Winning new business takes a lot of time and effort. There are a number of ways to make sure that you lose it, including not doing enough research into the people and the business, ignoring the brief and budget constraints, and lack of preparation for the pitch meeting.

More clients are pushing for performance-related-pay (PRP) schemes with their suppliers. But too often neither they nor their suppliers are clear about how they should be set up. The best schemes are those which are custom-built, evolve over time and reflect the reality of the client/supplier relationship.