Everyone loves to talk about themselves. And agency pitch teams are no exception.

We've seen many debates ignite amongst pitch teams as they battle the addiction of adding more content to pitch presentations. The collective energy of the team reflects a flawed approach to persuasion: "The more we cover, the better we increase our odds of hitting on something that will land with the prospect. The more we can say, the more we're selling."

However, the opposite is true. It's human nature to want to feel listened to... to feel understood. Give prospects an experience of feeling understood. Ask them questions. Ask them to clarify. Ask them to tell you stories. Whether you are conducting a capabilities session or a final pitch presentation, the more you interact with the prospect, the more they'll be personally invested in your point of view.

There is a direct correlation between the percentage of time that a prospect talks and the odds of you winning that business. In a capabilities session, your goal should be to have the client contributing at least 50 - 75% of the allotted time. As you have more of a POV to communicate in the final pitch presentation, you can drop that goal some: the client should talk at least 20% of the allotted time.

A few steps you can take:

1) First, focus on HOW you'll tell the story (vs. what you want to tell): develop a custom, flexible pitch deck template that incorporates the fundamentals of storytelling and a focus on pragmatic business impact. Develop your persuasion approach, then incorporate the content.

2) The onus is on you to create opportunities that engage the client: whether or not the prospect offers them, build discovery sessions into your pitch process.

3) Turn your "capabilities presentation" into a "capabilities session" - a working session that engages the client about their key business and marketing challenges. In a way that commands the room, lead the prospect in a diagnostic discussion.

4) In your capabilities sessions, keep "the agency overview" to no more than 15 minutes (they already have a level of understanding of what an agency does). More importantly, there is not a lot that is truly unique about your agency. Another reason to stop talking and start listening.

As we recently heard from one of our clients: Whoever talks the most feels like it was a great meeting.