This time we're discussing pitches. Not the dark, viscous residue from tar, or the frantic movements of a ship in high seas but the arduous process that companies use to choose their advisors.

They are a (terrible?) feature of our lives, require huge amounts of work from both in-house and agency teams and take up a lot of everyone's time. Agencies are often suspicious that pitches are fixed before they even get in the room. Clients often worry that they are only meeting the pitch team or that the procurement team is forcing them to look at other firms when they are quite happy with their current advisor.

So how can we make pitches work for everyone? How can clients get the best out of every agency they meet? How can advisors make sure that they are putting their best feet forward? What can go wrong with a pitch? How can the pitching process be made less arduous? What can agencies and in-house teams do to set the foundations for a great pitch?

We'd love to hear your pitching stories - the good, the bad and the funny. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]

This edition of the Little Questions podcast is presented by Anthony Silverman.

Anthony is an Apella Founder Partner who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando's. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Returning to the podcast is Apella Founder Partner James Acheson-Gray, who has acted as a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. James has over 20 years' experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. He was managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019 and is a former Board Director of the Queen's Club.

Making his debut on this edition of The Little Questions is Apella Director, Sam Bevans. As an experienced communications director, specialising in campaign strategy and planning Sam has 18 years of experience working across media, technology, healthcare, energy, FMCG, financial services, professional services, and the public sector. Previous clients include AstraZeneca, Capita, The Co-operative Bank, Drax, UBS and Volkswagen.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk