Your Best Pitch May Not Feel Like a Pitch at All

In recent business development trainings, we have noticed lawyers getting caught up in the idea of a “formal pitch” and, as a result, sounding more scripted than strategic.

The line between a formal pitch and an informal business development conversation is increasingly blurred. Whether you are meeting with a current client about expanding the relationship or speaking with a new prospect, the strongest conversations are not about proving how much you know. If you have the meeting, it is assumed you are a smart, capable lawyer. The real opportunity is to build rapport, understand what matters most to the client, and create a conversation they want to continue.

Set yourself up for success before the meeting:

• Give the meeting a clear purpose. Everyone on your team should understand the objective of the conversation, whether it is to win a specific piece of work or to learn more about the client’s needs and priorities so you are better positioned for future opportunities.
• Align as a team. If you are pitching as a group, make sure everyone understands how they fit together. Read each other’s bios, know who has relevant experience, and agree on how you will transition between topics. The client should experience the team as coordinated, not as a collection of individual lawyers each trying to make their own case.
• Assign clear roles and responsibilities. Decide who will open, who will lead certain topics, who will ask which questions, who will manage time, and who will close. Each person in the room should also have a reason to be there, whether that is sharing relevant experience, asking a specific question, or listening for a particular client need.
• Research what matters to the client. Use publicly available resources to understand the client’s business priorities, industry dynamics, leadership changes, litigation trends, recent transactions, or other relevant developments. Then use that insight to ask better questions.
• Prepare thoughtful questions. Do not just prepare what you want to say. Prepare what you want to learn. Each person should come with a few open-ended questions that invite the client to talk about priorities, expectations, concerns, decision criteria, or what success would look like.
• Practice enough to sound natural. The goal is not to script the meeting. The goal is to make sure the team is aligned enough that the conversation feels seamless to the client. A good run-through helps avoid repetition, awkward transitions, and missed opportunities while still allowing the meeting to feel conversational and responsive.

During the meeting, keep the focus on the client:

• Start with a brief agenda, then give the client control. At the beginning of the meeting, share a simple agenda and ask whether it resonates. Give the client the opportunity to jump ahead, redirect the discussion, or raise something more pressing.
• Listen more than you talk. Aim for the client to do most of the talking. Ask open-ended questions, really listen, and ask follow-up questions that help you understand what the client really needs, not just what you assumed they needed. “Tell me more about that” is an effective prompt to dig deeper.
• Avoid letting materials dominate the meeting. Glossy decks and PowerPoints often distract from the conversation, especially if they were not specifically requested. Tailored materials that respond to what you heard in the meeting are often a more useful as a follow-up.
• Honor the time contract. Clients often have back-to-back meetings and hard stops, so managing the clock is an important way to show respect for their time. Do not let the meeting simply run out of time. Save the final five minutes to reflect what you heard, confirm priorities, identify next steps, and make clear how you will follow up.

After the meeting, follow up:

• Follow up in a way that makes the next step easy. Do not put the burden on the client to keep the conversation moving. Send a thoughtful follow-up message that reflects what you heard, answers open questions, provides any useful materials, and makes the next step clear.

The best pitches often do not feel like pitches at all. They feel like thoughtful, relevant conversations with a team that is prepared, aligned, and focused on the client.