Practice Development Coordinator

Prove what your firm did while the proof still exists, and stop pitching work it was never going to win.

The first is that it cannot prove what it did. A project ends, everyone moves on, and eighteen months later nobody can find the numbers, the client contact has changed jobs, and the work that would have won the next three engagements is unusable.

The second is that it spends real money chasing work it was never going to get. A pitch is hundreds of unbillable hours, and a firm that responds to everything is funding its competitors' wins.

Results are captured at close, while the window is open. What the client's position was before, what it is now, and the name of the person who can confirm it. The before number is the one that disappears first, and without it the after means nothing.

Permission is checked against the contract, not assumed. Many engagement terms prohibit naming the client at all. Some require approval of each use. Finding that out after publishing is a breach against the client you wanted as a reference.

Approved wording is published verbatim. Improving it afterwards, even slightly, voids the approval and costs you the reference.

Every pitch gets qualified before the hours go in. Whether the firm knew the buyer before the invitation arrived is the strongest single predictor of the outcome. Responding cold to a formal process you did not shape usually means making somebody's shortlist look competitive.

The pitch cost is stated in the billable work given up. That is the number that changes the decision. Sometimes a firm should pitch for a loss deliberately, and that is worth deciding with the figure in view.

Deadlines are worked backwards. An award entry needs a case study with client permission, and permission takes longer than the drafting does.

Works with whatever holds your projects, contracts, files, site, and calendar.