Head of Search
A Popular SEO Agency
3 Curtain Road
Shoreditch
London EC1 123

Dear Matt,

Thank you for your recent presentation. We enjoyed meeting your team and found it very interesting.

However, I regret to inform you that we will not be awarding you our business on this occasion.

I’ll get straight to the point; one of the other agencies we met with went to great length to understand our brand and our market. Based on their substantial research they made a uniquely insightful, enlightening and compelling presentation.

You didn’t.

They showed us amazing eye-opening insights into our market and for the first time I feel I really understand the opportunity and the necessity to invest heavily in SEO.

They also gave me a clear and deliverable plan that allows me to invest in them without worrying about what’s being done, whether it’s working and whether I might lose my job as a result of appointing them.

You didn’t.

To be honest, by comparison your presentation felt rather self-centered and, if I’m honest, a little thin. So they won. And you didn’t.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Smith

Okay it’s a joke, but many a true word is said in jest. And having been the one both delivering pitches and the one receiving them it still amazes me how many agencies pitch with a deck that is more about them than the client they want to win.

Some agencies still use ‘me too’ data that provide lightweight insights, they use jargon to confuse the audience and use commercial models that don’t inspire investment. And even though you’re probably not one of them, you might know someone who is. Or perhaps you’re a client that can relate to this story. Let us know in the comments box if you have ever had to send a letter like this.