Your proposal may contain a brilliant strategy.
But if the Executive Summary doesn't make the decision-maker want to keep reading, the strategy may never get the chance to win.

After more than 20 years writing proposals for major multinational companies and leading brands including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries, Reckitt Benckiser, Sony and dozens of others, one lesson has become unmistakably clear:

Most pitches are not lost during the presentation.

They are lost before the presentation - in the Executive Summary.

The Executive Summary is often treated as a brief introduction to a proposal.

It shouldn't be.

It is the most important piece of persuasion in the document.

It is where a busy executive decides whether your proposal deserves their attention, whether your team understands their problem, and whether they should continue reading.

Win the Pitch Before the Presentation is a practical guide to getting this critical part right.

What if your next proposal could make the decision-maker want to read the rest?

This book shows you how.

Build an Executive Summary that sells the strategy

Discover the five-element architecture that separates a strategic Executive Summary from a document that merely describes what your agency intends to do.

Turn information into persuasion

Your Executive Summary isn't supposed to tell the reader everything.

It's supposed to make the reader care about what comes next.

Learn how to decide what belongs in the summary, what should be left out, and how to create a compelling argument within limited space.

See exactly what needs to change

The book includes a practical Rewrite Lab, featuring before-and-after examples that demonstrate how ordinary proposal language can be transformed into sharper, more persuasive Executive Summary writing.

Audit your proposal before you submit it

Use the 25-point Executive Summary Audit Checklist to identify weaknesses before your proposal reaches the client.

Inside the Book

01 - The Psychology of the Executive Reader

Understand the mindset of the person sitting on the other side of your proposal.

02 - The Executive Summary as a Sales Document

Why your Executive Summary is much more than an introduction.

03 - The Five-Element Architecture

A practical framework for constructing an Executive Summary that communicates strategically rather than operationally.

04 - Writing for Decision-Makers

How to communicate complex ideas with clarity, relevance and commercial intelligence.

05 - The Rewrite Lab

Real before-and-after examples showing how weak writing can be transformed into stronger proposal language.

06 - The 25-Point Audit

A practical checklist to use before submitting your next proposal.

Who Is This Book For?

PR Professionals

For professionals who write agency pitches, corporate proposals, communication strategies and client presentations.

Marketing Professionals

For marketers who need to persuade clients, management teams, partners and stakeholders.

Communication Executives

For communication professionals responsible for turning strategy into compelling business proposals.

Agency Leaders & Consultants

For professionals whose ability to win new business depends on the quality of their proposals.

PR & Marketing Students

For students who want to learn proposal writing from professional experience rather than theory alone.

Young Professionals

For anyone who wants to develop one of the most commercially valuable writing skills in the communications industry.

Why This Book Is Different

There are countless books about marketing.

There are books about public relations.

There are books about presentation skills.

But Win the Pitch Before the Presentation focuses on a much narrower - and frequently overlooked - part of the business:

The few pages that can determine whether anyone reads the rest of your proposal.

This is not a theoretical textbook.

It is a practical professional toolkit built from more than two decades of experience writing proposals for some of the world's biggest brands.

Don't Let a Great Strategy Die in the Executive Summary

You may have:

The right strategy.

The right research.

The right creative idea.

The right team.

The right budget.

But if your Executive Summary fails to communicate the value of your proposal quickly and convincingly, the decision-maker may never get far enough to discover any of it.

Learn how to make those first pages count.

"The business is rarely lost in the strategy section. It is lost in the Executive Summary."

A final note from the author

I began working on this book because, after more than two decades in the profession, I noticed a gap that is easy to overlook.

Professionals are taught how to develop strategies. They are taught how to create campaigns. They are taught how to present.

But far less attention is given to the document that often determines whether the strategy gets the opportunity to be considered in the first place.

The Executive Summary deserves better.

I wrote this book to share what experience has taught me - in a practical format that professionals can use immediately.

If you write proposals, pitch for business, develop communication strategies or aspire to work in PR, marketing or corporate communications, this book was written for you.

— Dr. Desmond Ekeh PhD