Training and Performance and Best Sales Training Program for Extended Enterprise. To learn more about this training please email the Pursuit Lotus Notes mailbox with your request.

Getting started

4

mailto:[email protected]


Pursuit Framework

Target

• Broad-based targeting: sectors, markets,

and LoS identify and prioritize targets

– Relationships: Assess client/target relationships

– Key business issues: Anticipate/prioritize

business issues and opportunities from

client’s lens

– PwC capabilities: Assess opportunities

to add value

• Targeting for specific solutions and services

Interact

• Get the meeting

• Prepare for the meeting

• Conduct a great meeting

• Close the meeting

• Follow up from the meeting

Propose

• Qualify the opportunity: ‘go/no go’ decision

• Assemble the right team

• Prepare proposal:

– Understand buyers and scope

– Find a client coach

– Understand competition

– Develop win themes

– Craft/test/refine value proposition

– Develop pricing approach

– Propose and test pricing with buyers

– Manage proposal document

• Prepare for references

• Excel at orals

• Follow up from orals

Exceed Expectations

• Continually assess that client receives:

– Quality product

– Relevant value add

– Customized service

Close

• Secure the engagement

• Negotiate the fee

• Conduct a formal debrief

This is a quick snapshot of the Pursuit framework highlighting the key elements within the five phases of Pursuit. The following contents of this Guide provide more in-depth discussion of these key elements as well as supporting tips, tactics and tools.

5 Getting started

https://pwc-spark.com/groups/pursuit-creating-opportunities-and-winning-work



Target Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™ l Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit

Ta

rg

et

The firm’s targeting approach identifies the best companies and individual decision-makers within those companies where we have the potential to deliver value and build strong relationships.

Laying the groundwork

At a glance: Target helps

us identify and pursue the

right kind of business—

business we want to win,

and can win. It helps us think

through our relationships and

how to identify opportunities

that will bring the most value

to our clients.

As a firm, we desire to do business with leading companies with a strong reputation, known for quality, character, and good corporate citizenry. We want to work with companies whose values align with ours. We also look at size and growth potential, while considering risk. Even though the company may be big and growing fast, they may be in a high risk sector or market that would preclude them from being a target.

It’s critical the target is a ‘good fit’ for PwC. As such, leadership will assess this potential based on the client profile, related risks, the firm’s sector expertise, individual decision-maker(s), and how well their business issues match our capabilities.

To help prioritize our efforts with companies and individual decision-makers where we have the best potential to build strong professional relationships, leadership will look at key indicators such as our history at the company, the strength of any existing relationships, and any negative experiences—as well as our competitors’ presence and relationships within the company.

Sectors, Markets, and Lines of Service (LoS) identify and prioritize the targets we pursue. Sectors generally take the lead with the Global and National Priority Accounts, and the markets take the lead with the Market Priority Accounts and other market segments. The LoS, as a key member of the Sector and Market Councils, provide input regarding targets that are important to each LoS.

The firm complements this approach by introducing solution sets that address business issues that often apply to more than one company. Examples include issues created by Cybercrime, the Foreign Account Transactions Compliance Act (FATCA), Conflict Minerals, Megatrends and other similar business or technical issues.

Target the

best

companies

Assess

relationships

Develop the

action plan

Match client’s

top business

issues with

PwC

capabilities

6


Assess your relationships Once the firm’s targets are determined, it’s up to each of us to move relationships and opportunities forward.

When we win business, it’s often because we have strong relationships with the company , individual decision-makers and other client employees. Be objective about your current relationships at the target company by asking yourself these questions:

• Who at PwC already has relationships at this company and with whom? (For Advisory, also consider which of our Strategic Alliances or recent acquisitions have relationships we can leverage.)

• What’s our history with these individuals? (These could be personal relationships with individual decision-makers, etc.)

• Is this company already working with PwC? If yes, in what areas/with whom? Has the experience been all positive? Any hiccups? Do we know how they feel about PwC vs. our competitors?

Don’t know the answers? Ask around! Find out who in the firm (including alums) have relationships. Leverage Iris, the firm’s client relationship management system, to help you with your assessment. Use external resources available such as BoardEx and LinkedIn to make further connections that might help you get that first meeting.

Then get the full story behind the relationships so you can consider them holistically. In what capacity does this person know the client—business, social, or both? What do they know that might help you get an introduction? Can a Client Relationship Executive (CRE) help you make a connection? What kind of buying role would this person play? What kind of buying style does this person have?

See Propose—Assemble the right team to learn more about the role CREs can play in helping you make connections at clients and targets. See Propose—Understand buyers and scope to learn more about different client buying roles and buying styles.

7 Target

Tips & tactics Account planning workshops

Host account planning workshops (APWs) as a

xLoS team to evaluate and plan for development

of key relationships within the target company.

Inviting the client to participate is a winning

practice to gain key insights from them and build

the relationship. APWs play an important role in

establishing an account road map and relationship

plan for the coming year.

“Relationships are the corner-stone to the way we do business. Without meaningful client relationships, it would be difficult to deliver the quality and value our clients expect and that we demand of ourselves.”

—PwC Partner

http://iriscrmssous.nam.pwcinternal.com/scripts/wgate/zsmsapsso-c1p!

https://knowledgecurve.com/janus.jsp?page=BoardEx

http://www.linkedin.com/


Professional and/or personal

Relationships may start out as a personal relationship (neighborhood, school, charities, etc.) and move to a professional one—or vice versa. It’s natural to expand on these as we network in both business and social settings.

We ultimately want to position ourselves as our clients’ professional services provider of choice, so it’s important that we maintain our professional discretion and objectivity when fostering client relationships. A strong professional relationship is the cornerstone on which the rest of the relationship will be built—

Individual

Team

Institutional

Professional

Personal

Familiarity

Comfort/reliability

Trust

Client lens

How does your client see it?

Networking can pay off in unexpected ways so it’s important to stay in touch with your contacts, build new ones, and then not let them fade. If you have a relationship that’s gone stale, it’s best to refresh the relationship before an opportunity arises.

8 Target

this is true across the lines of service. Our clients won’t continue to work with us if we don’t demonstrate our commitment as professionals. Although they may ‘like’ us as individuals, the real foundational and sustaining element to the relationship is that they view us as professionals that consistently deliver quality work, bring objectivity and insight, and exceed their expectations.

As a firm, we must always

keep our professional

obligations in mind as we build these important relationships, consistently putting quality and objectivity first.

View your relationships through a client lens Very few relationships remain static—they vary in origin, take on different characteristics, and move to different levels over time. Your starting point can determine your approach to building the relationship, but the ultimate goal remains the same: to have a strong professional relationship built on trust in the level of service you individually and PwC can provide. We want our clients to have the confidence that PwC will deliver consistent high quality services, add value as appropriate, with the right interpersonal skills.

Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™ l Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit 9 Target

Individual, team or institutional

It’s important to view our relationships holistically as an account or client, but also understand the individual decision-makers’ interests and needs, recognizing in actuality we are targeting and building relationships with individuals vs. an "account” (see Propose – Understand buyers and scope – individual client buyer' types matter).

That being said, as we work more broadly within the client organization, the relationship expands beyond individual relationships or one with a specific team and becomes a relationship between the client and PwC at an institutional level. This is where we want to be—having multiple strong relationships and an established brand with the client that will stand the test of time as team members and client individuals come and go.

Familiarity, comfort/reliability—and ultimately trust

Getting to the level of a trusted relationship is challenging—and not every relationship will get to that level. Trust develops over time as we deliver on what we said we’d do and do what’s right for the client and stakeholders. Being a trusted advisor is when a client recognizes and appreciates our values and gains a high degree of comfort they can rely on us (i.e., there are no unpleasant surprises, we help them anticipate problems, bring top expertise, keep them in the loop, etc.).

By constantly thinking through a client lens—putting yourself in the individual's shoes — to understand their interests, motivations, and needs in your role as a professional—you’ll move toward that trusted state.

Understanding clients as individuals and their needs and desires will only further your relationship development and help build client trust with PwC.


The importance of building trust

10 Target

Establishing trust is important in all relationships—personal and professional—and is essential to the kind of relationships we want to build with our clients. But how do we build that trust?

The trust equation The Trust Equation is a tool that allows you to assess your ability to build trust with your clients. It defines Trustworthiness as being composed of four dimensions:

• Credibility is about your technical experience and presence. Especially a track record/past experience.

• Reliability is about your dependability. Reliability links words and deeds, intention and action —you do what you say consistently, over time—for example, are readily available for calls, provide valuable feedback, etc.

• Intimacy: Empathy and Transparency are needed to make a connection. It does not mean that private lives necessarily get shared or sympathies would risk our objectivity or professional skepticism, , but that things personal, related to the issues at hand, get shared. For example, if you’re aware the CIO is worried about headcount reductions they’ve had to make in the IT staff , you might say something like, “Joan, the reduction in force in your department has been tough for the organization. I sense the decisions you’ve had to make the last few days have been particularly difficult for you.” When you are transparent and show empathy, while being objective, trust increases.

• Self-orientation covers anything that keeps us from focusing on the other person. Things like appearing to be focused on your agenda or the firm’s business interests, a desire to jump to the answer, a desire to always be right, fear of not knowing what to do or say next, fear of rejection, etc.—can keep us preoccupied with our own agenda and it will directly and severely reduce trust. You have to make it clear to your client that, without compromising your independence and objectivity, you put them and their stakeholders before yourself.

Winning trust means being effective in all four dimensions: high credibility, reliability and intimacy – and low self-orientation.

Source: "The Trusted Advisor" 2001 - Authors: David H. Maister , Charles H. Green, Robert M. Galford

Reducing self-orientation is an important goal because it keeps you from focusing on the other person. Use the Trust Equation to score yourself on your most important client relationships. If your score is low, what can you do to increase it in your interactions?

Credibility Reliability Intimacy

Self-orientation

Trustworthiness


0

Where are your relationships on a scale from -1 to 4?

11 Target

Have you ever…

• Spent weeks/months building a relationship with someone at the client who you then found out wasn’t really the decision-

maker?

• Had a pursuit derailed by someone inside the company who just didn’t like PwC?

• Been told after a long pursuit that the company wasn’t going to hire PwC because the CEO/President/Chairman is really

close to competitor X?

• Gotten all the way to orals before learning you somehow missed a key decision-maker and your solution didn’t address

his/her hot buttons?

• Been blocked by a lower-level contact who won’t give you access to the decision-maker?

• Thought you had an internal champion, only to learn that some other firm had the real ‘inside track’ for the business you

were pursuing?

All of these situations highlight the importance of having a true understanding of our relationships from the start.

Before you start meeting with individuals at a target, take some time to think about each relationship you/others have there, how strong (or weak) they are, and actions that can be taken to move the needle in a positive direction.

The relationship assessment model on the next page can help you classify each of your existing relationships.

Trusted advisor

Working relationship

Limited relationship

Acquainted

No relationship

Detractor


Tips & tactics Leverage past feedback

As you plan your targeting efforts and think

through your existing relationships, leverage any

past feedback received from the client (Client

Experience Surveys and related comments, Net

Promoter Scores (NPS), and Win/Loss

Debriefs) to help you fully assess the state of

relationships. For access to three client principles

(‘3CP’) documentation/ survey reports, refer to the

Client Experience Dashboard, or reach out to your

local market contact.

Detractor

-1

Loyal to another

firm. May have had a

negative experience

with us directly or

indirectly. Depending

on level of influence

at client, may be

forced to have

working relationship

with us due to lines

of authority.

No Relationship

0

Unable to identify a

relationship owner

(at client and/or at

PwC). Do not

understand

loyalties/power

within organization.

Acquainted

1

Introduced, but no

meaningful contact

or relationship

established.

Limited

relationship

2

Potential to develop

relationship to next

level. This person

may also have

similar relationships

at the competition.

Working

relationship

3

Will return phone

calls/emails and

agree to frequent

meetings. Often

shares issues and

wants to hear our

point of view, but

may hold similar

meetings with the

competition.

Trusted

advisor

4

Looks to us first as a

trusted objective

advisor on strategy

and issues; serves

as client coach —

provides us with

information, and

introduces us to

others in or outside

the company.

Familiarity Comfort/Reliability Trust

Detractor

0 – 6 NPS No Survey

Neutral

7 NPS

Neutral

8 NPS

Promoter

9 - 10 NPS

What do past Client Experience Surveys tell us? Net Promoter Scores can help assess relationship strength from the client’s point of view:

Pursuit Master Tool:

Propose

Understand the buying roles and develop your

pursuit relationship plan

12 Target

How would you classify each of your client relationships?

First, list who you know/need to know at the client on your relationship map, and classify them, giving each relationship an honest rating on a scale from -1 (Detractor) to +4 (Trusted Advisor). This helps you think through how we believe individuals view PwC and where we currently stand so you can strategize how to move each relationship from none (or even negative) to familiarity, comfort/reliability and ultimately, trusted advisor.

Where we have existing client relationships that participate in PwC’s annual Client Experience Survey, revisit past Net Promoter Scores and client comments to assess the strength of the relationship from the client’s point of view and how that stacks up against your own assessment.

https://pwc-spark.com/docs/DOC-1883


Tips to apply at each level of the relationship

Detractor

-1

Loyal to another firm. May have had a negative

experience with us directly or indirectly. Depending

on level of influence at client, may be forced to have

working relationship with us due to lines of authority.

It’s important to identify these individuals early, particularly during a pursuit, and put together a plan to bring them around or at least minimize their negative mindset toward PwC.

Some behavioral cues to help you spot a detractor:

Demonstrates negative body language during interactions—no eye contact, arms folded, turned away, or

shaking their head.

Routinely shoots down PwC’s ideas/recommendations either publicly or behind the scenes.

Speaks negatively of PwC as a company, and/or bad-mouths individual team members.

Frequently asks tough questions and raises objections and doesn’t seem interested in getting an answer.

Comes to meetings late, pays little attention (focuses on smartphone), leaves early, or skips key meetings

altogether.

Some winning practices to help you win over a detractor:

Approach the detractor one-on-one, acknowledge the situation, and position your desire to develop a

better relationship. Keep discussions focused on the business issues, not personalities. Avoid allowing

things to become personal or emotional. Engage this person frequently. Ask for their input. Get their ideas

out on the table so you won’t be blind-sided.

Look for and point out common ground: “We all want to help make X happen … ”

or “We’re in agreement that…”

Ask your client coach for suggestions and enlist their help.

When we engage with detractors in a good faith effort to build a relationship, they’re 70% more likely to become supporters—especially when we reach out, listen, and act on suggested feedback.

13 Target


When we have no points of contact within a company, building relationships from scratch can be a ‘wild card’ because we won’t immediately understand loyalties or political power within the client organization.

No Relationship

0

Unable to identify a relationship owner (at client and/or

at PwC). Do not understand loyalties/power within

organization.

Here are some tips when creating new relationships:

Leverage any connections you might have to find out about this person from a business and personal

perspective. What are their hot buttons?

Find out where they’re speaking and attend to learn their point of view on a topic or issue.

Assign a person on the team (or outside the team if needed) who’s the best fit to take responsibility for

developing this new relationship.

If possible, ask someone you know in the organization to make the initial connection for you.

Identify a compelling reason to meet (why should someone you’ve never met want to meet with you?).

Don’t give up if you get a negative reaction at first. Try changing communication channels if your first few

attempts are unsuccessful. Be persistent, but respectful, and always have a valid business reason for

contacting them.

When you get the meeting, make sure you focus on them. Build some rapport around things that interest

them and be willing to listen and learn.

Following the meeting, be consistent and strategic with touch points. Where possible, a personal

handwritten note always helps.

Make the investment to spend time with them and expand the relationship by inviting them to lunch, dinner

or social events, etc. (as professionally appropriate and within the relevant independence policies of both

PwC and the client organization).

Tips & tactics Leverage Iris to identify connections

As you begin to plan your strategy for targeting

individuals and building relationships, leverage Iris

to understand who has relationships with the

client, what marketing events they may have been

invited to, and what thought leadership they may

have received, etc. You may be surprised!

14 Target


Acquainted

1

Introduced, but no meaningful contact or

relationship established.

Your goal is to move this person from ‘familiar’ to ‘comfort/ reliability’ and ultimately to ‘trust’ in the context of your professional obligations. If this is an early relationship, some of the tips to apply when you have ‘no relationship’ may apply here as well. As you build the relationship, keep the focus on their issues as you carefully weave relevant capabilities into the dialogue as appropriate. Rate your progress along the way and modify your approach accordingly.

Limited relationship

2

Potential to develop relationship to next level. This

person may also have similar relationships at the

competition.

When we have a surface level relationship—perhaps through a limited project or common interest—this positions us to take the relationship to the next level. Build on your business relationship, taking it to a more personal level by getting to know their key interests—both inside and outside of work (consistent with our professional obligations).

Here are some additional ideas to help move the relationship to the next level:

Hit the ball out of the park with your current engagement(s). Exceeding the client’s expectations on quality,

value-add and the experience you deliver is the best way to demonstrate they are important to PwC.

See Exceed Expectations for further discussion.

Reach out frequently while paying attention to their reaction so you don’t wear out your welcome. Start and

end meetings on time. If rapport is good and business discussions are strong, take a risk and request a

regularly scheduled checkpoint meeting.

Find a Client Coach in the company that can help you develop the relationship (see Propose – Involve a

Pursuit Coach early).

Increase their connectivity into PwC so they feel valued (and to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket).

Use your network to make connections for them with business contacts at other clients

15 Target

When clients in these categories participate in the Client Experience Survey, they tend to be ‘neutral’ in their attitude about working with PwC. By moving the relationship toward the next level and exceeding expectations, we move them closer to being firm ‘promoters.’


This is where many of our ‘strong’ relationships fall. Too often, we have a 3 relationship but assume it could be rated as a 4, and we’re surprised when work is awarded to another firm. It takes some effort to nurture the relationship further so it moves to that of a ‘trusted advisor’ and the client becomes a true promoter of the firm.

Working relationship

3

Will return phone calls and agree to frequent meetings.

Often shares issues and wants to hear our point of

view, but may hold similar meetings with the

competition.

Here are some suggestions to help build that trust:

Understand what matters to the client and continually bring a fresh perspective and new ideas regarding

what they see as important. Bring both expertise and objectivity to help them solve their problems.

Help them stay informed on their top business issues. Know how their peer companies are solving issues

similar to theirs and share insights that are relevant and timely.

Constantly look for ways to help the client succeed, consistent with the interests of the organization and

stakeholders.

Be willing to ask the tough questions and provide honest and candid feedback. Act as a sounding board

and play ‘devil’s advocate’ for them.

Be quick to respond with in crisis and periods of change.

Deal with issues head on, in the right way.

Follow through on promises and commitments regarding service delivery, no matter how small.

16 Target

Be realistic about where you are in your relationships. If someone doesn’t return your call once, it’s probably nothing to worry about. But if it happens three times, your relationship probably isn’t as strong as you thought it was.


Trusted advisor

4

Looks to us first as a trusted advisor on strategy

and issues; serves as client coach —provides us

with information, and introduces us to others in or

outside the company.

This is the level we all want to attain with key client relationships—a unique relationship with PwC they don’t have with other firms. We want to be known as respected and objective advisors that help them reach good conclusions. Your goal is for PwC to be seen as the preferred or sole provider.

How to test if you have a trusted advisor relationship:

Does your client return most of your calls within 12–24 hours?

When something important happens, does your client usually call you right away to tell you?

Will your client seek you out for advice on a wide range of issues?

When PwC would like to meet other decision-makers/influencers in the client organization, does your

client actively look for opportunities for you to meet key people and personally get involved in arranging

introductions?

Is your client very open with feedback about PwC and receptive to hearing feedback from PwC?

Is your client willing to be a reference (as professionally appropriate), or have they already been one?

What do Net Promoter Scores and comments from any past Client Experience Surveys tell you?

When you’re pursuing a new business opportunity, does your client provide advice throughout the pursuit

process on what you’ll need to do to win the business?

Would your client agree to promote you and PwC within the client organization?

Does your client truly respect and appreciate the objectivity you bring to the company and its

stakeholders (board, audit committee, etc., as applicable)?

17 Target

Once you’ve had a chance to assess your relationships, it’s time to sit down as a team and complete your relationship map, assign team members to individual contacts, and determine appropriate touch points and follow-up actions. See Target—Develop the action plan for more details.

“You can’t be seen as a ‘trusted advisor’ until you deliver quality work that adds value.”

—PwC Partner

Tips & tactics Maintaining your client contacts

Set a “1-day” rule. When a contact takes on a new

role (either within the same company or a move to

another company), contact them within 1 day with

an idea that will help them succeed. Those

individuals will remember how you helped them

during their transition.


Uncover your client’s top business issues and match PwC’s capabilities Alongside building relationships, gaining an understanding of the client’s top issues and how PwC can help are also critical early steps toward uncovering opportunities and winning work.

Step 1: Always start by thinking from the client’s perspective

Doing your homework by understanding the client’s issues at a different levels will prepare you to get a meeting and help you hone in on what’s important to them.

18 Target

Start at a macro level. What are the broader business issues that can affect any business (e.g., megatrends, tax and other regulatory changes, risk of cyber breach, cash management, etc.) ?

Take it a step deeper and think about what the hottest issues are in the client’s sector.

Then drill down into the company itself, asking yourself questions like: “Which of the business/sector issues apply to this company? What has the client done/should they be doing to address these issues? What’s their competition doing? What recent events could influence their current point of view or needs?”

Lastly and most importantly, we do business with individuals who have their own interests, goals, and objectives. Knowing these perspectives can help you understand motivations and behaviors within the client organization and think about how to best align personal, company and stakeholder needs.

Business issues

Sector issues

Company issues

Individual issues

Think about which executives are focused on driving specific issues, what they’ve done so far, and whether the issues are strategic company issues, personal issues, and/or both. How can you help the individual achieve their specific goals congruent with the company’s goals?

Tips & tactics Gain the client’s perspective

Reviewing past commitment documents is a good

way to gain a window into the client’s perspective.

For access to 3CP documentation, refer to the

Client Experience Dashboard, or reach out to your

local market contact.

Research Quick Links Tool

Leadership can play an effective role in the Target phase and support in pursuit efforts to strengthen client relationships. They bring valuable expertise and can help identify issues. See Pursuit’s Leveraging Leadership guidance to learn more.





Step 2: Think about how PwC can bring value

In order to bring the most value to our target clients, we need to focus on those issues where PwC is in the best position to help. Identify which client issues you can best address based on the firm’s capabilities, capacity to do the work, relationship strength, competitive position and pricing considerations by asking yourself these questions:

• Capability: What similar work have we done for them or others? Is this one of our sweet spots? Would the client agree? Where do we have resources, qualifications, references, etc., to bring value to the company and be competitive on these issues?

• Capacity: Are the ‘right people’ available to do the work (technical/sector expertise, relationships/chemistry with buyers, etc.)? What are the team’s strengths? Would the client view it as the ‘A’ team?

• Relationship/history with client: What’s our past experience? How strong are our relationships with the buyers/influencers/coaches and our ability to expand them? What are the risks to the relationship if we pursue this work? For Advisory, which of our Strategic Alliances or recent acquisitions have a relationship with the client that we can build on/leverage?

• Competitive position: Does the client have a preferred provider for these types of services? Who are our likely competitors and their relationship strength? How would PwC stack up against them? What’s the likelihood the client will do it themselves?

• Price: What’s our pricing history with this client (MSA, rate cards, etc.)? How competitive can we be? What investments are we willing to consider? Is Procurement involved and how might that influence pricing?

If you find PwC coming up short in these key areas, it may be difficult to differentiate the firm during a pursuit and ultimately deliver the quality and value that will strengthen the relationship.

Capacity

Relationship/ history with

client

Competitive position

Price

Capability

19 Target

“In my recent experience, there have been telling signs that we are not qualified because of resource constraints; however, we proceed anyway.”

—PwC Partner


Step 3: Prioritize opportunities to pursue

As we gain an understanding of the client’s issues and think about how those issues match up with the firm’s capabilities, we often find we have a number of potential opportunities to pursue.

To help prioritize those few opportunities to pursue, pass each one through the client lens again, weighing the company’s, stakeholders’, and individuals’ perspectives and needs against PwC’s ability to bring value.

Weigh potential pursuit opportunities against client needs to prioritize top opportunities

20 Target

Moving Issues to

Opportunities Tool

Capability

Capacity

Relationship

Competition

Price

Opportunities

to bring

quality and

value to

issues

identifies as

client’s needs.

Choose to

pursue.

The business issue

matches client needs, but

PwC strengths is limited.

Do not pursue.

The business issue

matches PwC strengths,

but is not a client need.

Do not pursue.

Company &

stakeholder

goals

Individual

goals

Client’s needs

PwC’s ability

Client

Business

Issue

Business

issue

Business

issue

Business

issue

Business

issue

Business

issue



Develop the action plan By this point, you will have thought through your relationships at the target and identified some issues to discuss and potential opportunities to pursue. It’s now time to put together an initial team and action plan to strategize next steps for pursuing business at the target. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Think about who should be on the team and what their roles will be.

• Figure out who you need to meet with at the client to learn more and who on your team are the best

people to talk with them about their issues to move things ahead.

• Assign responsibilities for priority relationships making sure to assign the right relationship owners for

each buyer or influencer and set relationship goals. Your relationship map will help you do this.

• Schedule initial meetings to find out more and identify who else needs to be involved. Debrief on those

meeting outcomes and move forward accordingly.

• Think about current PwC thought leadership, webcasts and scheduled events related to their areas of

responsibility and/or issues and risks that would help illustrate PwC’s interest in helping them be

successful (consistent with our professional obligations). Establish a touchpoint schedule to follow up and

keep the dialogue flowing.

• Don’t forget to initiate the acceptance process for both new and existing clients early. Make sure you’re

familiar with any existing engagement terms and conditions with the company that may impact your

pursuit going forward, including any risk or independence issues.

21 Target

The outcome of good targeting is invested time in understanding the client issues and an action plan for helping clients with their issues. See Propose—Assemble the right team for references to Pursuit Coaches and other key resources that can help.

Your specific actions will vary depending on the relationship status, history at the client/target, the client issues, potential opportunities, and other factors. The remaining elements of the Pursuit framework—Interact, Propose, Close and Exceed Expectations—provide further guidance to help you with those action steps to give you the best chance of winning work.


Inte

ra

ct

Interact

At a glance: Interact is about making every client interaction more impactful by coming prepared, having a strong and relevant client-focused value proposition, actively listening, and asking good open-ended questions, and co-developing actions and next steps with the client.

Before the

meeting, avoid…

• Preparing last minute in the parking lot, lobby or elevator

• Developing the meeting agenda in a vacuum without any input from the client

• Cutting and pasting from last week’s deck…and perhaps even forgetting to swap out the other

client’s name in a few spots! (Yes, it’s happened.)

During the

meeting, avoid…

• Going it alone without another set of eyes and ears that can bring a different perspective

• Talking more than the client.

• Asking too few (or the wrong questions) to assess the client’s true interests and needs.

• Talking on and on about a topic without noticing body language and other signs indicating they’re

not interested.

• Putting off their question until you get to that later slide.

• Ending the meeting without agreeing next steps.

After the

meeting, avoid…

• Failing to debrief with the team to gain consensus on the meeting outcome and assign actions.

• Blowing a great meeting outcome with sloppy follow-up.

Ever wish you could hit the rewind button on a meeting? Here are some pitfalls to avoid:

22

Our behaviors affect the way our clients perceive PwC and our ability to build strong relationships, win work , and serve them in a client-focused way.

Time to take action Now that we’ve targeted our potential client contact(s) and identified the issues we’d like to discuss, it’s time to get the conversation going. Most of us are in meetings every day. While we may think that most of our client meetings ‘went well,’ many simply don’t lead to wins—or even a second meeting.

We want our clients to appreciate and engage us. When we come prepared to listen, seek their input, and bring them ideas with a fresh, objective perspective, we can convert that goal to reality. To get the dialogue started, we have to get that first meeting.


Get the meeting

Prepare for the call

Give them a compelling reason to meet

Our first interaction with a client is often a telephone call or brief conversation aimed at getting a meeting to discuss a business issue in more depth. When we’re trying to get the meeting, we need to give the client a value proposition on why they should spend the time. The more we know about the client from our homework during the Target phase, the easier it is for that reason to be compelling.

No need to go overboard with the research—you don’t have to have the ‘perfect’ reason to meet, just one that’s relevant and grabs their attention. To develop a compelling reason to meet (your value proposition), try answering these three questions:

• What’s the relevant business issue at hand?

• What approach or action creates value in the context of the issue?

• What’s the benefit or impact to the client?

Think about how you’ll personalize the value proposition specifically for the individual you’re calling. What’s in it for them? It’s not just about what issue is affecting companies in their industry. It’s about how the issue is affecting this specific company and the person in this role. (Learn more about creating a distinctive value proposition in Prepare for the Meeting—Plan for a great discussion.)

23 Interact

You’ll use the concepts in Interact throughout the pursuit process, particularly the guidance on ‘what you want to say’ and ‘how you’re going to say it,’ as this serves as the backbone of all interactions you’ll have with your clients.

“Whether you’re meeting with someone for the first time or the 30th time, it’s important to always articulate a relevant value proposition on why you’ve asked for the meeting and what benefit it will bring to them.”

—Client Relationship Executive


Plan what you’ll say, how you’ll say it, and rehearse it

After you think through what you want to say, practice how you’ll say it to the client to secure the meeting.

• Have some open-ended questions ready to ask to ensure the call stays focused on what’s important to the client. (Learn more about asking effective open-ended questions in Prepare for the Meeting—Plan for a great discussion.)

• The client will likely have some questions and may even have some objections to your proposition, such as “We already have a firm that works with us on that.”

– Put yourself in their shoes: What would you ask if you were the client? Plan out your response and test it by role-playing with someone else. Think in advance about how you’ll respond to objections. (Learn more about resolving objections in Conduct a Great Meeting—Resolve objections and learn something in the process.)

– It’s likely you’ll be asked what the meeting’s agenda will be, so be ready to offer up a high-level outline you can validate and further develop with the client.

24 Interact

“Everyone thinks they have a good plan until the client gets on the line....or the voice mail message starts to play. Practicing your approach first with a coach or colleague gives you the opportunity to test it out and make adjustments before the real conversation begins. You’ll show confidence and energy as a result—important ingredients for success.”

—PwC Market Sales & Marketing Leader


Make the call

Have you ever heard someone use one of these approaches to persuade a client to meet with them?

“We’re talking to all of our clients in X industry about Y issue …”

“We do a lot of work with other companies of your size and I thought it would be mutually beneficial to meet…”

“I’d like to learn more about your company.”

What’s missing? It’s the ‘what’s in it for them.’ You want the client to be thinking, “Wow, how soon can you get here?” The above approaches are all about us, PwC, and don’t offer any clear benefit to the client.

A better approach… Try relating your reason for calling to the client and their interests. For example: “I heard you speak at the X conference and agree with your thoughts on [topic]. In fact, we’ve recently done a survey with Global CEOs on [topic]… I’d like to share some insights from these companies…”

Now that you’re prepared to make the call, it’s time to ask for a meeting. Here are some tips for making the call:

Tips & tactics Who do you know?

It pays to have connections. People are far more

likely to agree to meet with you if you have a

referral from someone they know and trust. If you

do, mention it right away—in your first sentence. It

catches their attention and makes them far more

willing to listen to what you have to say.

25 Interact

• Leverage who you know: “Gerry Fritz at [company] suggested that I give you a call. My name is…”

• Reference any advance materials you may have sent.

• Articulate your compelling reason to meet (your value proposition) to spark interest, show you’ve done your

homework, and generate some dialogue.

− Share what you’re seeing at other companies or in the industry (considering client confidentiality concerns).

− Validate that what you’re talking about is of interest to the client (e.g., “How similar is this to what you’re

facing?” or “What level of interest do you have in [topic]?”).

− In response to an RFP, acknowledge your interest and request a meeting to discuss next steps.

− Avoid covering so much you no longer need to meet in person.

• Respond to any questions or objections.

• Ask for the meeting to close the call. Test the relevance of what you shared and work toward commitment:

“Based on what we talked about, how would you like to move forward?” If positive: “When can we meet?”

• Confirm who will attend from their end as well as those you’re planning to bring from PwC.

Call before going the email route. You can invest a lot of time crafting the perfect email only to have it spam-blocked, deleted, or simply overlooked. Phone calls are faster, more personal, and are more likely to result in a confirmed meeting date.


Be prepared for one of four possible responses to your meeting request:

“Yes, let’s meet.” Congratulations, you got the meeting! Confirm a meeting date, time, and attendees, and mention you’ll follow-up to share an initial agenda.

“I’m interested, but I’m not the right person.” Find out who the right person is and ask this person if you can call the new contact and reference the person who encouraged you to call.

“I’m interested, but now’s not a good time.” If they seem open to talking some more, ask some open-ended questions to learn what they’re currently focused on. You may be able to help. Ask if you can follow-up on this particular issue in X amount of time.

“I’m not interested.” Probe a little to find out why they’re not interested. Are there other more critical issues, or perhaps some current challenges you can work around?

Follow-up after the call

Now that you have their agreement to meet, keep things moving in the right direction by:

• Confirming the meeting in writing

• Validating and co-developing a draft agenda with the client

• Consider sending pre-meeting materials. Examples could include bios of each attendee that explain how each person’s experience is relevant to the client, and background materials such as thought leadership or related timely articles, etc. Be sensitive to the time pressures your client is under. Don’t send too much or send at 5:00pm the day before and expect them to have time to read them. Giving them this kind of 11th-hour ‘homework’ probably won’t do you any favors.

26 Interact

Don’t give up! According to PwC research, 80% of the time we don’t go beyond three attempts to get the meeting or ask for the business, yet 80% of all wins happen on or after the fifth attempt.

Getting the Meeting Tool



Prepare for the meeting Once you have your meeting lined up, it’s time to prepare. We’re all busy, and it’s tempting to think we can skimp on preparation. But the price we pay for ‘winging it’ can be huge: our teams can end up saying the wrong things, stepping on each others’ toes or being surprised by unexpected turns, leaving a poor impression and failing to accomplish our objectives. A few minutes of prep in the car on the way to the client’s office or a whispered conversation in the elevator bank won’t do the trick. These situations leave us with time to do little more than sort out who’s going to ‘wing’ what.

Plan for an effective meeting

One rule every team needs to adopt: No one ‘wings’ it—everyone prepares for every meeting. Realistically, preparation takes time (which most of us don’t have a lot of) so it’s important to be efficient. Put planning time on your calendar as soon as the client meeting is set and schedule an in-person prep session with the other PwC meeting attendees, and your Marketing & Sales (M&S) support team and/or Pursuit Coach, as applicable (see Propose—Involve a Pursuit Coach early ). Reach out well in advance.

When preparing for client meetings, particularly in new relationships, consider all resources available including leveraging Iris to understand who has relationships, reaching out to colleagues who have current relationships and/or have done work at the client, reading commitment letters, client feedback, and value reports—as well as broader information resources such as R&A reports, BoardEx, and newsfeeds. For access to 3CP documentation/ survey reports, refer to the Client Experience Dashboard, or reach out to your local market contact.

27 Interact

Tips & tactics Looking for more info on the client?

Consulting with the assigned M&S team (Client

Relationship Executive and Client Strategist) you

will be able to gain considerable knowledge about

current and past engagements, individual client

relationships, and the competition.


Ben Franklin probably said it best… “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

“We often hear from teams that reviewing the Value Report is a powerful prep tool when meeting with new relationships. In addition to helping the team know who we’ve worked with and the services provided, it helps demonstrate to the client that we know the organization and understand their culture—turning a cold meeting into a warm one.”

—Client Experience Team




Consider logistics and other factors that can impact your meeting

Before we can even begin to think about what we want to say at the client meeting and how we’ll say it, we need to think about logistics and other factors that will affect our message and approach. Here are some questions to ask and tips to consider as you plan for your meeting:

Client attendees

• Who’s going to be attending the meeting?

• What’s at stake for them and what do you think they want to get out of the meeting?

• What role will each of them play in the meeting?

• What are their hot buttons?

• How could they influence the decision process?

• And most important, how strong is your relationship with them?

PwC attendees:

• Think carefully about who should be part of the meeting and what value each person will bring to the table.

Do you have the diversity of people and expertise needed for the meeting? What kind of chemistry might

there be between the client’s team and yours? Are we bringing the ‘right’ resources to the table?

Meeting location and timing:

• Everything plays into how you plan for a successful meeting—the time of day, the size of the room, even the

day itself.

− Budget time to get through the client’s security processes and find the meeting room.

− Ask the client what the room set-up is like so you can plan for it. It helps to know if you’re going to be

crowded in someone’s office or spread out in a cavernous boardroom.

− If the meeting is right after lunch, people may be lethargic, so bringing a huge slide deck would be

a mistake.

− If the meeting is in the middle of a busy morning, some attendees are likely to trickle in late from

other meetings.

− If the meeting is last thing in the day on a Friday, people are likely to be distracted and hoping they

can cut out early.

Tips & tactics Avoid travel-related hiccups

As part of team protocols, some teams adopt the

policy of never flying in team members the day of

the client meeting to avoid potential

embarrassment and disruption caused by travel

delays. Similarly, traffic on the roads can also

provide for unexpected delay, so plan plenty of

time to ensure all members get to the meeting on

time.

28 Interact

“When our lead partner found out his presentation was scheduled at 2:00 pm following a heavy celebratory lunch for the client team (compounded by west-facing sun heating the meeting room to further lull the crowd) he opted to ditch his slide presentation in favor of a lively, interactive dialogue. And it worked—they stayed engaged the whole time.”

—PwC Partner


Plan for a great discussion

Once you have a good handle on who you’ll be meeting with and expectations for the meeting, spend some additional time thinking through what you want to say. This is your opportunity to show the client you’ve taken the time to know and understand their business, industry, and challenges, and capture their attention. Target two or three key ideas you’d like them to walk away with (not 20) and think about how to drive that dialogue.

Refine what you want to say

There is no simpler, clearer way to articulate what we can do for our clients than using the structure: Issue, Action, Impact. This is your value proposition. Use it to tell a compelling business story that describes from start to finish what the problem is, what’s going to be done, and what the impact to the client will be.

When you made the call to get the meeting, you shared an initial value proposition. Now, refine what you want to say as a team based on what you know about the client and be prepared to adjust further during the meeting as you learn more—flexibility is key.

• Issue: This is where you lay out succinctly the challenges they might be facing and opportunities for the client that may be presenting themselves. Tailor your language to your audience and apply a simple test —could the client walk down the hall and convey the value proposition to co-workers, their boss, etc.?

• Action: This is where you lay out a clear rationale for what actions the client may take to address their issues, risk or opportunities, or how others have addressed these challenges. Again, use clear, simple language tailored to your audience.

• Impact: This is the benefit or value they’ll receive (or other clients have received) if they engage PwC to do the work—and is the most important part of your message.

To learn more about developing and refining a truly distinctive value proposition, see Propose—Develop win themes and Propose—Craft/test/refine your value proposition.

Remember to make that first meeting all about them. A long monologue about PwC or a capabilities presentation is a surefire way to show new contacts we aren’t putting ourselves in their shoes.

Recognize you may have multiple value propositions during a client meeting: one to use when introducing yourself and describing your role, one to tee up the meeting and review the meeting agenda, one to introduce a new area of the firm, and one for every major business issue you expect to discuss, etc.

29 Interact

Issue

Action

Impact


Connect what you’re going to say with how you’re going to say it

Think about how you’ll share your value proposition using the steps below to help you have a collaborative meeting.

See Interact—Conduct a great meeting for more on ‘how’ you say it in a collaborative dialogue.

Prepare open-ended questions to engage your client in the conversation

Challenge yourself to draft a robust list of open-ended questions to ask. You may be surprised at how hard this may seem at first! Open-ended questions encourage the client to open up so we can learn more about their issues and what truly matters to them.

Refrain from asking closed-ended questions that start with: Do, Have, Are, Will, Is. These questions often bring a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. For example: “Have you thought about X?” Instead of being stumped by a single-word ‘yes’ response, ask open-ended questions such as:

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Where do you think it makes the most sense to begin?

How are you handling this currently or how have you in the past?

Why have you (or haven’t you) considered this approach?

Tell me a little bit more about what you’re thinking.

You’ll also want to think about objections your client may raise during the discussion and how you might respond. Learn more about handling objections in Conduct a Great Meeting—Resolve objections and learn something in the process.

“What you want to say”

(your value proposition) “How you’re going to say it” (having a collaborative discussion)

Issue

Action

Impact

Identify client issues

Share insight into key business issues

Validate the relevance of the issues or possible actions to address

the issues

Co-develop the best actions to address the issues

Agree on next steps to work toward desired impact

30 Interact

Think about what you want to find out and prepare open-ended questions you can ask to encourage the client to open up. Also give thought to where the client’s responses might take the discussion and plan some follow-on questions you can ask to probe even further.

“Be thoughtful and collaborative when pursuing opportunities. Don’t think you have to have the solution in the first meeting. Listen, ask questions and develop the value proposition with the client over time.”

—PwC Partner


Pull it together as a team

As you talk as a team about ‘what you’re going to say’ and ‘how you’re going to say it,’ make sure to:

Reach consensus on your objectives for the meeting and ensure those objectives align with the client’s.

Consider the competitive environment: Which competitors are in the picture and what do their relationships with the client look like?

Agree on speaking roles and who will lead each part of the discussion: Every person in the meeting needs to have a role and be comfortable with their role before the meeting.

Practice how things will be said: Introductions, responses to questions and objections, phrasing of sensitive questions, etc.

Draft an agenda for the meeting to further co-develop and validate with the client: If co-development isn’t possible, send them a draft agenda at least two days in advance and ask for feedback to make sure you’re on the mark.

Designate an observer: Someone who isn’t speaking during a particular part of the discussion to observe body language and watch for other signs. Assign at least one person to take notes—two is even better to capture different points.

Plan for the unexpected: Prepare for all possible scenarios that could throw off your meeting. For example, what if unexpected attendees show up? Perhaps more people show up than you planned causing a materials or seating issue—or worse, your detractor shows up. Or maybe someone you hoped would be there sends a delegate instead. (See Propose—Excel at orals for examples of how to effectively ‘go off-script’ and handle unexpected situations.)

31 Interact

“Before each meeting, I have the team write down the purpose of the meeting and the issue/ opportunity we’re trying to address—and confirm this along with the client’s expectations in advance of the meeting. This way, we avoid preparing an agenda and presentation that are off the mark, wasting both our time and theirs. It takes discipline to go through this exercise, but it’s well-worth it.”

—PwC Partner


Create meeting materials that resonate with the client

As we plan for an effective meeting, we want to prepare the meeting materials so they’re

best suited for both the purpose of the meeting and our audience. Not every meeting needs a

PowerPoint presentation or multi-page handout and some meetings could be better without

any handouts at all. Think about the client’s style and preferences. Resist the urge to pull

out your latest slide deck from another client meeting to use—it likely won’t be directly relevant to this client and

may appear ‘boilerplate’ to them.

Consider instead using materials that can help you have a collaborative discussion. Many PwC teams have

successfully used a ‘placemat’ or one-page overview of the client’s issues, their proposed action and the impact

to the client to facilitate collaborative discussions. A good placemat will include extra bullets so you can add in

the client’s point of view and co-develop the value proposition throughout the meeting. If you’re co-developing

something during the meeting, white-boarding ideas is also an effective approach.

Tips & tactics Proofread and practice

Don’t forget to proofread your materials and

practice using them so you’re comfortable (run

through any slides to make sure animations work

properly, etc.).

Preparing for the Meeting Tool


Interact

32 Interact

“A placemat or one page overview can be very effective if done right. I’ve seen teams stuff a 20 page deck onto one sheet... The client would need a magnifying glass to read it!”

—PwC Partner




Conduct a great meeting Strong preparation is a must, but there’s a lot that happens ‘in the moment’ that can make meetings more or less

productive. The quality of our meetings—in the opening and in everything that comes afterward—can be

impacted by how we set the stage for the meeting.

Set the stage for success

When you arrive in a meeting room, think about how the environment can work for or against you and take

steps, such as these suggested below, to make sure you can have the most collaborative, client-focused meeting.

33 Interact

• Assess the room from the client’s perspective: Are they going to be blinded by the sun sitting in a particular

spot? Can they see the screen if you’re using slides? Make whatever adjustments are needed to create a

comfortable environment for the client—well before the client walks in, so it’s not awkward.

• Strategically arrange seating to encourage collaboration (you will have discussed this as part of your pre-

meeting planning) keeping in mind you may need to be flexible if the client wants to do it differently.

− Confirm there are enough chairs around the table and perhaps a couple of extras so no one entering late feels

excluded. Likewise, remove unnecessary empty chairs that crowd the table and reduce a sense of

connectedness.

− Place PwC attendees so they’re not all on one side of the room with the client on the other. It doesn’t feel

collaborative when you sit that way and can feel adversarial if difficult issues need to be addressed. Instead,

intersperse the PwC team amongst the client team members, carefully choosing their placement. Where you

choose to sit can affect the tone of the meeting. For example, sitting adjacent to or at a slight angle across the

table creates a more collaborative tone vs. sitting directly across.

− Strategically place client attendees thinking about their comfort as well as other important factors. Make sure,

for example, the key decision-maker’s facial expressions are visible to the PwC team. If you want client

attendees to sit in certain places, you often can subtly guide them to the seats you’d like as you greet them

informally. For example, “Steve, please sit over here so you have a good view of the screen,” or “Andrea,

please sit over here with me. I’m hoping we can talk some more about X.”

• Make sure to greet people before they take their seats. This helps avoid the awkwardness of reaching across the

table or having to stand up to shake hands, etc.

• Have your business cards available to hand out personally (using your left hand so you can present your card

over your handshake). Providing your business card makes it easier for people to catch your name and use it

during the meeting.

Tips & tactics Get rid of distractions

Turn off/put away laptops, tablets, smartphones,

etc. Don’t set them on vibrate, which can be as

distracting as an actual ring tone.


Build some rapport before the meeting begins

It’s often a good idea to take at least a few minutes for rapport-building before turning to the business agenda,

even when you’re under time pressure. It puts people more at ease with each other. Here are some tips:

• Gauge the client’s appetite: Some people are naturally talkative while others are not.

Watch for cues. If the client is really animated about a topic, don’t try to cut it off; if they’re

sneaking glances at the clock, it’s time to move to business.

• Turn the focus back on the client after you share something personal: For example, if you mention

something about your upcoming vacation, ask, “What vacation plans do you have coming up?”

or “I know you’ve been there. What are some things you’d recommend?”

• Continue to build rapport throughout the meeting as appropriate.

Get off on the right foot in your opening

Even if informal introductions have been made before the meeting starts, there will likely be a need for another

round of introductions if there are people who haven’t met before. Here are some winning practices to consider:

• Be concise and client-focused when introducing yourself. State your name, enunciating clearly,

and position your role without using jargon or acronyms. Explain why you’re attending the meeting,

emphasizing the value you bring to the client and this engagement by highlighting your relevant skills,

experience, etc.

• Take notes as the client participants introduce themselves so you remember client names and who’s who.

Draw a graphic of the seating arrangements if it helps. Jot down comments they make that provide

information about their expectations and needs.

• Clarify any challenging names so you can appropriately refer to them throughout the meeting. You might say,

“It’s really important to me to pronounce your name correctly, please feel free to correct me if I’m not.”

• Validate the agenda for the meeting to make sure the topics are still relevant. Reconfirm the time available for

the meeting by saying something like, “The reason we wanted to get together is to talk about [topic]. Is this

still a relevant topic for today? Are you still good to go until noon?”

34 Interact

The opening is the client’s first impression of us— who we are, our style, our professionalism, how prepared we are, and even what it might be like to work with us. So it’s important we get this right.


When meeting via conference call…

• Consider having one person act as the designated lead who briefly introduces who’s on the call from PwC.

• As introduced, each person can say something like, “Hi, I’m glad to be participating,” or “It’s great to be joining you today,” varying what they say so it sounds genuine and enables the client to begin to associate names with voices.

• Have each person state their name before they speak (depending on the client’s familiarity with who’s speaking) as the call continues to help people begin recognizing who’s who.

Lead a collaborative discussion

During your preparation, you developed your value proposition—what you’re going to say—and practiced how you’re going to say it (see Interact—Plan for a great discussion). It’s now time to share your value proposition in a collaborative dialogue.

Issue

Action

Impact


Share insight into key business issues

Validate the relevance of the issues or possible actions to address

the issues

Co-develop the best actions to address the issues

Agree on next steps to work toward desired impact

35 Interact

Tips & tactics “Excuse me, you have an important

call...”

Have you ever been in a meeting with a senior

executive where an executive assistant pokes

their head in 15 minutes into the meeting saying

the executive has a call to take? This isn’t random.

It’s a planned event, intended to give the executive

an ‘out’ if they aren’t seeing the value of the

meeting. Your goal is to share a compelling

message from the start so they don’t want to

leave.


It’s all about sharing relevant insight, actively listening, and asking good questions to validate the client’s interest along the way. When you do these well, you can truly begin working together to co-develop the best action to address their business issues and work toward achieving the desired impact for the client and stakeholders.

Let’s review each of these steps in a little more detail.


Doing our homework before the meeting earns us the right to listen well during the meeting, ask

questions, and respond to what the client is saying. Think about who you’re meeting with, what you know

about them professionally and personally, and how you can address their specific issues—then plan to be

flexible based on what you learn in your conversation.

Share insight around the issues

This is our opportunity to show the client we’ve taken the time to know and understand their business,

industry, and challenges, and capture their attention. Begin sharing insight (not telling) by making these

types of introductions:

• “What we’re seeing in the marketplace is…”

• “Through our conversations with you, we’ve heard that X and Y are some challenges you’ve been facing

recently…”

• “In the past, some clients we’ve worked with in your industry facing similar challenges have…”

36 Interact

Tips & tactics Signs your meeting isn’t going well

Client looks visibly confused or is having to ask

repeatedly for clarification.

Client keeps cutting you off—and you’re

interrupting them.

Client’s body language is closed off—arms

crossed, leaning away from you, etc.

Client doesn’t have any questions, comments,

objections, or reactions to what’s being said, or

declines to answer questions.

People are checking their smartphones, sighing,

yawning, fidgeting, or randomly stepping out of the

room.

Agree on

next

step

Co-develop Validate Share

insight

Identify

client

issues


Validate the issues by asking good questions and actively listening

When we share insight, it’s a big mistake to assume all our insights are on point. Give the client the opportunity

to confirm whether you understand their issues and to share additional information. Stop and validate along the

way by asking open-ended questions related to what you shared. See Prepare for the Meeting—Connect

what you’re going to say with how you’re going to say it for examples of good open-ended questions

to ask.

Asking questions will help us uncover important information, but it’s how well we listen to the client’s responses

and probe with follow-up questions to drill down further that really drive the quality of the meeting. It’s a huge

part of how clients judge us and assess whether they want to work with us.

If we share insight appropriately, it becomes a springboard for a collaborative dialogue.

Consider asking for permission before you share insight. For example, “We’ve been doing a lot of work in [area]. May

I share some of the trends we’ve been seeing and get your reaction?” This approach tells the client you want to have a

dialogue vs. telling the client what to do.

Choose your words and phrasing carefully, considering your audience. This can make a difference in how well you

and the client connect.

− For example, leading with “Companies in your industry have found that…” suggests you think the client is out of step

with the industry. Instead, try “Some companies in your industry have found…” This doesn’t suggest there’s only one

right approach and gives the client more latitude to respond.

− You’ll want to find the right balance of technical and plain business language for your audience, using words they might

use to explain the issue, action and impact to their boss, team, or Procurement. As a general rule, stay away from

using jargon and avoid PwC acronyms and terms such as xLOS, GEP, TS, R&C, etc. If you do feel the need to use

acronyms, make sure you use the client’s, not ours!

Gage how much insight to share before you validate the relevance with the client. Going into too much detail before

asking the client a question can trigger objections.

When sharing insight, make sure not to share confidential information relating to another client unless you have that client’s clear, written permission to do so.

37 Interact

“From my first conversation with your Managing Director, I got the sense PwC was listening to what the problem was and not trying to sell me. You asked good questions. This was a clear differentiator consistent throughout the process.”

—Debrief client on why PwC won

Tips & tactics Questions to ask yourself to assess

how well you’re listening

Does my body language show I’m engaged

(making eye contact, leaning in, tilting my head)?

Do I take notes when the client is talking?

Do I ask follow-on questions that track with what

the client is saying—or do I try to switch gears to

get them back in my lane?

Do I interrupt?


Co-develop the action and impact with the client

Co-developing allows us to team with the client to develop the best approach for a solution to their issues

considering possible outcomes. And they’ll be more receptive when they feel like they’ve been heard and

were part of the process. Continue to share insights and validate while you co-develop to a point where the

client shows interest in a potential solution and wants to hear more. Be sure to articulate the impact they’ll

get from taking that action/approach.

Example: “Our PwC team has implemented 25 system designs in the past six months, 10 of these in your

industry. This experience means you won’t have to spend time getting us up to speed and we can hit the

ground running,” or “Based on our experience performing over 100 of these projects at companies of

similar size to yours, we anticipate your company may start to experience cost savings in the range of

$ to $ starting as early as [date].”

Agree on next steps

Many ‘good meetings’ result in no action or follow-up because we stop one step too early. It’s important to

agree on next steps with the client while in the meeting and then be sure to follow-through. Try to get the

client to have some ‘skin in the game’ by being responsible for certain action items such as introducing you to

someone else in their company that would be impacted by the issue discussed. If significant interest was

shown in the meeting by the client, consider asking for a small project to move the solution one step closer.

This could be something the client is willing to pay for or it could be an investment we are willing to make.

38 Interact


Interact

Prepare for sharing and refining your value

proposition—“how you’re going to say it.”

“PwC’s team demonstrated they understood our company’s culture of strong collaboration, co-development, and transparent communications.”




Acknowledge

Resolve objections and learn something in the process

Objections are likely to arise in almost every client meeting, but can help us learn how our clients are thinking and give us an opportunity to address specific concerns.

When you get an objection, follow this proven approach:

Clarify Respond Validate

Set aside your

immediate

reactions and

make a neutral

statement that

shows you

heard the client

Ask questions

to explore the

client’s thinking

and to find out

what’s at the

root of the

objection

Have a

collaborative

dialogue to

reach a solution

that addresses

the client’s

concern

Always

remember to

validate with the

client to ensure

your response

has fully

addressed their

concerns

Practicing helps, especially if you find that getting objections can make you a little uncomfortable. Invest some time anticipating them and thinking of things to say. Here are some tips to consider as you practice the technique:

• Try identifying three objections you hear frequently and at least three reasons your client might have each of

these objections—and develop a response for each concern.

• Avoid sounding clichéd. Come up with several things you could say to acknowledge these objections. This will

help you avoid sounding overly trite or falling back on empty statements such as “I can appreciate that” or “I

understand.”

• Then practice some open-ended questions to clarify the objection. Ask a colleague for feedback and weed out

any that sound hollow or off-point.

By first acknowledging the client’s objection and clarifying what their concern really is, you’ll be in a much better

position to respond in a way that truly addresses their concern.

Sometimes a client gives a superficial objection because the real objection is difficult to discuss (e.g., lack of chemistry with the lead partner or a past issue). Be sure to dig a little deeper— it’s important to get to and resolve the true objection.

39 Interact

“Part of client service is making tough calls and having difficult conversations when we have disagreements with our clients. The way we react can make the relationship even stronger if done right.”

—PwC National Pursuit Team Leader


Four steps for handling objections:

Acknowledge Clarify Respond and Validate

Acknowledge the objection to

demonstrate empathy.

• Set aside your immediate reactions

and judgments to help maintain

focus on the client.

• Verbalize acknowledgement and

empathy to show you identify with

the problem or concern.

Clarify by asking probing, open-

ended questions to fully understand

the objection or get to the real

objection.

• For example, the client may

object to your fees, but if you dig

deeper, you may find the

objection is really about scope.

Respond by collaborating on a solution that

addresses the client’s and stakeholders’ concerns

and is a ‘win-win’ for both you and the client.

Before moving on, always validate that your

response satisfied the objection.

Example client objection: “Your price is too high compared to your competitors.”

“Fees are an important factor to

consider.”

“How is our fee structure different

than our competitors?” (Try to find

out who they are comparing you to.)

Make sure you are being compared to an actual

competitor (i.e., you may face a competitor that

brings a substantially lower rate but wouldn’t bring

the quality, experience or timeliness of PwC).

Example client objection: “I don’t think PwC is best qualified to handle this work.”

“I’m disappointed to hear that but I

appreciate your candor…”

“What concerns do you have about

our ability to do the work?” After you

have some information, follow up by

asking, “Who else may share this

view?”

“How well does that satisfy your concern?”

You may feel compelled to defend PwC’s

qualifications or argue why we’re best qualified.

Remain non-defensive and find out why the client

has this perception.

Sometimes we try to learn who PwC is being

benchmarked against; however, it should not be our

first question.

40 Interact

Handling Objections Tool


Interact—Prepare for Objections

See Handling objections in negotiations for additional discussion of handling objections in

a negotiation.




“A signed engagement letter isn’t the only win. Small wins could include a second meeting, an introduction, a commitment to participate in a PwC event, or other action item.”

—PwC Partner

Close the meeting As you transition to a formal close to your meeting, start with a recap of the meeting to sum up where you are and get final validation from the client on outcomes of the meeting. When agreeing on next steps, always aim for the client to have an active role, demonstrating their commitment.

Here’s an example:

Sum it up: “We’re approaching the hour so let’s pause and see where we are. To summarize, I heard you say (brief summary of co-developed client issues, planned actions and benefits).”

Personalize it by addressing specific people in the room or groups represented.

Validate: “We talked about an approach to address X that will include…and benefit you by… “ “How does this match your expectations?”

If positive, “Very good. It sounds like we’re all on the same page. Let me propose these next steps…”

If negative, address their concerns and say, “How well does this address your concern?”

If positive, “Great. Then I take it we have your agreement to move forward with [next steps]?”

If no, ask, “What other questions/concerns do you have?”

Agree on Once you’ve addressed all their questions and concerns, get their agreement on next next steps: steps and summarize the action items with them (always remember to thank them).

See Close—Secure the engagement for more tips on closing the deal, a winning approach that can be used to agree to a next step in closing any meeting.

41 Interact

Tips & tactics Ask for feedback

At the end of every meeting, ask the client for

feedback on the meeting itself. “How did today go?

We’re always looking for feedback on our

approach, so we’d like to know how today’s

meeting stacked up in your eyes.”


Interact



Follow-up from the meeting After a client meeting, most of us find ourselves immediately running to the next thing on our calendar. We don’t

intend to, but we sometimes drop the ball on commitments or get sloppy in our follow-up approach. We feel bad

about it and try to convince ourselves it won’t matter that much—but our clients tell us otherwise. Our follow-up

speaks volumes to them about how much we care and how we’re investing in relationships.

Immediately debrief with the team

After every meeting, debrief as a team as soon as possible (within 24 hours) to compare notes and discuss any

changes needed to the approach based on what was learned:

Action items from the meeting and who’s doing what, and by when

Client’s verbal and non-verbal reactions

New insights learned about the client’s strategic objectives, business issues, and key decision-makers

Any personal information shared that can be leveraged to help build rapport (i.e., the client mentioned he has

a college-aged daughter, runs marathons, etc.)

Any obstacles and strategies to overcome

Information gleaned about competitors

Remember to update your client activity in Iris immediately following the meeting so others know what

happened, what the key next steps are, and any competitive insight were gained from the meeting.

Clients want to know how much you care before they care how much you know. It comes down to doing the little things that matter.

Tips & tactics Debrief team performance

When appropriate, debrief your team members on

how they think they did at the meeting. Ask

questions like: “When were you frustrated? How

did you handle it? What would you have done

differently?”

42 Interact



Follow-up seamlessly with the client

Once you’ve debriefed with your team, it’s time to follow-up seamlessly with the client—it can be some of the most critical interaction you have with the client. Here are some steps you’ll want to consider:

• Get their feedback: While you may get some feedback from the client at the end of the meeting, leave the door open for further dialogue so you can circle back after your team has debriefed. If you have a Client Coach, check in with them for additional input to validate your view of the meeting (see Propose – Involve a Client Coach early).

• Send a thank you: Send a personal thank you note –ideally, a hand-written note to have the most impact –within 24 hours to confirm issues, actions, benefits discussed, and next steps. Resist the temptation to fire off a quick note from your smartphone without putting some thought into it. After sending the note, you may also want to connect via LinkedIn and share relevant thought leadership and other insight.

• Make good on your promises: Make sure every action item you agreed to take gets done. If you said, “We’ll send you our thought leadership on X,” make sure someone does it. Avoid eroding any good will you earned in the meeting by failing to follow-through on your promises—even minor ones.

• Continue building rapport: Look for additional opportunities to reconnect in person and add a personal touch in all communications to continue rapport. Here are some ways to ‘personalize’ it:

− Find out their preferences for follow-up—email, by phone, best times to reach them, etc.

− Engage about more than just business. Follow-up on a reference to vacation plans with some helpful information. Reference some things of a more personal nature in your discussions—common interests, etc.

− Call or stop by. Remember the goal is to build strong professional relationships, and phone calls and face-to-face contact further that goal faster than email does in most instances. Stop by their office with a hard copy and a conversation—and follow-up with a soft copy afterwards.

43 Interact

Leveraging Social Media Tool

Tips & tactics Personalize your communications

When sending a document (such as a piece of

thought leadership) to a client via email, follow-up

with a hard copy, especially if they rely heavily on

their smartphone. Use Post-it flags to draw

attention to interesting points to show you put real

thought into it, and make sure to include a

handwritten note.

“Knowing we were starting at the bottom of the pack, we made it a point to follow-up and demonstrate value after each meeting—such as arranging for the client to visit another client’s shared services center to learn from their practices. The client told us it was this follow-up where we showed our passion and intensity that brought PwC from last place to a dead heat with the front runner.”

—PwC Director



Common things that can trip us up in our follow-up:

• We send the requested information without a cover note in our haste to follow-through. A thoughtful

cover note gives us the opportunity to reinforce our value proposition and make a personal connection.

• Our follow-up is impersonal. We shouldn’t get lulled into thinking email is the only way. A phone call

gives us a great opportunity to personalize it and continue the dialogue. It’s easy to call and say, “I wanted to

check to make sure you received the [thought leadership piece] I sent you. I’d love to get your reactions…”

• We’re late with our follow-up and are tempted to ‘blow it off.’ It’s always better late than never. If

we’re late, we need to acknowledge it and apologize for the delay in our cover note—and make sure we aren’t

late with anything else in the future!

• We go ‘overboard’ with the follow-up with several team members tripping over each other as they all

send the document to the client, possibly with divergent messages. To avoid overwhelming (and annoying) the

client, we can coordinate who’s going to follow-up on each action item during our team debrief following the

meeting.

• We inadvertently offend or irritate the client by sending follow-up documents to the wrong/too

few/too many people. We can avoid this misstep by saying something in the meeting like, “Dave, I’ll send

that to you so that you can share it with your team,” or by asking our contact afterward exactly who we should

send it to.

Some easy ways to avoid these missteps:

Assign responsibility for capturing all action items to one person and encourage everyone else to keep a

running tally. Cross reference the to-do lists at the end of the team debrief to ensure nothing is missed and

that every action item has an owner.

Reinforce by sending an email to the team summarizing action steps, accountabilities, and timelines.

Establish a team protocol for speed of follow-up so everyone has a shared sense of urgency.

Enter your meeting notes in Iris within 12-24 hours of the meeting so even team members who didn’t

attend the meeting know what’s going on. (Iris is also accessible on your smartphone and/or tablet.)

Use the Following up from the Meeting Tool to keep track of next steps.

Following up from the

Meeting Tool


Interact

44 Interact

“During our pursuit, the GEP made a promise to the client to deliver on all client service-related requests made in the proposal, such as having a non-partner closer to the actual work attend audit committee meetings, and shared our progress with them in a ‘Promises’ report. They were impressed with the level of care we took and it helped kick start a strong relationship and smooth transition on our big win.”

—PwC Director






Pr

op

os

e

Propose

At a glance: Propose covers everything that happens while you're pursuing work – from making the ‘go/no-go’ decision to preparing for references and everything in between. It applies to both formal and informal pursuits; in every client meeting you’re in a sense proposing for the work.

45

If an RFP is imminent: If it’s possible to move to sole source:

• Approach the process with a mindset of making

it sole source—pursue it as if this is an option

• Understand who the client stakeholders are

and what they’re going to value so you can fully

address their needs

• Leverage your relationships before a ‘cone of

silence’ is enacted

• Think of creative ways to interact with the client

to help you gain access and information to help

move to sole source. Consider leveraging firm

leadership to help impact the decision.

• Additional strategies for non-audit pursuits:

− Offer to provide input on the RFP and

judging criteria

• Integrate and communicate the knowledge, resources, and expertise

developed on other projects for the client with the current pursuit

• Create urgency around getting the engagement underway—emphasize

timeline, milestones and ways to mitigate risks

• Give the client an easy way to engage PwC immediately

• Additional strategies for non-audit pursuits:

− Connect your offering with another client need or project where you’re

already engaged

− Ask the client buyer to influence the buying center to move forward with

PwC (e.g., request Procurement to bypass a formal process)

− Acknowledge the cost of an RFP process with the client (to both the

client and to PwC) and consider a transparent investment such as a

more detailed assessment to move forward outside an RFP

Recognize the opportunity

As we spend time with our clients, we naturally begin to identify opportunities we want to turn into live

engagements. Some of these opportunities will be defined by the client (responsive pursuits) and some will result

from ideas we bring to them (proactive pursuits).

In responsive pursuits, the client typically defines the issue, scope, and budget, and we respond in an often highly-

competitive RFP. In proactive pursuits, the client may be unaware of the issue or may have some preliminary

views on the issue, scope, and budget, but can be influenced. In proactive pursuits, we generally bring the issue

forward and develop the scope and budget with the client, and in doing this are able to preempt some competition

or avoid an RFP.

In both situations, it’s always best to head off formal proposal processes by staying close to the client and working

with them collaboratively to frame their business issue and develop a value proposition to address the needs of

the client and their stakeholders. Unfortunately, you won’t always have the luxury of winning work without a

formal proposal or RFP.

There are different strategies you can use when there’s a possibility of a sole source arrangement even when an

RFP is imminent.


Qualify the opportunity and make a ‘go/no-go’ decision To pursue or not to pursue…that is the question

Although Shakespeare didn’t have to grapple with this question, we do at PwC. At some point, we’ve all kicked

ourselves (or others) for chasing the wrong opportunity or investing time in an unwinnable pursuit. This isn’t

healthy for anyone—you, the firm, or our clients.

Although lines of service may have different processes for evaluating opportunities and determining a ‘go/no-go’

decision, there are three questions everyone needs to answer when evaluating whether or not to pursue an

opportunity:

• Is it real? How motivated is the client to take action and do they have the resources

(budget, time, political support) to do it?

• Can we win? How do we stack up against the client’s other alternatives (internal or

external)?

• Is it worth it? In addition to being profitable for the firm, what are the other risks

and rewards associated with the opportunity? It doesn’t pay to pursue work if it puts

the firm’s brand at risk.

Consider any ‘no’ answers as red flags to raise your awareness of potential issues. If the total balance is tipping

toward ‘no,’ then you should probably drop the pursuit.

46 Propose

Tips & tactics Keep Iris updated throughout

Make sure your opportunity is updated in Iris

throughout the pursuit so other team members

know the status and action steps. In addition,

this serves as an important quality control check

for our priority pursuits, triggering Gate Review

processes.

“PwC risked damaging their brand by proposing on work where they didn’t have the required expertise.”

— Client debrief on why PwC lost


Here are some specific questions to consider when making a ‘go/no-go’ decision:

Understand the opportunity

Is it real?

Understand how PwC can win

Can we win?

Then ask yourself

Is it worth it?

• How committed is the client to

the project?

• How aligned is the project with

the client’s overall strategy?

• Does the client have a budget?

If so, what is it?

• How clear is the project scope?

• Is the timing realistic?

• Has the client assessed ROI

and quantified the cost of no

action?

• Who will make the decision?

• Who’s the executive sponsor?

• Who are the buyers and other

key influencers?

• What role will Procurement

play in the process? What are

their goals and objectives for

the process?

• What’s the client looking for in

a service provider?

• How strong are PwC’s quals in this area?

• Do we have the resources available to deliver this

project?

• Can we align culturally with the client?

• Can we differentiate ourselves? Is our value

proposition strong enough to win?

• Are we responding to an RFP or co-developing?

• How can we avoid the RFP? If an RFP has already

been issued, how can we change or stop the

process?

• What do we know about the competition, the client’s

opinion of them and any loyalties? How well can we

position ourselves against them?

• Could the client do this in-house?

• What’s our relationship strength with buyers,

influencers and Procurement?

• How can we leverage existing relationships to help

PwC win the work?

• For Advisory: how can we leverage the U.S. Strategic

Alliances program to strengthen our qualifications?

• How can we overcome any prior or current issues that

may surface with buyers, influencers or Procurement?

• What are the client’s fee

expectations?

• What risk or independence

issues might we face?

• What is the strategic

risk/reward ratio?

• What is the opportunity

cost?

• How can pursuing the work

help us build relationships

and lead to future

opportunities?

• Are there any ‘fee fatigue’

issues with the client?

• Are there any prior delivery

issues we should consider?

• What’s our ROI?

47 Propose


Propose—Pursuit kick-off call agenda

See ‘go/no go’ guidance and questions

“When we’ve made the decision not to bid, when we knew we weren’t the right firm, we’ve received high praise from our clients for being strategic— not trying to grab everything, and trying to do the right thing for them.”

—PwC Client Strategist


Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™ l Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit 48 Propose

Required gate reviews

Each line of service has a formal review process to help team s evaluate opportunities objectively and ask the

tough questions to make sure it’s an opportunity we should pursue.

Advisory: Mandatory gate review process in place for opportunities over $2 million or with the potential to

exceed $2 million. Below that threshold, there are recommended processes involving consultation with

Advisory leadership that vary by size of the opportunity and industry vertical. The Advisory Center of

Excellence (CoE) can help connect teams with the appropriate processes.

Tax: Opportunities over $250,000 require Regional Tax Marketing Leaders (RTMLs) to work with the

opportunity owners to schedule a Tax Pursuit Call for consultation with local/regional tax leadership and

Quality & Risk Management, as appropriate.

Assurance: Gate review required for all new and re-proposal opportunities over $500,000; protocols

involve consultation with Sector Assurance Leaders for National Priority Account opportunities and Market

Assurance Leadership for Market Priority Account opportunities.

Schedule the gate review call as soon as an RFP is imminent—or right after it’s been issued—when we can walk away, not after we’ve committed to propose and have even started scoping meetings.

Signs the buying process isn’t going well

Project issues Competitive issues Relationship issues

• No project owner identified

• No executive sponsor

• No clear budget

• Not a priority project

• Scope of project is unclear or

unrealistic

• Timing is unrealistic

• Fee fatigue

• Process seems to ‘stall’

• Internal competition

• Entrenched competition

• Competitor seems to have more

access

• Client won’t return calls

• Client repeatedly cancels meetings

• Client won’t introduce you to others

• Client won’t answer questions

• Prior delivery issues

These are some examples of warning signs to watch out for when you’re entering into a pursuit (particularly a

proactive pursuit). Upfront gate reviews and early qualification assessments can identify early signals that it may

not be in our best interest to continue moving forward.


The all-important kick-off call

Whether it’s proactive, reactive , or in-or-outside of a formal RFP process, there are a

lot of things that happens during a pursuit—things we need to find out and details to

take care of. Having a pursuit kick-off meeting or call is essential to flesh out some of

these details, determine an initial strategy, develop a timeline, confirm team roles, and

assign tasks. It helps to have someone, ideally outside the team, act as a facilitator and

coach to help draw out meaningful information and emphasize key points and action

steps. See Propose—Involve a coach early for more on the benefits of involving

a coach.

49 Propose

Begin laying the groundwork for closing by engaging the acceptance process early. Follow the firm’s formal risk management process based on the nature of the opportunity, client, and line of service.


Involve a Pursuit Coach early A good Pursuit Coach can help focus your team on the right areas to prioritize for a winning effort and can guide

your team through the proposal process and strategy. Ideally, a Pursuit Coach should be involved with the team

from the early stages of the pursuit (even before scoping and ‘go/no-go’ decision takes place).

50 Propose

A good Pursuit Coach will help your team…

Drive the mind-set and behaviors of Pursuit

Co-develop the strategies and tactics needed to win

Facilitate dialogue to surface pursuit-related issues facing individuals and the team

Share insights, give feedback, validate, and handle resistance

Co-develop action steps to improve individual and team performance

Increase individual and team self-awareness and help pinpoint areas for development

Connect people, resources and solutions

Coaching involvement is encouraged on all strategic pursuits and is mandated on pursuits over certain

thresholds. There are a number of resources that can help coach your team through a pursuit, such as the

National Pursuit Teams, Market Sales & Marketing Leaders (MSMLs), Client Relationship Executives, Client

Strategists and other partners.

National Pursuit Teams (NPTs) exist for each line of service. The NPT generally gets involved in the firm’s

largest and most strategic and market-defining pursuits and will play a key role in helping with orals prep.

Coaching thresholds for each line of service:

Advisory: Coaching is required for opportunities over $1 million. The NPT generally gets involved on

opportunities over $2 million. The Advisory Pursuit Center of Excellence (CoE) helps provide teams with the

right coach on opportunities over $1 million and under the NPT threshold.

Tax: NPT involvement is required for opportunities over $1 million or with the potential to reach $2 million

within two years. Regional Tax Marketing Leaders (RTMLs) can help teams find the right national or local

market coaching resources for opportunities under the NPT threshold.

Assurance: NPT helps with F1000 opportunities over $1 million, non-F1000 opportunities over $2 million,

and market-defining opportunities outside the F1000.

In addition, Marketing & Sales professionals in each local market can perform research, help teams start forming

a point of view, develop proposal deliverables, and prepare teams for orals presentations. See Propose –

Marketing & Sales and other key resources can help for additional information on these roles.

The Advisory Pursuit CoE can help Advisory teams find the right coach for pursuits over $1 million and can provide other support (proposals, fee modeling and benchmarking, negotiation strategies, etc.).

“We know the impact coaching has on relationship and revenue growth. In fact, on those Pursuit coached accounts we tracked closely, we found their pipeline was 5x’s as robust, they were twice as likely to reach their revenue goal, and they had 2% to 10% higher revenue growth compared to the firm average.”

—PwC US Sales Leader


Assemble the right team

Once we’ve decided a pursuit is a ‘go,’ it’s time to assemble the team—the right team. This is a critical and often

difficult element of the pursuit process. What’s right for one situation likely won’t be right for the next one.

Viewing team selection from a client lens—as well as from PwC’s—is crucial.

People matter

Clients want a winning team that understands them, their goals, their business, and their culture. They want

their team led by those who have seen it all before and know how to get things done within their (and PwC’s)

organization. They look for a good fit with their own people, and not surprisingly, within PwC’s own team.

When selecting your team, think about how your client would define a winning team when evaluating elements

such as skills, industry knowledge, personalities, stature/internal clout at PwC, relevant experiences, client

relationships, diversity, and location. Keep in mind not just their technical capabilities and experience dealing

with similar issues the client is facing, but also their relationship-building/communication skills and their ‘fit’

with the client.

Be brutally honest when assessing whether an individual should be part of the team.

51 Propose

From the client’s perspective, ask yourself… From the team’s perspective, ask yourself…

• Does this person inspire confidence with their know-how

and ability to deliver quality?

• Does this individual have the right level of executive

credibility?

• Would this individual’s personality/style mesh well with the

client?

• Have we considered diversity in the composition of our

team?

• Is this person truly motivated to be part of the team and

do they have the skills to do what needs to be done?

• Does this person work well with other key players on our

team?

• Is this person willing to play the role we need to have

filled on the team?

• Can we rely on this individual to be objective, deliver

quality and come through when it counts?

In addition to assessing individuals, you’ll also want to step back and challenge yourself on the team you’ve

selected. Will the team interact effectively at all levels of the client organization? Will the client believe they’re

getting the ‘A’ team? Does the team include the right combination of account, subject matter and business

development expertise? Fill any obvious gaps before moving forward.

Once you have the right person identified, confirm they have the time—not only to do the work, but for the proposal process as well, then gain commitment to involve these resources.


“Every major pursuit should identify the appropriate partner who’s responsible (and accountable) for being the quarterback…to avoid a variety of well-intended people stepping all over each other trying to drive the process.”

—PwC Market Managing Partner

Roles are important

When you’ve assembled your team, clearly communicate and agree on the various pursuit team roles before the

pursuit launches. Everyone should have the same response to the question: “Who is the ultimate owner of this

opportunity?”

Common pursuit team roles

Role Description Team member

Pursuit Leader Pursuit owner and ultimately responsible for the pursuit effort; guides and

inspires the team; quarterbacks meetings, orals, etc.

GEP, account point partners,

engagement partner, NPT

Pursuit Coach Keeps the team on course, coordinates activities with pursuit driver, and

provides coaching on pursuit strategy and orals prep

NPT, MSML, CRE or local

partner

Pursuit Driver Leads and serves as single point of contact for information gathering and

proposal development; provides coaching on pursuit strategy

NPT, CRE or Client

Strategist, account team

member

Subject Matter

Specialist(s)

Provide content for various sections of the proposal; present at client

meetings, orals, etc.

Engagement team members

and other firm subject matter

specialist(s)

Proposal Specialist Provides proposal support and maintains proposal document throughout

pursuit process

NPT, Pursuit driver or Client

Strategist, Proposal

Development Center*

Proposal Designer Provides graphic design support during pursuit process The Creative Team

Firm Leadership Appropriate leaders in the LoS, market, sector or at the national level that get

involved in the ‘go/no-go’ decision and help influence the pursuit outcome by

engaging with the client during the pursuit process.

USLT, Market, Sector, LoS,

or other firm leadership as

appropriate

*See Propose –Manage the proposal document to learn more about the Proposal Development Center and additional resources and tools available to help teams create a winning proposal.

Although every pursuit is unique, the roles within each pursuit team will be similar. It’s important that each role

is recognized and committed to upfront to ensure a smooth process and successful outcome.

52 Propose

Tips & tactics Leverage Strategic Alliances

Within Advisory, assembling the right team often

means involving the right Strategic Alliance

partner to help us solve the client's problem in a

distinctive way.

Keep the team moving by holding regular calls to discuss (1) strategy—to keep the team on track, push touch points with the client, and keep leadership in the loop; and (2) proposal development—to drive the team toward document completion. These may be two separate workstreams for larger teams/opportunities.


Leadership can make a difference

Our client debriefs indicate firm leadership involvement in pursuits can be extremely

effective when done right. It can demonstrate the firm’s commitment to the client,

and has been known to tip the scales in our favor.

The type of leader and level within the firm will vary depending on the size of the

opportunity and strategic implications, importance to our brand, cross-board

relationships, client expectations, etc. For F1000+ or brand-defining opportunities,

some level of leadership should be involved (market, Sector, LoS, USLT—or a

combination of these).

Leveraging leadership in the right way starts at the beginning with the gating process.

Involving appropriate leaders in the ‘go-no go’ decision will help ensure the right

decision is made to move ahead and secures leadership buy-in upfront.

53

It’s important to get a read on the client about the amount of leadership involvement they would want. Beware they may say they don’t want it—however, in most cases, it never hurts as long as the involvement is carried out in the right manner.

Additional tips to ensure successful involvement of leadership in your pursuit

Include the leader early on in the process, so it feels natural to the client. You don’t want them to meet the

client for the first time in Orals! Choose a leader with a pre-existing relationship when possible.

Engage the leader with the appropriate individual(s) and level(s) in the client organization to make the

biggest impact. Generally speaking, these will be at the Board and C-suite level.

Ensure leadership involvement in team prep sessions before attending a meeting. It can work against us

when the leader doesn’t appear to know the client’s issues or they throw off the team by going in a different

direction.

See Pursuit’s Leveraging Leaders in Pursuits guidance for winning practices and tips tailored for both the

engagement team and the leader to help ensure a positive impact and outcome.

Propose



Marketing & Sales and other key resources can help

The firm has teams of Marketing & Sales professionals at the national, regional and local market levels who’ve been trained to serve as Pursuit Coaches and help you and your teams on the ground in your pursuit efforts. In addition, there are a number of other firm-wide resources and tools to support your efforts.

Make sure to engage your Marketing & Sales and other supporting resources early, including these listed below:

54 Propose


Propose

Getting started/assemble the team National Pursuit Team Team of coaches for each of the lines of service (Advisory, Tax and Assurance) that provide

strategic and tactical support for the firm’s largest/strategic/high priority pursuits.

Regional Business

Development Leaders

(RBDLs)

Regional leaders who serve as Pursuit Coaches on selected strategic pursuits and are responsible

for the sales activity in their region.

Market Sales & Marketing

Leaders (MSMLs)

Leaders in each market who coach teams and are responsible for all marketing and sales activity.

They also manage the M&S team (CREs, Client Strategists and Geography Marketers).

Client Relationship

Executives (CREs)

Externally focused sales professionals responsible for driving the opportunity pipeline, building

relationships, assisting with pursuit efforts and opening doors at our non-audit clients.

Client Strategists Sales professionals who serve as account managers for the market’s priority and other strategic

accounts. They are responsible for driving relationships and pursuit-related activities with non-audit

account teams and assisting with priority audit pursuits.

Marketers Line of service, industry, sector or geography/market-based M&S professionals responsible for

planning and executing client-focused line of service/industry/market initiatives and programs.

Pursuit CoE (Advisory) Central team focused on improving the quality and efficiency of our proposal creation efforts xLoS,

(see Pursuit—Manage the proposal document) and provides pursuit support for Advisory's

largest strategic opportunities (strategy, modeling, analytics, coaching sourcing, negotiations)

The Creative Group The Creative Team (formerly US Studio) is a national network of creative designers committed to

translating complex business ideas into compelling branded visual solutions. Supporting partners

and NPT teams with value-added design services.

M&S Innovation Team Responsible for all things Pursuit, this team develops and implements firm methodologies,

frameworks and tools to help PwC teams and individuals be more successful in exceeding client

expectations and ultimately winning more work.

Client Experience Team This team administers the firm’s 3 Client Principles (3CP) helping teams improve relationships and

drive loyalty with our clients. They keep account teams focused on delivering value reports, client

surveys, relationship assessments and commitment letters in order to understand what’s most

important to our clients and their stakeholders so we can engage with them, and deliver to them,

in a meaningful way.

“We have a very good working relationship with our client strategist, she knows the account and our team well and always brings good ideas to our pursuits.”

—PwC Client Service Director



Executive Sponsor Owns oversight and success of the project. Approves the economic buyer’s recommendation.

Economic Buyer Makes the purchase decision or purchase recommendation to the executive sponsor.

Technical Buyer Ensures that technical criteria are met—address their concerns or they can kill your chances. May

have vendors they like to work with.

Influencer Influences the purchase decision as a committee member, reviewer, user, or customer of the

project. Think about who else in the organization is impacted/would need to weigh in.

Procurement Ensures procurement criteria are met and could be quite influential in the process.

Client Coach Someone within the client organization who understands the issues, personalities and politics and

is willing to share their insights with us. Helps us understand and prioritize top issues and provide

advice on how to best position our approach and firm.

Understand buyers and scope

Make sure you know what you’re proposing on… and with whom

There’s a lot of work to do and many things to figure out before writing the proposal. We need to first make sure

we’ve fully and accurately scoped the opportunity, received input from and co-developed our approach with all

the key buyers, and addressed any qualifying gaps. Ask yourself, “Where are the gaps in our relationships and

what can we do to fix them? What are their relationships with other firms?”

In most organizations, there are multiple stakeholders and influencers who play a part in defining the scope,

measures of success and selecting a provider—and each may have a different role in the buying process and

different perspectives, buying styles and motivations. We need to touch them all.

Consider these important buying roles as you revisit your relationship map. Make sure you’re hitting all the right

people and addressing interrelationships and other dynamics that can influence outcomes.

Tips & tactics Neutralize detractors

When we determine there’s a detractor, we need

to build a remediation plan or at least figure out

ways to minimize their influence on the decision.

55 Propose

Client buyer roles

“One thing we don’t do very well is get a really good understanding of the client landscape (existing relationships, decision-makers, influencers, detractors, etc.) and each individual’s sentiment toward PwC before launching into a pursuit/proposal effort. We need to do the analysis to determine who will support us, how many ‘votes’ will go to PwC, and what we should build on to set our strategy.”

—PwC Partner National Pursuit Team


Individual client ‘buyer types’ matter

In combination with understanding and responding to the various client buyer roles, it’s also critical to sense

and respond to individual client ‘buyer types’ (or ‘personas’) – their buying styles and motivations. This allows

us to think of our clients in a more individual and customer-centric way, recognizing companies influence—but

do not define –what clients value or the experience they seek from a professional service provider. In essence:

the individual matters.

Analyzing individual client personas is a way we can better understand how our client make buying decisions by

using values, needs, attitudes and actions, rather than traditional demographics to tell the story. This approach

describes the differing personas in terms of: their preferred ways of doing business, the topics they want to

discuss, the prices sensitivity and quality-oriented measures they value, and their preferred channel and

frequency of communication.

The six resulting personas are based on personal and business characteristics, ‘experience’ drivers, and

professional services usage:

Never assume! The individual client buyer’s preferences might not be ‘typical’ or ‘expected’ of the company they work for or the role fill.

1. Bottom Liner

Focused on execution

2. Growth Chaser

Seeks out opportunity

3. Holistic Thinker

Takes a balanced approach

• Thinks pragmatically and

operationally

• Focused on the metrics associated

with executional and tangible results

• Sensitive to unpredictability and

inconsistencies

• Is loyal and will recommend those

that impress them

• Wants providers to listen to them and

desires high levels of collaboration

• Is opportunistic and focuses on the

big picture

• Often has grand visions which can

lead to unrealistic expectations

• Moves at a fast pace

• Wants ample time with engagement

leaders, SMEs and senior partners

• Wants to be on top of market forces,

trends, and hot topics

• Focuses on the objective at hand but

can quickly adapt to the changing

business environment

• Risk adverse, pragmatic, and takes

calculated actions

• Seeks value and is objective in

decision-making

• Can see through unrealistic ideas

*Segment size refers to % of the professional services market

“Individuals matter. The company is a valid constraint, but does not solely define how decisions are made. Interpersonal preferences can make or break a relationship.”

—PwC Client

20%*

56 Propose

19%* 16%*


4. Up and Coming Influencer

Collaborates and engages

5. Budget Optimizer

Minimizes costs and services

6. Advice Seeker

6. Navigates relationships

• Collaborative, wants to learn from

your expertise

• Well-respected, serves at the right

hand of leaders

• Liaison between management and

PwC team

• Internalizes the pressures of an

engagement, feels personally

responsible for outcomes

• Extremely price sensitive and wants

to maximize efficiency

• Prefers a transactional, professional

relationship and low touch

interactions

• Only wants service offerings that they

consider essential

• Not loyal and does not invest much

time or effort into relationships

• Least price sensitive and seeks a

premium experience

• Wants high levels of communication

and actively involved in project

• Highly selective in relationship

building and is very loyal

• Relies on networking to accomplish

professional goals

• Generally self-aware, open to

discussion, and approachable

*Segment size refers to % of the professional services market

You should understand and be prepared for these different types of buyers and plan the right resources, matching

personal styles and expertise to be ready for successful interaction with your clients. These six buyer types can

help you build out your relationship plans and be better prepared for interactions with your clients. You

relationship plan should include a detailed review of the overall buyer. For more details on building out your

relationship plan, see Target – Assess your relationship.

“We often make the mistake of presuming our new client situation is just like the one we’ve seen at X company, causing us to bring bias and make assumptions on how a client feels about something even though they haven’t told us. Don’t assume, ASK!”


16%* 15%* 12%*


What if Procurement is involved?

Procurement functions have evolved within their organizations as they’ve been able to demonstrate value in both

direct and indirect spend categories, and have earned credibility by becoming a business advisor with a defined

skill set. They’re now proactively driving initiatives for the business, across functions and customers. With this

evolution, we’re finding many procurement professionals are taking an increasingly larger role in managing the

acquisition of our services.

Although the business executives usually are the ultimate decision-makers, Procurement can significantly

influence or direct the buying process and outcome, in some cases assuming authority and power over contracting.

Procurement officers have their own interpretation of “value” (largely focused on price) and are often skilled in

the art of negotiation. We’re also seeing some of our clients outsourcing their Procurement function to third party

vendors, introducing a new set of risks to the firm.

Recognizing that Procurement’s role and level of influence within the organization can vary greatly, it’s important

to consider Procurement an important stakeholder in the buying process, learn about them, and build strong

working relationships with them. This may help us avoid costly RFP processes, lead them to act as our advocates

when a competitive bid situation arises, and help position us to win work.

Through seven unique “how-to-guides,” the Pursuit Winning with Procurement Series provides practical

guidance and tools to help you build relationships, work with, and negotiate with procurement professionals more

effectively in their evolving role, as follows:

Building relationships with Procurement

Winning practices for contracting with Procurement on MSAs

Strategies for successful account-level pricing with Procurement

Working with Procurement in RFP/proposal processes

Navigating RFP processes with outsourced procurement vendors

Navigating reverse auctions

Achieving “win-win” negotiations

58 Propose

Winning with Procurement Tool

Tips & tactics Winning with Procurement Series

The Pursuit Winning with Procurement Series

provides practical guidance and tools to help

engagement teams work effectively with our

clients’ procurement organizations as we look to

move the debate from inputs (cost reduction) to

outputs (value delivered). The series focuses on

seven key areas to help you build these important

relationships and plan successful strategies to

navigate Procurement’s processes and negotiate

with them for “win-win” outcomes:

“It can be difficult to convince Procurement of our value beyond just rates. Once we demonstrate we want to meet their needs as a stakeholder, it’s easier to introduce the other elements of our value proposition.”




https://pwc-spark.com/groups/winning-with-procurement



If you don’t have a Client Coach, revisit your relationship map and consider:

• Who has seemed most interested/engaged in our meetings?

• With whom have we had the best rapport/chemistry?

• Who’s provided the most positive formal or informal feedback on prior projects, team members, etc.?

Also ask yourself:

• What is their ability to coach us?

• What degree of influence do they have in the company—and how do we know that?

Once you’ve identified a client coach you feel comfortable with, ask them to help you navigate the proposal

process, as professionally appropriate. Make sure to choose your words carefully, for example:

“We’d be interested in getting your advice on how we can help meet the company’s expectations and

present a proposal that will be most valuable to you. We want to make the best use of your time and

appreciate your insight.”

Continue to bring value to them as well (acting as a sounding board for ideas, etc.), while keeping the

relationship objective and professional.

Why do I need a Client Coach?

Our likelihood of success is much greater if we have a coach on the inside. A Client Coach can help us navigate

the organization, the politics, and the pursuit process itself, and can provide game-changing insights about what

it will take to win.

A good Client Coach can…

Help you navigate the pursuit

Identify key players and help you understand internal

politics

Give you access to decision-makers and share insights

about what matters to them

Validate information—approach, team, price, etc.

Provide feedback from the client’s perspective

Share information that your competitors may not have

Provide intelligence on the competition and how PwC

stacks up

Give advice on how to approach a meeting/presentation

59 Propose

It’s always best to test information received through a Client Coach with others in the company to ensure it’s a balanced view.

“After a big win with the help of a Client Coach, we were shocked in the debrief when the coach said, “Make no mistake, I coached everyone else as well. You just listened better.”



Put your scope and approach to the test

To find out whether you’re on the right track in understanding the scope of the project and proposing on what

the client wants, start by asking yourself, your team—and the client, some tough questions:

60 Propose

Get information from the buyers/influencers and client coach as needed and then find an appropriate way to

validate your approach and scope with them.

The most important thing we can remember is to put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and really listen to what

they’re telling us they want. We frequently over-scope/over-engineer/over-price because we believe we should

give them the ‘best’ solution as ‘honest brokers’ even when they’ve asked for something different. Although we

may think we have the client’s best interest at heart, we can be perceived as arrogant—that we assume we always

know better and have the full picture.

It’s also important to remember that our client interactions—through scoping meetings, orals and other

opportunities—are the single most important element in a pursuit. We’re sometimes guilty of conducting

scoping meetings as if they’re client interrogations. Instead, treat them like they’re your first set of orals—

decisions are often made at this stage in the process.

Questions to help you assess if you’re on the right track

• What is the client hoping to accomplish with this project (business/personal outcomes and benefits)?

• Will our scope and approach solve the client’s issue? Is it what they requested, or in addition to what they requested?

• What are the concerns of the individual client executive(s)?

• How can we address their concerns in the way they prefer us to deal with them (detailed plan, budget focused, or blue-

ocean strategy)?

• How well are we sensing and responding to the signals that the client executives are sending?

• What could cause it to fail?

• What processes and applications are in-scope?

• What constraints must our team work under?

• What are the client’s expectations for deliverables and ongoing communication?

• How do our billable hours reflect the most efficient way of doing work, while still ensuring quality?

• How well does our value proposition differentiate us?

• If we already work with the client, how have we shown them we understand them?

“The most important thing we can remember is to put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and really listen to what they’re telling us they want. We can’t assume they want the Cadillac even though we may think that’s what they need.”


“The client said we missed the boat by not taking advantage of meeting with them upfront— he said the other firms were there for three weeks scoping things out.”

—PwC Partner


Understand the competition What you don’t know can hurt you

While we’re leveraging relationships and learning all we can to turn in a strong proposal and win, we’re not

alone—our competitors are likely doing the same thing. To have the best chance, we need to know what and

who we’re up against and be able to differentiate our value proposition in our proposal from other

competitors.

Think back to proposals you’ve worked on. Who were you up against? Why did our competitor win? Why did

PwC come out on top?

Competitive Analysis Tool

61 Propose

The client may be your biggest competition

Something else to consider: when someone mentions ‘the competition,’ who do we usually think of?

Although other firms may have staff walking the halls, they’re only part of the equation.

Whether we’re competing against other firms, the client’s internal resources, or inaction, it’s important to

know as much as we can about what we’re up against. Who’s advocating the position and why? Even if the

main competition for our proposal is ‘doing nothing,’ we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of

this position so we can show the client how moving ahead with PwC’s approach to address their issues will

benefit them.

Questions to consider as you develop your approach

• Who are our real competitors in this proposal process?

• What are our competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?

• What do we do better and how can we clearly articulate that as a differentiator?

• How do we neutralize their strengths and leverage their weaknesses?

• Which buyers/influencers have strong relationships with the competitors?

“PwC won this multi-year engagement primarily because you were the only firm with creative ideas as to our future-state systems.”



Propose

Developing your pursuit strategy/competition

Tips & tactics Review debrief reports

Review Independent Client Debrief Lessons

Learned available on the Pursuit Spark page to

learn more about how we’ve stacked up against

our competition.





Develop win themes Win themes that stand out in a crowd

To convince the client to choose PwC, we have to differentiate our value

proposition within the proposal and orals from the competition. The best way to

do this? Start by developing ‘win themes.’

As a team, identify one to five things you think will differentiate PwC from other

competitive proposals—and they shouldn’t all be about price. Think about that

‘one little thing’ that will make a difference to your client, and create your win

theme around that. It might be something as simple as having people on the

ground in all their locations, or already being up to speed from a Phase 1 project—

or emphasizing how you’ll communicate differently from the previous service

provider who was unresponsive to their requests.

Test your win themes by giving them the ‘so what?’ test:

Could your competitor say the same thing? If they can, it’s not a differentiator.

Does it speak directly to the client’s needs? If not, then it probably isn’t going to differentiate.

62 Propose


Propose

Developing your pursuit strategy/key differentiators

Keep in mind the right ‘win theme’ for one client likely won’t be the right win theme for another.

“A common mistake is trying to articulate our structure to the client and how we’re organized to serve them. They don’t care about our classifications and acronyms—they just want fully-integrated service and interaction. We need to be one firm and one team in the eyes of the client.”


A lot of "win themes" can sound pretty generic "team on the ground,” so we need to think about how to make them

look and feel different from our competitors . Consider their specific importance to the client, and be prepared to

change the way you talk about them so they stand out more. Make sure you are articulating a “so what” from the

client’s perspective, not ours.

Note that our competitors can and will say these things, so it’s important to demonstrate how we execute on these

points. Make sure you’re thinking about what you will do that will look and feel different from our competitors.

An ‘approach’ is a “ticket to entry” from a client’s perspective. It’s how we bring this to life that will make us

stand out.



Craft/test/refine your value proposition

Nail your value proposition

Once you’ve thought through the competition, your ‘so what?’ scenarios, and what you’ve learned from your client

and coaches, refine your value proposition in written form so it clearly reflects your win themes and outlines:

Value-added

Customized

The relevant business issue

Be ready to modify your initial assessment of the issue with what you’ve learned from

the client

Relevant

An action or customized approach that can be validated with the client

Provide a clear path for how you will help the client overcome their challenge or improve

their concerns in a sustainable way

The value-added benefit or impact to the client

Discuss how the client will derive value from the proposed PwC action, providing

quantitative metrics, if possible. Consider the ‘so-what’ factor again: What does it mean

to the client?

Test yourself by asking these questions:

Is it clear?

Is it relevant?

Can we deliver it?

Does it differentiate us? (Try writing your competitor’s value proposition and comparing them.)

Is there clear value for the client?

63 Propose

Issue

Action

Impact


If you’re happy with your value proposition, it’s time to begin testing it internally with your team. Make a team

assessment as to whether your value proposition is:

64 Propose


Propose

Key steps to excel at orals/refine value proposition

Simple enough that the client could describe it to his/her boss, co-worker, subordinate, or friend

Written in the client’s words, using their language, in terms they understand

Customized to what the client has told you about their issues and hot buttons

Differentiated from what our competitors could say

Written so it shares examples of how you’ve seen or helped other clients address the issue (i.e., credentialing you by

telling a business story’)

Written so it addresses potential objections/concerns they may have and articulates PwC’s focus on quality

Written so the buyer could use it as their business case to support ‘why PwC’

If your value proposition meets these criteria, you’re ready to validate it with your client coach and, if possible,

with key buyers before presenting it formally in orals. Ask them questions such as:

• “How does this resonate with you?”

• “How does our scope and approach meet with your expectations?”

• “What’s missing?”

• “How do you feel about our team?”

Finally, have every member of your team practice articulating the value proposition so you’re all consistent in

your message and saying it the same way.

See Interact—Conduct a great meeting for guidance on how to share your value proposition in a

collaborative dialogue (Identify client issues, Share insight, Validate, Co-develop and Agree on next steps).

“A common mistake is trying to articulate our structure to the client and how we’re organized to serve them. They don’t care about our classifications and acronyms—they just want fully-integrated service and interaction. We need to be one firm and one team in the eyes of the client.”




Develop your pricing approach, propose and test pricing with buyers

So, what’s it going to cost anyway?

Think for a minute—what are some of the common objections or concerns we hear from

our clients about going forward with an engagement? How many of them are related to

price?

Price is one of the most common sources of client objections and concerns, and of anxiety for our teams.

However, most clients regard price as an integral part of the value proposition and a key consideration in

determining return on investment (ROI) and/or preferred vendor status. Although facts and circumstances

often dictate the proper time to raise the issue of price, no matter how much we’d like to avoid it, at some point

we have to talk about it.

Our approach on this topic needs to be forthright. Think about it this way—we treat our clients in the same way

we like to be treated when we’re considering important commercial or personal purchase decisions. In that

regard, always prepare to begin the pricing discussion with the client as part of the value proposition discussion,

or as close to that as your client situation will allow. Doing it earlier in the process helps you understand the

client’s needs and expectations.

Preparation is a critical part of a successful initial discussion about price. Clients want to believe they’re being

treated fairly so it’s important to identify the right pricing that represents a fair fee to deliver a quality project

and satisfies the interests of both parties.

Tips & tactics Introduce price early

It’s important to get the topic of price on the table

early. The client should never see the price for the

first time in the proposal document.

65 Propose

"Most clients want to feel they're getting a good deal, but there's more to it than just price. If we deal with them fairly throughout the process in a transparent fashion, then deliver beyond expectations, we'll rarely have a client complain about fees."

—PwC US Marketing & Sales Leader


Here are some tips to consider when developing your pricing approach (carefully considering the firm’s

independence requirements and other regulatory restrictions for any pursuits involving audit opportunities):

66 Propose

Pricing Strategies Tool

Customized tips for Advisory, Tax, Assurance,

PCS, Risk Assurance and TS

• Anticipate the competitive environment and the client’s possible negotiation approach.

• Shape ROI early in the process and be prepared to convey how value provides a good return on price.

• Proactively raise the issue of price and share insights into pricing and how it’s priced a certain way: “Let me tell you

how we typically price this type of project.” You don’t necessarily have to negotiate the price at this stage—but it’s

important to get the issue on the table.

• Develop your pricing with the client to ensure the scope meets their expectations.

• Separate rates and hours when talking price (“Am I off on rates or hours?”) which may signal mis-scoping and get to

the true objection.

• Consider profitability as well as risk and other factors as you develop your fee structure. Ask yourself: “Do we want

this work under these conditions and at this price?”

• Gain an understanding of the PwC view of an ‘ideal’ price as well as the minimum acceptable price.

• Use firm pricing models and follow LoS pricing model protocols and guidelines. You can access the Pricing Tools

that are available for each line of services in the Winning with Procurement Series.

• Look for ways to lower price without sacrificing quality and profitability, such as considering alternative delivery

centers (GDCs, etc.). Even if the client is not particularly price sensitive, we always want to work efficiently.

• Be prepared to discuss pricing alternatives. It’s often a good idea to offer the client more than one pricing option to put

more control in their court.

• Have a colleague from your LoS review your fee calculation before presenting to the client. This could help avoid

embarrassment if you’ve missed a detail or two.

• Make sure to assess the client’s reaction along the way.

“Our team gave the client incorrect higher pricing on a $2 million audit proposal due to a double counting error. Even though we corrected the error in writing, they’d already placed us in the ‘high’ category—and confessed concerns about hiring an audit firm that would make such a math error.”


https://pwc-spark.com/groups/winning-with-procurement/projects/pricing-tools



Remember that initial discussions are usually not the last word on pricing. Expect additional negotiation before

the deal is considered ‘closed’ and the engagement is secure. See the Pursuit Master Tool: Propose—

Developing your pursuit strategy/pricing strategy and the Pricing Strategies Tool for a list of

considerations and prompter questions to help you develop your approach, and the Close—Negotiate the fee

section in this Pursuit Guide for additional strategies on how to successfully negotiate fees.

Make their budget your business

Where we have a strong client relationship, we may know all about their budget. If we don’t know, we need to

ask—if we’re engaged at the right place in the company, we should be able to get the information we need.

Budgets can be a sensitive topic, but having a good grasp on their budget situation will save us time and help us

avoid missteps in developing and presenting our pricing.

Present your fees with confidence

When the time comes to present fees, do it with confidence! Too often, we’re quick to slash fees when clear

communication throughout the pursuit will allow our clients to recognize the value they’ll receive. If we’ve been

transparent with them throughout the process, we should be set for a fair discussion. Here are some suggestions

to consider:

• Don’t be apologetic; rather, be prepared to share insights as to why you priced your service a certain way—

and the value the client is getting for their return on cost. Make sure to assess their reaction before

charging forward.

• Have facts and figures to back up your statements so you can support how you arrived at your number.

• If the client is resistant, get an understanding of their interests and concerns. Try separating rates and hours

when talking price: “Am I off on rates or hours?” to get to their true objection.

If we’ve been transparent with them throughout the process, we should be set for a fair discussion.

67 Propose

“Most clients want to feel they’re getting a good deal, but there’s more to it than just price. If we deal with them fairly throughout the process in a transparent fashion, then deliver beyond expectations, we’ll rarely have a client complain about fees.”

—PwC Partner





Manage the proposal document The proposal’s got to be good—we all know that. But it can’t be the team’s sole focus. So, how do we find the

right formula? There’s no perfect answer, but when you’re dealing with the proposal piece, avoid obvious

pitfalls by:

Writing the proposal through a client lens in support of your value proposition

Executing an effective proposal management process to drive document content and production

Proposal Hub resources can help!

There are a number of resources to help you with your proposal creation. The Proposal Hub provides

access to a number of great tools and resources to help you create your proposal, as follows:

• Proposal Development Center (PDC): Provides proposal building support services to create

branded, first drafts of a proposal document using sourced content

• PIT Stop: xLoS library of content including past proposals, firm-branded headshots, bios, citations,

statements of qualification, proposal FAQs, and reference materials

• Proposal Collaboration Software: Significantly reduces proposal development time and improves

quality through simultaneous editing capabilities, automated version control, and other features

• Digital Proposal Support: Helps you apply the latest proposal innovations; produces professional-

grade videos and tailored websites for proposals and orals presentations

68 Propose

A proposal document usually won’t win the work for you—but it can certainly lose it for you... that’s the sentiment shared by members of the National Pursuit Team who coach a lot of large-scale pursuits.

“I have found that utilizing the PDC and other proposal hub tools allows my proposal teams to focus on the strategic aspects of the response including our differentiators, client interactions and making sure our response is what the client wants to hear”

—PwC Client Strategist

https://pwc-spark.com/groups/xlos-proposal-support


Plan first and write last

Resist the urge to begin writing too early. Before you put pen to paper, it’s critical to have the right upfront

brainstorming time to develop a compelling value proposition and the right approach—and then to clearly and

consistently capture and articulate that value proposition in all written and verbal interactions with the client.

As you write the proposal, make honest assessments along the way by asking yourself:

Does it quickly and directly address the client’s business issues?

Is it clear how PwC’s actions benefit the client?

Have we challenged ourselves to keep it simple and succinct and eliminate unnecessary jargon and content

that doesn’t speak the client’s language or directly support our value proposition?

Does it convey the quality we can deliver?

Does it distinguish PwC from our competitors?

Does it cover all requested topics and is it within the scope of what the client has asked for?

Have we answered all RPF questions in the order asked—even if the answer is ‘no?’

69 Propose

Sometimes RFPs aren’t worded well or it’s obvious to us that the RFP, as written, won’t best address the business needs. It can be risky to answer an RFP based on an alternative approach or ‘better way.’ Although it can work in some instances, it has knocked us out of the running because we didn’t answer the direct question in the RFP.

“When it comes to proposal writing, a clear and concise executive summary should be drafted and agreed upon by the team before the rest of the proposal is written. Too often, we run around cutting and pasting from other proposals without considering what points we’re trying to customize to this specific client.”



Writing the Proposal Tool

Forward, march!

Even the best proposal ideas fail when there isn’t a focused process to

support the writing, editing and production of the document. Here are some

tips for a smooth process:

• Set a timeline for proposal development

• Get the team’s commitment to stick to the timeline and maintain focus

throughout the entire proposal process

• Establish editorial control and schedule in adequate availability for writing

and editing

• Leverage the firm’s collaboration tool ‘Jive Connects’ which allows your

team members to simultaneously edit the document to streamline the

editing process

• Limit the number of iterations so you’ll get meaningful feedback each time (vs. only in the 11th hour)

Don’t forget to vet your proposal along the way with your Client Coach and decision-maker if possible to validate

your value proposition is relevant and resonates with them.

Make certain all steps have been taken for client acceptance and governance, and where necessary, regulatory, risk and quality control approval.

“We tend to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the document (80%) and not enough time preparing for scoping and orals (20%)— exactly the opposite of what it should be.”

—PwC Partner, National Pursuit Team



Prepare for references

It’s who you know that can help you…or hurt you

Great references increase our chances of winning pursuits. In contrast, if we put the client in touch with a

reference they can’t relate to or who doesn’t speak well of PwC, we lose credibility and it could cost us both

our current opportunity and future work. That’s why it’s critical to choose the right reference and then work

proactively with the client and reference to promote a productive dialogue between them.

Choose

the right

reference

Prepare the

reference

and the client

Follow-up

with both

When choosing our references, it’s

important to adopt a client lens to

make sure the client’s expectations

are met. Reach out to the client to

find out as much as you can, and

then ask yourself these questions:

• Who would my client want to talk

to? Someone in the same sector

or market or who’s faced the same

business issues? Someone who’s

worked with the same PwC team?

• Can this reference offer relevant

feedback and address specific

points my client will be interested

in?

• Did our work with the reference go

well? Have we double checked on

any recent or in-process work?

• Is the reference fresh (within the

last three years)? Do I ask them

too often?

Once your references are set,

prepare both your reference and the

client for the reference calls. You

want their dialogue to be positive

and on point.

• Share client hot buttons with your

references and co-develop talking

points with them to ensure they

deliver the key messages in their

conversation.

• Provide the prospective client with

background on the references and

help them plan their questions.

After the call, follow-up with the

reference to learn what key things

the client asked about, and with

the client to see what questions

they may have for you based on

the call.

• With the reference ask: “What

areas did the client probe most

intensely?” or “What questions

surprised you?”

• With the client ask, “How well

did our references address your

questions about X issue you’re

concerned about?” or “Based on

what you heard from our

references, what additional

questions do you have?”

71 Propose

It’s important to have the reference’s permission every time. Some clients expressly prohibit this in their engagement letters or require consent.

Increasing Your Success with

Client References Tool

“Obtaining good references comes from more than just delivering on the scope of work. It comes from listening to our clients and learning from them. By doing this well, we build the kind of relationship where they see us bringing value to their business. This sets the stage for a positive and productive dialogue between a potential new client and the reference.”

—PwC Partner



Excel at orals Our clients tell it best. When we do certain things well, we win—and when we don’t, we lose. Before launching

into orals, consider the important things we’ve learned from hundreds of debriefs with our clients.

What our clients are telling us

When we win, we: When we lose, we don’t:

• Leverage strong professional relationships

• Listen well

• Put ourselves in the client’s shoes

• Articulate a compelling value proposition

• Differentiate PwC

• Bring the right team to deliver

• Do what’s right for the client and stakeholders

• Deliver quality and value

• Exceed the client’s expectations

• Focus on developing relationships or accurately assess the nature

and strength of our relationships

• Listen well

• Understand who the real buyers are

• Scope to the client’s expectation or budget

• Demonstrate a competitive level of experience /depth of capability

• Propose a competitive fee

• Prepare sufficiently to excel at orals

• Demonstrate we’re ‘hungry’ for the work

• Differentiate ourselves based on our strengths

• Bring the whole firm

• Continue reaching out to the client after the proposal is delivered

72 Propose

Throughout the pursuit, be sure to demonstrate your desire for the work in all your client interactions. Clients repeatedly say enthusiasm for the work is a differentiator.

Lights, camera, orals!

Orals is the time we reinforce our value proposition and continue to differentiate PwC. It also gives our team a

chance to share new insights that respond to issues or concerns learned after the proposal is delivered, and

directly address hot buttons of decision-makers and key influencers. A good dialogue during orals can confirm a

decision already made—while a poor one can blow our chances.

“Either we didn’t explain well or PwC’s team just wasn’t listening.”

—Debrief client’s reaction to our proposal


Since orals are so critical to a successful proposal effort, let’s give it the attention it deserves by looking at a

winning orals process step by step.

It’s all in the preparation

As in all client interactions, preparation is crucial. No matter how well we’ve scoped the project, differentiated

our solution, and priced appropriately, we still need to make our value proposition come alive in orals. And that

starts with thoughtful planning and preparation.

Prepare Refine value

proposition

Build your

story Rehearse

Debrief and

follow-up

73 Propose

Here are some tips to set your team up for success:

• If possible, schedule your presentation in the morning, either first or last

• Confirm who will attend from PwC and from the client. Leverage Iris—it can provide powerful insight into

the key players in the room and our relationships with them

• Determine how you’ll introduce leadership attendees into the process

• Validate the agenda well in advance to help the team prepare early

• Ask about room set-up, if possible, visit the room before orals

• Offer to share your presentation materials ahead of time

• Set a timeline for orals preparation/rehearsal

• Call your references to find out if the client’s called them yet and see what hot buttons the client asked

about so you can cover in orals

• Ask your client coach for any insight about what they’re looking for at orals

There are many things that can be unexpected at orals—but proper upfront prep work will set the stage for more

in-depth planning and help us anticipate and react to any challenges that come our way.

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

—Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame Football Coach

“Orals are your best chance to showcase your team. There’s no substitute for energy, enthusiasm, and passion during a pursuit. Technical knowledge and experience are important, but they’re expected. The client wants to see a team they like, trust and want to work with...that’s the real differentiator.”




Don’t forget about good coaching

Involving a Pursuit Coach can help focus your team on the right areas in your orals prep and give your team the

confidence for a seamless delivery. See Propose—Involve a Pursuit Coach early for additional benefits of

good pursuit coaching.

Likewise, having a Client Coach within the client organization can also make a huge difference in how well you do

at orals. They’re generally someone who understands the issues, personalities and politics and can be an excellent

resource to help you determine attendee hot buttons and expectations, plan your proposal approach, and prepare

for important client meetings. See Propose—Understand buyers and scope—why do I need a client

coach? to learn more about effectively leveraging a Client Coach.

74 Propose

Involving a Pursuit Coach outside the core team—particularly when preparing and rehearsing for orals—has proven beneficial to teams, resulting in better team connectivity and higher win rates.

Refine your value proposition

Internally, this is our chance to revisit and refine what we’re proposing. Re-evaluate your understanding of the

decision-makers’ and other attendees’ perspectives and needs, and make sure your value proposition is laser-

focused on those needs. Review again your competitive situation going into orals and how you can best

differentiate PwC’s value proposition from other options. Test your value proposition and win themes against

potential competitor messages and ask yourself the tough question—‘so what?’ If the client can’t understand the

value or the competition can say the same, then you won’t stand out in the crowd.

What’s your story?

Once we’ve fine-tuned our value proposition, we need to weave it into a compelling business story. Think about

how you can bring your value proposition to life by sharing your experiences, and make sure everyone on the

team is in agreement about the story and how best to communicate it. Plan out your flow for orals and script out

who will say what. You’ll then need to determine what materials you’ll need, if any, for the presentation (e.g.,

short deck, placemat, high level agenda) and develop those materials so they support your story—vs. just being a

collection of slides.

Tips & tactics Making your presentation client-

specific

Talk about what you heard from them about

things currently happen and how we’ll do

things differently.

Focus on what they will experience and ‘why’

we will do certain things vs. just the ‘how.’

Relate it to issues the client has brought up in

past meetings (e.g., “You told us X is an issue

for you. The audit will help address that by….”


Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!

Whether sports, music, or work, most people don’t like to practice. The same holds true for orals presentations.

How well we’ve rehearsed can be the difference between wowing our audience for a big win—or not. Pursuit

Coaches can play a big role in making sure the team’s rehearsal efforts are effective. A coach serves as a mirror to

the team, helping to both point out where improvements can be made and how the client may see or hear the

message.

At PwC, we coach each other to rehearse three times. The first time is likely to be the most choppy and awkward,

the second will start to iron out the kinks, and the third progresses to a smooth delivery. This concept is what we

call talk-through, walk-through and run-through. All three are effective and work best when used together in a

‘three-times’ preparation approach.

Rehearse #1: Talk-through

This is your strategy session to determine the flow of the presentation, including messaging, each person’s

role/who’s going to say what, and who’s going to be the ‘quarterback’ responsible for reading the audience to

make sure questions are answered, observing body language, closing the meeting, etc. Decide how you’ll support

the presentation with visuals. Write out and practice introductions (what value each person will bring to the

client), anticipate tough objections and questions, and prepare your responses.

Rehearse #2: Walk-through

This is where you walk through the entire presentation, practicing hand-offs between presenters, with each

person presenting their portion and receiving coaching/team suggestions throughout. Consider potential

unexpected scenarios and how the team would respond.

Rehearse #3: Run-through

This is a full rehearsal and should be as close to ‘real’ as you can make it with no stopping or coaching. Dress the

part. Set up the room like it would be at orals and have a mock client panel test you with tough questions and

simulate ways to challenge your approach. Project your enthusiasm for the work as if the panel were real, and

develop a ‘team’ sense that will naturally project during actual orals. When appropriate, videotape the run-

through, play back and debrief. If videotaping, you need to allow sufficient time/additional run-throughs for the

team to correct flaws noted in the debrief. The team needs to buy in to the concept since videotaping can deflate

the intensity of practice in the short run, and equipment must be readily available.

75 Propose

Tips & tactics Leverage retired partners

Retired partners make great mock panelists and

can provide valuable feedback based on their

experience. They want to help and can, so call

them in!

“Even our most talented partners and managers need to spend time together to refine the value proposition and blend their individual strengths into an effective team performance. It’s not easy carving out the time to rehearse as a team, but our clients can clearly tell when we don’t—whether it’s a presentation that fails to deliver a clear message, a partner who dominates the discussion, or fumbled handoffs that call our teamwork into question.”

—PwC Partner


Expect the unexpected

No matter how much we practice, not everything will happen exactly the way we anticipate. Unexpected events

happen more often than we think and can take a myriad of forms. We can help avoid being caught without a

‘Plan B’ by preparing as a team for potential curveballs that may be thrown our way and rehearse how to react to

them (see examples in the following chart). By simulating unscripted challenges in rehearsals, your team can

develop the flexibility and confidence to respond effectively when the unexpected happens.

Be prepared to go ‘off-script’

Even if we prepare thoroughly, there are often times when the potential unexpected events we identified and

practiced for don't happen but something else does. In these cases, we have to be ready to go ‘off-script’ and do

something different than planned.

Going off-script isn’t comfortable for many of us. However, we all need to become skilled at doing this, whether

we’re hit between the eyes with an unplanned surprise, or presented with an opportunity as we read the signals

from our clients. Bring your presentation, but also be prepared to toss it aside if they seem bored, or

they’re checking their smartphones, or showing other signs they’re not with you.

Going ‘off-script’ can be the better way

When the situation dictates, it’s okay—and can even be the better way—to go ‘off-script. Although it can be

unnerving, a willingness and ability to change tack midstream allows us to deliver a more customized experience

and re-grab the client’s attention in a more meaningful way. This requires us to adopt a more proactive mindset,

listening closely and recognizing opportunities as they present themselves—and then being willing to leave our

slides and planned remarks behind and say something like, “Let’s step back for a moment….”

76 Propose

Tips & tactics Simulate detractors

Plant some ‘pit bulls’ within your mock client panel

to simulate detractors, surprise attendees, and

senior-level decision-makers to prepare the team

for the need to go ‘off-script.’

When you go off-script, be careful not to throw off the rest of your team. Have a signal in place to let your team know you’re going off-script and to tell each other when it’s time to get back to the planned agenda.

“During orals, our client purposefully changed the game by limiting the time for each firm presenting. Our presenter responded by talking faster, while our competitor made the quick decision to go off-script and succinctly emphasize why the proposed engagement was important and why they were the right firm. They won the work.”



Look out! How to handle curveballs thrown your way during orals

Potential curveballs Examples of how to respond

Your supporter cancels at

the last minute and/or

unexpected attendees

show up

We tend to over-rely on our supporter we expected to be there to help us, and fail to prepare for

others. During prep, brainstorm who else might show up/invite themselves—perhaps as a delegate

for someone who can't attend. Prepare as if these other attendees will be in the room. Bring extra

materials and script your messages so they're more inclusive. Think through your seating strategy

assuming these other people will be there. If you haven't had any prior discussions with the

unexpected attendees, be prepared to go back a few pages and bring them up to speed.

Your detractor shows up

unannounced

A detractor often shows up because we weren't proactive with them throughout the process—so

now, they're deciding to get involved. If this happens, it's uncomfortable, but you need to hit it head

on. Consider engaging them by asking open-ended questions to get them talking so their issues and

biases can be aired in front of other people (also allowing you to share your point of view and defend

yourself).

A senior exec joins

mid-meeting

Introduce yourself if you don't know them and quickly bring them up to speed by saying something

like, “Let's pause for a moment to review the key points. We're talking about X issue…Here are the

most important points we've covered…”

The meeting is not going

well (client is either

disinterested or

argumentative)

Back off if the discussion is becoming argumentative. Ask open-ended questions to find out what's

distracting/bothering them and what they're thinking. Gently probe to get to the root issue. (Note:

although this may not be appropriate for orals, in other types of meetings, you might be able to

suggest moving the meeting if it's not a good time for them or if you need to do some research to

address specific points they raise.)

The client calls an audible/

changes course at the last

minute

Ask open-ended questions to find out what the client's thinking and attempt to get everyone on the

same page.

Procurement all of a sudden

takes control

Ideally, you'll already have a relationship with Procurement going into the pursuit process and will

know their requirements related to this proposal. Address Procurement directly so they feel like

they're a respected stakeholder in the process, and be prepared to express your specific points of

differentiation (beyond price).

Client changes length of

time available for the

meeting

Let go of your prepared agenda and succinctly express your value proposition: Issue, Action, Impact.

The meeting is cut short

or your presentation takes

longer than expected (you're

only 1/3 through and time is

running out)

Let the audience know you're going to fast-forward the discussion to be respectful of the time limit

you were given. Get to the point quickly to grab their attention and key in on the 1-3 things that are of

most interest to the client. If appropriate, suggest you'd be happy to follow-up with the specific

relevant individuals after orals to go into further detail on selected key points.

Your technology doesn’t

work

Even with proper testing, technology has a way of being uncooperative at just the wrong moment.

Anticipate this and think about what you should bring with you as a back-up plan (print out of

presentation slides, speaker notes, bullet points of key messages, etc.).

Be ready to redirect when you see a train wreck is imminent by raising your hand or asking a question to re-engage the client. Get team agreement on this strategy in advance.

77 Propose

Preparing for Orals Tools—Advisory,

Tax, PCS, Assurance, Risk Assurance

and TS


Propose









Now it’s time to execute!

Of course, all the preparation in the world won’t help if you don’t have the right mindset coming into orals.

Make it personal and pay attention to the little things that can make a difference.

Our debriefs tell us these are the things that win it for us – listening and asking good questions, interacting in a

natural and interactive way, working together as a team, demonstrating we understand their concerns – and

showing enthusiasm! When we do these things consistently across the team, we differentiate ourselves from the

competition.

78 Propose

“PwC had the best orals presentation—brought the right people, everybody had a clear role. The project director did a great job leading the conversation and articulating exactly what would happen during the project.”

—Client debrief on why PwC won


Follow-up from orals

It ain’t over until it’s over

Congratulations, orals was a home run! Your team dazzled the client and left the competition behind. There’s

nothing more you can do… Wrong! A great orals presentation can go a long way toward winning, but poor

follow-up can take us out of the driver’s seat. There are two important things we can and should do while we’re

in the waiting mode—debrief and follow-up. Your first order of business is to evaluate how the presentation

went—with your team, the client, and even your references.

• As a team: Discuss what went well, what didn’t go well and what you can do to better your chances before the

buyer makes a decision. This provides an opportunity to weigh various perspectives of team members viewing

the same meeting through different lenses. You’ll also want to compare notes taken by the various PwC orals

attendees and agree on action items, who’s doing what, and by when, etc. and update your meeting activity in

Iris. Attention to detail and follow-through at this stage can be a game-changer. Firm leadership can also play

a role and should be leveraged appropriately at this point to follow up on previous discussions with the client.

• With the client: Get their feedback immediately, before they’ve made a decision. Their reaction may be

different—better or worse—than your team’s. Confirm their reaction and check to see if there are any more

pieces of information they require or you could provide that would make a difference.

• With your references: If you haven’t had the opportunity to speak with your references before orals, it’s

still not too late to get their valuable feedback. Ask them how their reference call went and determine any

areas where the client probed most intensively. This may give you an idea of key focus areas and concerns

while you still have time to adjust.

Stay connected! You may have differentiated yourself in orals, but your competitors will not have given up.

With the client’s permission (ask for this during orals), follow-up regularly (ideally every 48 hours) to find out

what questions are being raised, make any adjustments you think are necessary to best resonate with the client,

reinforce your value proposition, and ask for the business again. If appropriate for your situation, you might

even want to plan a social activity during this period to provide opportunity for casual dialogue and

relationship-building.

See Interact—Follow-up from the meeting for additional guidance and tips on seamless and personalized

follow-up.

79 Propose


Propose

Key steps to excel at orals—customized tips for

Advisory, Tax, PCS, Risk Assurance and

Transaction Services

Following up from the

Meeting Tool

“One of the most crucial moments in a relationship is how you handle that moment when someone has summoned up the courage and time to give you feedback.”





Clo

se

Close

Sum it up Do a test

close

Ask for the

business

Still, it’s easier said than done, right? So, let’s talk through what each of these steps mean.

The assumption, going in, is that if you’re ready to close, you’ve already

had robust dialogue with the client about their business issues and have

co-developed the proposal/approach with them. If you’re engaged in a

formal process, your proposal has been submitted and you’ve presented at

orals. By this time, most of the client’s objections and concerns will have

already been identified and resolved.

Now it’s time to close, and as you do, don’t fail to express enthusiasm for

the work and your desire to work with them personally as well.

At a glance: Close

provides tips to help you

close the deal, negotiate

fees, scope, and gain

insight through client

debriefs.

80

Sum it up, do a test close, and ask for the business. This technique can be adapted and used at any point in the pursuit cycle to test the client’s commitment to the process.

Secure the engagement

Asking for the business can be tough. Many people feel anxious when it’s time to close. That’s why you should aim

to make the process of closing simple and straightforward. It won’t seem overwhelming when you boil it down to

these three easy steps:


Sum it up

Begin the discussion showing you’ve listened by providing a succinct recap of how you’ve

gotten to where you are today, summing up the value proposition —what you’ve heard their

business issues/needs are, the planned action, and what the impact or benefit will be to the

client. You shouldn’t be adding any new information at this point.

Also make sure to validate by asking the client if you got it right: “How well does this match with your

thinking?” Assuming the client agrees with your value proposition and summary and has no objections that

need to be explored, move on to the test close.

It often helps to give verbal cues to help the client digest what you’re summarizing, for example:

• “Here’s where I think we are…” (summarize the value proposition and key points you co-developed with the

client)

• “To summarize, we’ve talked about an approach to address X...that will include Y… and will benefit

you by…”

It’s crucial to then ask an open-ended question to validate you heard the client correctly—and

confirm their agreement with what you’ve said so far, for example:

• “How well have I captured everything we’ve discussed?”

• “What have we missed throughout our discussions that you feel is important to your team’s success?”

Personalize it by directing your questions to each individual or group represented, for example:

• “John, how well does this capture your concerns?”

• “What have we left out that will be important to the IT group as a key stakeholder?”

81 Close

Don’t add any new information at this stage as you recap your value proposition.


Do a test close

The test close is where you seek feedback from the client about where you are and how they feel

about a proposed next step. It’s a way to assess the client’s readiness to make a commitment,

uncover any last roadblocks or objections that will prevent a close, and answer and resolve any

questions or concerns.

Make sure to use open-ended questions to elicit more than a ‘yes/no’ response, for example, “What would you

think about having PwC work with you to address those gaps?”

Choosing a soft, medium or harder approach

Understanding the individual client buyer’s characteristics and interests and your own preferences will help you

determine the approach to take in your test close. Sometimes a soft approach is the best way to get the client to

consider your request, but sometimes a harder close is merited based on the situation and goal you’re trying to

achieve. Here’s an examples of different test close options:

Test different close options:

• Softer: "What do you think would be a good next step?"

• Medium: "In my experience, a good next step is X. How would that work here?"

• Harder: "How would you feel about moving to the statement of work now?"

82 Close

Tips & tactics Ask the question

The quickest way to get the real objection out

there is to ask an open-ended question and wait

for the answer.

Positive, negative or neutral

No matter which approach you take, the questions you ask in your test close could elicit a variety of responses

from the client—from positive, to negative, or even neutral.

If their response is negative or neutral, uncover and satisfy any lingering issues or concerns before you move on to

ask for the business. If you don’t have a ready answer, don’t ‘wing it’—you have too much invested to lose

credibility at this point. Do what research you need to do to bring back a well-thought-out response.

If the client responds positively, showing strong interest and a readiness to act, you are ready to ask for the

business or move to a next step.


Ask for the business

This is often where things break down because we suddenly start getting very indirect in

our approach, saying things like, “We’d really like to work with you on this,” and hoping the

client will close for us.

It’s time to be direct. Ask a closed-ended, action-oriented question that clearly asks for the business and elicits

a “yes” or “no” response, for example:

“We’d very much like to do business with you…

…can we schedule a time to review an engagement letter?”

…would you be willing to sign an engagement letter so we can begin?”

…can we plan to start our work in two weeks—after your quarter-end?”

After you ask, stay quiet and wait for the client to respond. If they say “no,” you can continue the dialogue to

find out why, but your goal is to get them back to a firm “yes.” Don’t be tempted to change things on the fly to

save the deal. Again, uncover and satisfy any lingering issues or concerns—and go back and do additional

research if needed before asking for the business again.

Once you get a “yes,” reaffirm the commitment and agree on next steps and follow-up actions so things don’t

linger or get re-prioritized. Continue to follow up and check for objections at each step along the way—just

because you submit an engagement letter doesn’t mean the client will sign it!

83 Close

Make sure to get OGC (and R&Q) involved early in the process with any MSAs or where your client may be asking for non-standard contracting terms.


Close

Tips & tactics Global contracting

Accounts contracting across multiple territories

have the option of using the firm’s Global Master

Framework Agreement (GMFA)or a Global

Engagement Letter (GEL) depending on the

agreement with the client for how the global

service will be delivered. Visit the Global

Contracting home page on the Global Gateway

for more information and related resources and

specific contacts by cluster, territory and LoS.

“When we finally got up the nerve to ask the CIO for the business, he pulled out $10, handed it to his IT director, and said, “You win. I didn’t think they’d ever get around to it!”

—PwC Partner

https://knowledgecurve.com/global/gkg/INDUSTRYGENERIC_GWY.nsf/(search_gkg)/07a8dcec85ce287d80257a4c005512b2?OpenDocument





Negotiate the fee Before we can truly consider a deal ‘closed,’ we have to nail down the final agreement with the client which often

involves negotiating fees and other contract terms/conditions, particularly for large RFPs.

Negotiating fees can be a source of anxiety for all of us as we balance the worry of winning work and doing the

best we can for the firm with making the client happy. We can alleviate much of that discomfort by making sure

we understand the client’s interests and process, come prepared, and have the right people involved.

Ideally, we will have talked to the client about pricing strategy throughout the pursuit, setting the stage for

negotiations with early pricing discussions and at other points along the way. (We don’t want the first time the

client sees our fees to be in our proposal document). We may end up formally negotiating fees during the

proposal process or in the Close phase as the deal is fine-tuned. Whenever it may take place, there are

strategies to help you prepare and plan for a successful negotiation as well as practical guidelines what will help

take some of the anxiety out of the negotiation process. This will put you on the path to achieving positive

outcomes—for our clients, their stakeholders, and for the firm—that will strengthen relationships and grow

the business.

Plan for a successful negotiation

Know the client Know your value Select your negotiating team Develop your approach

• What they’re trying to

accomplish

• Their ‘must-haves’

and ‘nice-to-haves’

• Individual and other

stakeholder

needs/drivers

• How they might

approach the

negotiation

• Relationship

strength

• How your value

proposition

supports your

negotiating

position

• Competitors’

position and

approach

• Team members/roles

• Who’ll lead the negotiation and

what’s their experience

• Who has authority for decisions

• Consider a senior person

outside team to lead the

negotiations

• Who should be at the rehearsal

and when does it take place

• What you’re trying to

achieve in the negotiation

• Your opening position

• Your ‘must-haves’ and

‘nice-to-haves’ or

‘tradeables’

• What you’re willing to

negotiate

• Your bottom line and walk-

away point

84 Close

Negotiations are a critical step in our sales process and have a significant impact on our revenues and bottom line. We need to be putting the same effort into our preparation for negotiations as we do for orals.

Negotiating Tool



Know the client and their interests

During the pursuit, you’ll have gotten to know the client well and will know what they’re trying

to achieve; what’s important to individuals, the company, and their stakeholders; and their

likely negotiation style. Leverage your Client Coach(es) to fill in the gaps so you can be as

responsive as you can to the client’s needs and expectations.

Here are some things to consider about the individual client buyer as you plan your negotiating strategy:

• What’s the approach your individual client buyer is likely to take to the negotiation? Are they likely to take an

aggressive, adversarial approach? Or a very cool, rational approach? Think through your approach in response to this.

You want to avoid being caught off guard or drawn into their emotion.

• What will the important negotiating points likely be for this person? Analyze these points to make sure you

understand what the client’s true interests and needs are behind them. What do they need to get out of this negotiation

and why?

• What are the client’s ‘non-negotiables,’ as well as their ‘nice-to-haves’ coming into the negotiation? What might

they be willing to give up in return for other things that are more important to them (their ‘tradeables’)?

– Validate these with the client or get insights from your client coach prior to the negotiation.

– Consider the value the client attaches to their ‘nice-to-haves.’ This will dictate how much you can expect to get in

return for offering up these things and will affect their willingness to move forward without them.

– Generally speaking, you won’t strengthen your relationship by agreeing to only provide their ‘must-haves.’ You’ll

likely need to satisfy at least some of the things on their ‘wish list’ for them to feel good about the outcome.

• Consider any emotional or psychological needs the client may have to feel satisfied in the negotiation. Some

people, for example, need to feel they’ve driven a hard bargain—and unless they get some sort of concession on price,

they don’t feel like they’ve ‘won.’ In these situations, you need to open the negotiation with a fee level that gives you

room to come down some.

• As in any client relationship, if you’ll be negotiating with Procurement, it’s always best to have a relationship going

into the negotiation and to understand their role and incentives. (See What’s different about negotiating with

Procurement later in this section.)

85 Close

One key to a successful negotiation is recognizing individuals matter. The company is a valid constraint but does not solely define how decisions are made. Personal preferences can make or break a negotiation. Therefore, it’s important to thoroughly understand your client buyer’s individual interests and position going in.

See Propose –Individual ‘client buyer’ types matter to learn more about different buying styles and how that impact our approach with these individuals.


Know your value and differential

Make an honest assessment—then plan your negotiation strategy considering these important

dynamics. Ask:

• How strong is our relationship with the client? The quality of your relationship with the client can have

a big impact on the negotiation. Obviously, the stronger your relationship, the stronger the position you’ll have

going in. If there have been problems in the relationship—particularly if they’re in a blind spot—you’ll be

entering into the negotiation from a position of weakness. Validate the quality of your relationship with the

client before you enter into negotiations to avoid over-estimating the relationship. Consider leveraging the

SRP or a seasoned coach. Make sure to also evaluate the competition’s relationship with the client as part of

your assessment.

• How well does our value proposition support our negotiating position? Does it speak to the client’s

needs? Can our competitors say the same things? Consider how your value proposition stacks up against the

competition’s and how your relative position will impact your approach to the negotiation.

• What is our competitors’ likely position and approach? Make sure you’ve done your homework and

know who the competition is as well as what’s an acceptable pricing range for these services.

Select the negotiating team

When selecting representatives to negotiate on behalf of the team, it’s important to select those who have both

the authority and the experience to lead a successful negotiation for the firm. Make sure each person with a seat

at the negotiating table knows their role and has a part in developing the approach. Factors to consider when

picking the negotiating team:

Who’s going to be sitting across the table (you don’t want, for example, to send a junior person in to negotiate

with someone several levels higher)

The skills of the negotiator (avoid sending the person who caves easily)

Relationships (send individuals whom the client likes and trusts)

You’ll want to capitalize on the strengths of the team or even consider using someone outside the core team.

Some team members may be great at developing the negotiation strategy but may not be the most effective at

handling the actual negotiating dialogue. The same people don’t have to do it all.

86 Close

It’s important our lead representative has the authority to make decisions on issues and will take responsibility for the outcome. Consider having a senior member who won’t be directly involved in the project play the lead to bring added clout and an outside perspective.

The quality of your value proposition will have a significant impact on your negotiation and strategy. Be prepared to articulate it clearly and make sure your differentiating points address the client’s hot buttons.


Develop your approach

Develop your approach as a team so you have buy-in from everyone. You’ll want to start this

process early on in the pursuit so you can have initial pricing discussions with the client and test

your approach and value proposition (see Propose—Develop your pricing approach,

propose and test pricing with buyers).

Here are some winning practices to consider as you plan your approach:

• Know who’s going to be at the negotiation table: Don’t assume the client you deal with day-to-day

will be the same person you’re negotiating with. It could be someone you don’t know as well with a different

negotiating style, such as Procurement who will have a very different agenda than the client buyer group.

• Plan a strategy: That includes your best/acceptable/worst case positions, assumptions, and non-

negotiables (your ‘must-haves’) based on what you are trying to achieve.

− Know your ‘must-haves’ —the outcome you have to achieve to accept the deal. These determine your

bottom line.

− Agree as a team on your bottom line margins and walk-away point and don’t get drawn below that line. It’s

easy for profits to become quickly eroded in a negotiation if the team isn’t cohesive on this point.

− Be prepared to discuss any critical conditions that impact your assumptions.

• Think through your ‘tradeables’: Things you’re willing to trade. Having this list coming in is a powerful

negotiation strategy as opposed to simply giving in. This is an essential element and one we frequently miss

out on because we’re either unprepared or don’t have the proper mindset.

− Knowing the firm’s commitment to unwavering quality, think about what you’re willing to give up without

sacrificing on quality, with an eye toward what you can potentially get in return (for example, the cap rate

on out-of-pocket expenses).

− What you can get will depend on how the client values the item, so you need to understand what your

tradeables are worth.

− Prioritize your list understanding some of these will have a tangible cost.

• Identify things to ask for that are high value to you and easy for them to give.

• Identify things to offer that are easy and “low cost” for you to give up that would be of high value

to them.

• Plan to lead with an item that’s of low cost to you and of high value to them.

87 Close

Tips & tactics Understand their position

Before you make a concession, first attempt to

persuade. Work to understand their true interests

and position, then demonstrate how your

approach aligns to that position. If you must make

a concession, always ask for something in return.

In all client negotiations, our ‘non-negotiable’ as a firm is that we do not negotiate changes that will impact quality.

Pursuit: Creating Opportunities and Winning Work™ l Your Guide to The Art of Pursuit 88 Close

• Be ready to demonstrate your value proposition in a quantifiable way so the client appreciates the

value they get for the fees they pay. Emphasize your key differentiators and communicate their value and

relevance to the client in terms they understand.

• Determine if there are some pricing options or alternatives to offer the client based on what you

know. If the client is particularly price sensitive, be ready to describe options that would create a lower fee

without compromising on quality. Consider things like using alternative delivery centers (GDCs, etc.),

revisiting what the client will do vs. what PwC will do, looking at off-peak periods, and offering inducements

to start right away.

• Get insights from other account teams about how competitors have been approaching recent

negotiations.

“Our competitors are thinking up creative ways around pricing, putting some fees at risk and some ‘skin’ in the game.”

—PwC Partner


It’s time to negotiate

Proper preparation goes a long way in making our negotiations successful; however, the ‘proof in the pudding’ is

in the negotiation itself. To help you think about how the flow of your negotiation should go, here’s a snapshot of

the five stages of negotiating:

• Prepare: Understanding we might not always be in the driver’s seat when it comes to directing the flow of

a negotiation, if we prepare thoroughly, have a well-thought-out strategy, and enter the negotiation with a

collaborative mindset, we’ll have the best chance for a ‘win-win’ negotiation.

• Open: The opening sets the tone for the negotiation. Subtle things such as where we sit could affect the

negotiation outcome—for example, if we sit directly across from the person we’re negotiating with, it feels

more ‘us vs. them’ than if we sit adjacently.

The opening is where we have a chance to share insight, demonstrate our understanding of the client’s issues,

and share our initial point of view. The opening also is where someone has to start by putting a stake in the

ground—and the other party usually then counters that opening.

Prepare • Understand their issues

• Review the landscape; clarify what you need and value; strategize and plan your approach

• Develop a compelling value proposition

Open • Demonstrate your understanding of their issues and share your initial point of view

• Both parties share insights about their opening positions

Discover • Validate their needs relative to the negotiation by actively listening and asking open-ended questions

• Strategically share insights about PwC’s needs

Explore • Co-develop a ‘win-win’ outcome for both parties

Close • Nail down the final agreement and identify and agree on next steps

89 Close

Where applicable, avoid leaving contractual discussions until the closing stages of negotiations, treating it as a hand-off to attorneys. This can result in delays and frustrations while critical contractual points are addressed—and has even been a deal-breaker in some situations. Involve legal counsel early on and draft the contract in parallel or as an integral part of negotiations.


• Open (continued): One of the biggest questions people have is, “Who should open the negotiation—PwC or

the client?” There isn’t one answer that fits every situation; however, understand that if the client opens the

negotiation, we will relinquish some control. The person who opens often ‘anchors’ the discussion. If the

client opens and says, “We can’t spend more than [$]” then we end up negotiating around [$]. If PwC opens

first, we’ll be the one to set the initial stage and direction for the negotiation, so it’s critical to be armed with

a well-planned opening position that includes some room for negotiation. Virtually no one will accept the

first offer, so plan to stay neutral when you receive pushback. Acknowledge the client’s objection, and then

listen carefully and clarify by asking open-ended questions to get a full understanding of the client’s

counter-opening.

• Discover: The more time we invest in the Discover stage, the greater the reward, as our goal is to gain as full

an understanding of the client’s interests and needs relative to the negotiation as possible. In Discover, we

dig deeper into the clients’ interests, validate the client’s point of view and demands by asking open-ended

questions to truly understand the underlying needs behind them. This is where we find out more about their

objection to create a solution and get to a more collaborative approach. Discover is also where we start to share

our needs relative to the negotiation and to share insights about the value of what we’re offering.

• Explore: Explore is where we co-develop with the client to work out a ‘win-win’ agreement. This is where

we give and take with the client and negotiate terms to get to a point where both parties feel satisfied with

the arrangement.

• Close: Close is where we nail down the final agreement and agree on next steps.

90 Close

Tips & tactics Open first as an anchor

Adversarial negotiators often try to anchor the

negotiations in a place that is unreasonable/unfair,

and it can take a long time to re-anchor the

discussion at a more appropriate level. If you

anticipate an adversarial counterpart, you may

want to state your opening position first to anchor

the negotiations in a more reasonable place.

“As client service professionals concerned most about delivering value and protecting our client relationships, we are very reticent to say ‘no’ to our clients. If we agree on a bad deal for the firm, it’s likely to also be bad for the client and the relationship when we can't get the resources, deliver to the level expected, and address issues that will arise.”



Negotiating Tool

Tips to apply when negotiating

• Come fully prepared with a strategy and goal in mind.

• Seek a ‘win-win’ outcome for all parties.

• Consider what you know about the competition and their likely offering and strategy.

• Look to focus on your value proposition and your differential.

• Avoid opening with your lowest offer. Expect some negotiation and leave some room to maneuver.

• Avoid accepting their first offer.

• Understand your margins and know your walk-away point.

• Understand their interests (why?) vs. the positions they’re taking (what?) and what they are trying to achieve before

making any concessions.

• Avoid negotiating with yourself or making concessions too early. Resist the urge to cut fees before considering options and

alternatives.

• When you make a concession, move slowly and look to get something in return (as appropriate with our professional

obligations). Have your list of ‘tradeables’ handy.

• Be flexible and offer options or alternatives, if needed, that can satisfy the client’s interests as well as ours.

• When disagreements occur or you’re faced with difficult personalities, separate the ‘people’ from the ‘problem’ and focus

on the issue at hand. Seek objective criteria to resolve differences, if available.

• Ask the right questions and actively listen to their answers. Avoid talking too much.

• Maintain neutral tone and body language. Avoid coming across like you want it too much.

• Keep the tone of the meeting collaborative and respect the views and opinions of others. Avoid having too strong of a point

of view or taking an adversarial approach. If things get too heated, suggest a break.

• Summarize at the end to ensure clear understanding of next steps.

“An inexperienced prepared negotiator will win over an experienced unprepared negotiator 90% of the time.”

—Harvard Business Review




Handling objections in negotiations

As with any client interaction, as you go through the negotiating steps with the client, you’ll naturally encounter

some objections along the way. The Pursuit Handling Objections model further discussed in Interact –

Conduct a great meeting - Resolve objections and learn something in the process helps you

neutrally acknowledge the client’s objection and clarify what their true concern is so you can respond more

effectively to the issue they’ve raised.

You’ll want to Acknowledge the client’s objection or concern, then Clarify with good open-ended questions,

which then allows us to Respond in a much more effective and relevant way — and then to remember to

Validate your response satisfied their concern.

Here are some examples of some clarifying questions you might ask (for non-attest engagement opportunities):

• “What aspect of our [fees/approach/staffing] is causing you concern?”

• “Which areas are less of a priority for you? Which would you consider more important, X or Y?”

• “What should we remove from our scope to get the cost closer to what you’re looking for?”

• “If we don’t do X—which would lower your fees—how would you feel about moving forward with that plan?”

Listen carefully to their responses and ask additional questions if needed. Then respond by testing some options

with them and/or offer to negotiate on some points. For example:

• “Based on what you said, what would you think about this option to run the engagement with X resources...?

• “Here are three approaches that get you to where you need to be in slightly different ways. Let’s talk about

how well you feel they get you to your goals….”

Acknowledge Clarify Respond Validate

When faced with an objection during a negotiation, seek objective criteria to resolve differences.

“These skills are essential for building strong relationships at our clients where we have issues and objections that inevitably come up.”

— PwC Partner



What’s different about negotiating with Procurement?

If you find yourself negotiating terms and fees with Procurement, recognize negotiating with procurement

professionals is very different than negotiating with your decision-makers on the business side. Often skilled in

the art of negotiation, they come to the table well-prepared with a specific agenda and will likely ask pointed

questions such as: “How did you arrive at your pricing?”

Procurement tends to see suppliers as somewhat interchangeable, so our goal is to help them see the value and

uniqueness of our offering or solution. Be ready to articulate your overall value proposition clearly and

convincingly (using Issue, Action, Impact) as a ‘total cost’ or bottom line calculation with price as just one factor.

Have the facts, figures and real life examples to back up your statements. Discuss key differentiators outside of

price and their value and relevance to Procurement.

In addition, clients are increasingly outsourcing their procurement function to third party vendors. In these

situations, it’s even more important to come prepared and ready to explain the value we bring and why our rates

vary between client and engagements. They are likely to know our rate history with various clients and

engagements as well as those of our competitors and will be focused on achieving results for the client.

E-auctions are also becoming a popular tool used by procurement organizations to force transparency and drive

prices lower. While we generally believe these processes commoditize our offerings and destroy established

relationships, we must come prepared and with a well-thought out strategy, or accelerate the race to the bottom

on pricing.

For additional guidance and tools to help you negotiate effectively with Procurement, see the Winning with

Procurement Series which includes specific “how-to” guides on negotiating with Procurement, navigating

reverse auctions, and important things to consider when a 3rd party procurement vendor is running the process.

93


“One of the biggest challenges with Procurement is overcoming the lack of differentiation other than price with at least one, if not multiple, vendors.”


Close





Conduct a formal debrief

How did PwC measure up?

After the decision’s been made, it’s important to conduct a formal debrief with the client—as soon as practically

possible before details get ‘hazy.’ This is equally important whether we win or lose. By taking the time to

understand the client’s perspective on our pursuit efforts (good or bad), we can learn more about our

relationships and how our clients want us to interact with them, how we stacked up against our competitors, and

how we can improve our approach so we can better demonstrate value in the future. It gives us the chance to

fully understand how we differentiated PwC and where we could have done better. This information can then be

leveraged both on future opportunities at this client, as well as for proposals with other clients—so it’s important

to update Iris with the debrief results.

Recent client debriefs indicate these are some of these things that have helped us win:

• Customizing solutions and continually sharing insights through each Pursuit

• Showcasing the actual delivery team

• Demonstrating we listened through our actions

• Providing the right references

• Ensuring initial phases of work are completed to meet and exceed client expectations

What’s in it for the client?

Our clients appreciate being heard, and the debrief process lets them see we’ve taken the time to listen to their

point of view and show how important they are to PwC. And by providing their honest feedback, our clients help

us continuously improve our service delivery and meet (and exceed) their expectations.

Who can debrief your client?

Independent Client Debriefs are especially effective because they’re conducted independent of the engagement

team, so our clients can be more candid. Our National Debrief Team and selected partners in each of the markets

conduct these debriefs. For more information and to schedule your client debrief, reach out to the Market

and Competitive Intelligence team or your MSML to help you get started.

94 Close

“PwC had just released new tax operations software. This was a clear differentiator that was very important to the client…and would have “visibility into the process” and understanding of the status of the returns. PwC’s system was clearly better than the competition’s (more user-friendly and cutting edge).”

—Client Debrief on why we won

Tips & tactics Learn from independent debrief

summaries

Independent Debrief Summaries available on

the US Market and Competitive Intelligence Team

Spark page provide insight into how clients are

responding to us.

“Although PwC had a more detailed understanding of what was needed, other decision makers felt that they were getting more for their money by hiring a smaller boutique firm.”

—Client Debrief on why we lost

https://pwc-spark.com/groups/marketing-sales-market-and-competitive-intelligence-team-us







Ex

ce

ed

ex

pe

cta

tio

ns

Exceed Expectations

Creating a client experience that delivers value and differentiates PwC from our competitors

Congratulations! You’ve successfully closed the deal and now it’s time for the most rewarding part of a pursuit to begin.

Delivering a quality engagement that exceeds our client’s expectations completes the pursuit cycle and positions us to build

relationships and seek new opportunities to add quality and value.

Our commitment to deliver compels each of us to exceed our clients’

expectations each day as we develop and manage relationships with our

clients, pursue new opportunities, and deliver our services. We want our

clients to say and feel, every day and everywhere: “My relationship with

PwC helps create the value I’m looking for.” Those aren’t just empty words—

it’s our brand promise!

Delivering quality, value, and exceeding client expectations is something to

strive for continuously throughout the pursuit cycle and is the foundation for

building long-term sustainable relationships with our clients. It starts the

first day we decide to pursue an opportunity and/or develop a longer-term

relationship, recognizing that any touch point we have with the client—

whether pursuing or delivering work—is an opportunity to create a positive

(or negative) perception with the client. And just as we prepare for all our

meetings to win the work, it’s important to maintain that momentum as we

move into the delivery stage. It goes a long way with our clients when we

show that our desire to deliver value and exceed expectations lives on both

sides of the sales cycle.

At a glance: Exceeding

clients’ expectations

happens throughout

every step of a pursuit,

and it’s a mindset we

maintain over the

lifecycle of an account.

95

The PwC team is genuinely invested in our success, knowledgeable about our business and has a breadth of experience with the issues challenging our businesses… they always exceed my expectations and time frames.”

—Client Experience Survey Respondent


Elements that build a distinctive client experience

96 Exceed Expectations

Let’s look at how we create value and deliver a customized experience for our clients by building on three

important components:

Quality product/service: The first is the core product. It’s the audit. It’s the tax project. It’s the advisory project. Our work

product has to be high quality—we know that. Quality is absolutely essential to our brand, reputation and success. It’s

foundational and ‘job one.’ Clients expect this from all their providers and it’s something we demand of ourselves. Without

quality, we don’t deliver value and will struggle to build trust-based relationships. However, because the market expects

all the firms to deliver high quality, it can be difficult to differentiate between the firms solely on quality.

Value-add: The second is delivering value-add. We may know what they want, and deliver on time and on budget, but we

have to think beyond that. To truly differentiate PwC in this market, we must build on quality and look for ways to exceed

our clients’ expectations. We should continually ask ourselves, “What will make PwC stand out? What value can we add

as a firm?” These things go beyond the core product, including leveraging our global network, industry expertise,

business insights, thought leadership, comments and observations on controls and processes, and benchmarking. While

these things can help us look different, other firms can do them as well so we must build even further.

Experiential: When we add this third piece, bringing all three of these important elements together, we have the

opportunity to set ourselves apart from our competitors and become truly distinctive. The ‘experiential’ refers to how we

deliver our services in a customized way for our clients—things like our attitude, how we communicate, listen and execute

on the three client principles, and the professionalism we bring to every issue and interaction demonstrating respect and

independent perspective.

When we put all three elements together, we have the opportunity to create a unique value proposition for our

clients. To be effective, the value-add has to be relevant, and the experiential needs to be customized. It’s not so

much what we do as how we do it.

Quality

product

(meets or

exceeds

specs and

expectations)

Value add

deliverables

(insights,

expertise,

feedback )

Experiential

(attitude,

communication,

professionalism

listening)

Foundational

Client

perceived

value

Expected Different Distinctive

Relevant Customized

“I think the reason we have such a good working relationship with our client is the fact that we communicate a lot, we check in often, we ask them for feedback on what’s going well, what’s not going well, and what can we change…and we adjust.”

—PwC Partner

“If you build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

—Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com


Making it happen—understanding what’s meaningful and most important to our clients and stakeholders

So, how do we make all this happen?

First, it’s important to realize that value is in the eye of the beholder. Each of our stakeholders will have different

views on value based on the outcomes they’re looking for. For example, our clients include the board, audit

committees and management, all of whom have a view on value which needs to be considered.

To effectively deliver on their expectations—and exceed them —we have to understand what the value is from

their perspective. To do this, we have to view everything we do through a client lens. What’s most important to

them? What are their biggest challenges? How can PwC meet their needs? What do they seek from their

relationship with PwC?

Three Client Principles can play a key role

In addition to asking ourselves—and the client—these questions, the three client principles (3CPs) offer an

excellent opportunity to make sure we understand expectations and the definition of value, and consider the

client’s point of view.

Principle #1

Understand and mutually agree on

client expectations of value

Principle #2

Receive periodic

feedback from clients

Principle #3

Engage with clients

around the value

delivered

Commitment: It starts with seeking the client’s input upfront regarding expectations, gaining an

understanding of their perceptions of value, and agreeing on and committing to what and how we’re going to

deliver.

Feedback: We then follow up by asking for their feedback along the way, formally and informally, and then

acting on that feedback.

Value: Sharing and agreeing the value PwC provides in a meaningful and impactful way is another effective

way to ensure we’re on the right track.

Doing these three steps not only gives us more information about what’s important to the client, it actually helps

us demonstrate relevance, build trust, improve quality, and enhance the overall relationship. When we engage

with our clients on all 3CP elements, we’re much more likely to foster promoters, and ultimately, delivering the

PwC experience and higher growth rates on our accounts.

Relationships provide us the opportunity to learn more about each of our clients, what’s important to them, their priorities, goals, and motivations—as well as their business issues and risks. This allows us to better execute, deliver quality, and bring more value for their organization and stakeholders.

97 Exceed Expectations

“Our data shows us very clearly those teams that effectively engage around the three client principles have higher Net Promoter and Brand Health Index (BHI) scores which directly correlates with higher revenue growth.”

—Client Experience Leader


Pursuit Master Tool—xLoS, PCS and Assurance


Moving Issues to Opportunities Tool

Pricing Strategies Tools—Advisory, Tax, PCS,

Risk Assurance, Transaction Services & Assurance

Negotiating Tool

Increasing Your Success with Client References Tool

Preparing for Orals Tools–Advisory, Tax, PCS, Risk

Assurance, Transaction Services & Assurance

Competitive Analysis Tool

Writing the Proposal Tool


Following up from the Meeting Tool

Getting the Meeting Tool

Preparing for the Meeting Tool


Pursuit tools

98 Supporting tools































© 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the United States member

firm, and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity.

Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

pursuit guide-powerpoint presentation

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