At first, it’s hard to contemplate the client hiring us without a presentation. The presentation seems like a natural and necessary step, until we ponder the question: “How would we conduct ourselves in the meeting if we were not allowed to present?” Without a presentation, all that is left is conversation—intermingled talking and listening un-separated by one party performing for the other.

Once we decide we will no longer pitch our ideas for free, what is left for us to present? Credentials? The most basic information about our firm already listed on our website? Surely we can convey these points in a conversation, without the need of a podium, projector or props.

Once we have eliminated our own need to present, the only reasons left to do so are the client’s. But on this, the client shall not have his way. He may not recognize it yet, but the presentation serves neither our interests nor his.

Presenting is a tool of swaying, while conversing is a tool of weighing. Through the former we try to convince people to hire us. Through the latter we try to determine if both parties would be well served by working together.

The tone of a conversation, in which both parties endeavor to make an honest assessment of the fit between one’s need and the other’s expertise, is entirely different from the tone of a presentation, in which one party tries to convince the other to hire her. Presentations build buying resistance; conversations lower it.