It all began one Wednesday afternoon. A former espresso employee—who is now a communications officer in a well-known organization (whose name I’ll keep hush-hush for confidentiality reasons)—called me up on the phone:

“Olivier, we have this great project that my boss would like to work on with a new agency. I suggested she meet with you. I told her how original and creative you are,” she said (I swear those were her words!). “Are you interested?”

“Of course I’m interested! Where should we go from here? Should I come see you? Do you want to come here? Should I throw something together?”

“Well I should first mention that she plans to meet with at least three different agencies. It’s not a pitch but she wants to meet with you, get a feel for the place, see if it’s a good fit between our company and yours, etc.”

“Understood. No problem. What dates are good for you?”

“How’s next Monday?”

I quickly check my calendar, knowing full well I’ll be saying yes no matter what.

“Monday’s great! How many will you be?”

“Three—my boss, the project manager, and me. Does three o’clock work?”

“Great. We’ll be expecting you. See you Monday!”

I hang up, excited. The company is quite well known and would be a great addition to our portfolio. I gather the troops.

“OK, gang—we have a pretty important meeting here next Monday. I want everyone on board. We’re going to show the clients around the office, so please clean up the junk on your desks—got that, Julien?”

And we’re off. We decide on some portfolio elements to present; prepare material to leave with the client; write an outline for the presentation—nothing too complicated, but still.

Monday rolls around. The clients show up right on time. The presentation—while slightly formal—goes pretty well. The discussions are good; everyone is friendly. After two hours, the delegation leaves our office. That’s when doubt creeps in.

As for the rest of the story, I’ll let the slideshow do the talking. Click here.

Please note that for confidentiality purposes, the client’s name has been visually bleeped out.