As an agency search consultant, Rachel Huff, President and Founder of Victoire & Co, builds brand-agency partnerships that drive long-term success. With a keen understanding of clients’ communications and business needs and a network of trusted marketing and communications agency connections, she guides companies toward their best agency fit. Prior to founding Victoire & Co, Rachel spent more than a decade at agencies, including on the accounting side, developing integrated communications campaigns for brands including John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, DraftKings, and CVS.
In this episode, Rachel talks through her career journey and the agency world she was in for many years before founding her company, Victoire & Co. Rachel defines and decodes what an RFP (Request for Proposal) is for listeners and walks them through various types of proposals. She offers tips on how to create an effective RFP, how to submit a winning RFP proposal, what opportunities are worth pursuing, and more.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
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As an agency search consultant, Rachel Huff, President and Founder of Victoire & Co, builds brand-agency partnerships that drive long-term success. With a keen understanding of clients’ communications and business needs and a network of trusted marketing and communications agency connections, she guides companies toward their best agency fit. Prior to founding Victoire & Co, Rachel spent more than a decade at agencies, including on the accounting side, developing integrated communications campaigns for brands including John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, DraftKings, and CVS.
In this episode, Rachel talks through her career journey and the agency world she was in for many years before founding her company, Victoire & Co. Rachel defines and decodes what an RFP (Request for Proposal) is for listeners and walks them through various types of proposals. She offers tips on how to create an effective RFP, how to submit a winning RFP proposal, what opportunities are worth pursuing, and more.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
Listener Links:
Lexie Smith
Hey guys, I’m Lexie Smith, a mom, multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of THEPRBAR inc. coaching platform and agency. In my career, I’ve had the privilege of guiding countless brands, ingenious publicists, eager students, and ambitious entrepreneurs on their PR journeys. I’ve danced with the Giants and nurtured startups, directed in-house PR departments, lent my expertise to boards, and spread knowledge across universities nationwide. Throughout all of this, I’ve seen our industry change and evolve while simultaneously proving that some timeless fundamentals remain unshaken. This show takes you behind the scenes of the world of media, marketing, and PR, aiming to teach you all the new tips, tricks and how the best and brightest are achieving success overseas. Now it’s time to grow. Welcome to the show.
Lexie Smith
Rachel Huff, president and founder of Victoire & Co sits at the intersection of the best companies and agencies. As an agency search consultant. Her passion lies in building brand agency partnerships that drive long term success. With a keen understanding of a client's communications and business needs, and a network of trusted marketing and communication agency connections. She guides companies toward their best agency fit. Prior to founding Victoire & Co, Rachel spent more than a decade at agencies including on the account side, developing integrated communications campaigns for brands such as John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, DraftKings and CVS. Now, Rachel and I were connected through a prior client of mine. And I couldn't be more grateful because it led to this conversation and recording here today. So Rachel, welcome officially to the show. I always like to start with where is home base? And what do you like to do outside of work for fun?
Rachel Huff
Sure. Well, thank you so much. First of all, for having me. I'm based in Boston. So today was the first sunny, beautiful day post big snowstorm. Or so I thought and then about an hour ago, there was a crazy hailstorm that came by right in the middle of a client call. So yeah, in Boston, I guess we're used to the crazy, winter weather and always being on our toes. And then the second part of your question, what do I like to do for fun, so I have a four and a seven year old. So they keep me busy, I have a limited amount of time for fun outside of just hanging out with them. But I tend to do a lot of cooking. And I am a vegetarian. I've been vegetarian since I was four years old. So lots of like always looking for cool, different, unique ways to incorporate veggies and fun healthy foods into my diet. But the interesting thing is I don't, I love experimenting with new dishes and recipes. But I don't actually really follow recipes. So I'm very like, I think it sometimes pains people, because they'll ask me for a recipe for a dish that I made. I'm like, I have no idea why they made that. But I'll do a lot of recipes, I'll get a lot of inspiration from recipes. And then I kind of just make something up based on what I saw, which I actually think will be an interesting segue into sort of how I view some things we'll be talking about, you know, how do you respond to an RFP like not necessarily follow directions, but you don't have to follow them exactly to a T.
Lexie Smith
Interesting. So you're basically a master chef. And ironically, I've been really, I go through phases of shows. And lately over the holidays, I was really into mastership juniors, and it absolutely blows my freaking mind how a six or seven year old can concoct a recipe when I can barely read the back of a freezer bag to understand, is it 18 minutes or 22? I'm very stressed out about that difference. So you have a talent and a skill set. That is nowhere in my DNA. I'm sure your kids are very grateful. My daughter will probably one day call me out. But I do love to eat I will say.
Rachel Huff
Well, I do not call myself a master chef. I'm not claiming that the food that I make is amazing by any means. But I have fun experimenting.
Lexie Smith
That's awesome. So okay, you kind of teed up what we're going to talk about today. But before we get into that, I do want to do a little bit of career cliff notes. So I read your bio. But let's rewind time a little bit. And maybe we can start with I don't know, do you want to start with agency and kind of walk us up to where you are today? And what caused your transition? Or what propelled your transition?
Rachel Huff
Absolutely, yeah. So I spent a lot of my career in the agency, world communications, PR agencies. And one of the things I think that happens when you're in an agency is, you know, you'll be great. Hopefully you're great at doing the work and servicing your clients and doing exactly what it is and more that they're asking you for. But often, one of the ways to move up within an agency is to get involved in an agency world that's called new business. Others might call it business development, but basically the idea of helping bring on new clients to the agency, right and expand the clients and the client roster. So that was something that I always loved doing. I would get you know what some of the really fun counts clients that I worked with that you mentioned previously, I was involved in actually pitching those businesses. So helping the agency win over those clients in the first place. And the more and more that I did that and then got involved in In a pitch process and responding to RFPs, and all the things that go into bringing in new client work, I just really love doing that. And I guess I was pretty good at it, because I ended up stepping into a role doing that for the agency that I was at. And continued doing that for another agency and then ended up launching my own consultancy a few years ago, that initially was very focused on helping agencies continuing helping agencies with their business development and how they market themselves, you know, to hopefully bring on new clients, and have transitioned a little bit where I still do a little bit of that work. But a lot of what I'm doing now is actually the other side of it, serving as a search consultant for brands that are looking for agency partners. So a brand says, Hey, we need a PR agency, or we need help with our social media or our influencer relations. And they bring me in to help them really understand what it is they're looking for. Put that in a brief and then help them identify the right partner. So I think what's interesting is I really have been on both sides of the equation, the agency side of things, and also the client side and kind of understanding the pain points on both sides.
Lexie Smith
I have so many questions, because there, there are so many elements on both sides, that would be helpful to understand how your brain works. And I think you kind of like a little bit teed up in a recipe cooking conversation that you have your own formula of sorts, and we're gonna get into a very specific topic, everyone called an RFP, but pin, pin that for a second because I do want to know, and we'll we'll dress both sides here, maybe some tips you have, or some insight you have on how to identify the best fit. So let's let's start with the brand side, when you're going through the process of finding an agency for brand, I guess what does that look like? And how are you figuring out who is the best fit?
Rachel Huff
Yeah, it's a good question. It's funny, because I think a lot of times when people when brands hear that I'm a search consultant, they think almost that there's and actually agencies will often think this too, they have this notion in their head that I have this is going to this is like such a dated word use but a Rolodex right or like a database of agents
Lexie Smith
Your book, your little black book.
Rachel Huff
Exactly. That's a better one than Rolodex, but sort of this, like, lit like this, this database where I just have these agencies and a client says to me, Oh, we're looking for XYZ, here's our budget, here's exactly what we're looking for. And it's just dididi do, here are the three agencies that are going to be the right fit for you. And I think agencies also I've been getting a lot, a lot of requests recently, from agencies and consultants as well, right, publicists saying, Hey, here's who I am, please, how do I get into your database, I want to be considered for opportunities, searches that you're running, which makes sense. But it's, it's not. That's not my view. And that's not how I run things. It's not this like data, this like very scientific database that I have. And I think my point of view on it and the way that I when I'm working with a brand on a search, we spend so much of our time on the upfront, before we even get to the point of who is the right fit for them. Like before we start to say this specific agency or that specific agency, or this consultant or publicist, it's really, it's really deeply understanding what their business goals and marketing or communications objectives are. And there are a lot of questions. There's a whole discovery process that I have around that, that's really about understanding things like who are the stakeholders within the organization? Who are the folks who not only are going to be working with your partner, day to day, but also what are their what are their goals? What are their hopes and dreams? What are they hoping to see six months down the line a year down the line? What does success look like to them? A lot of questions around that. A lot of questions around. Like I said business goals. It's not just about how, you know, we want to we want oh my goodness, like how many people say we want a feature story in The New York Times and you know, we'll hear a lot of like, unwritten real words. Yeah. Or at least based on the story that they have to tell them what assets they have. But those might be like, they may come to me and say this is what we want. And then I spend a lot of time digging in really deep with them to really get out what's the rationale behind that what's, what's the larger business objective that you're trying to achieve? And really ironing that out with them and then putting it in a brief and you know, this document a written document that outlines everything I heard from all of the different stakeholders that I spoke to within the organization whose say is really important. And then getting and spending a lot of time aligning all the folks internally around that, to make sure that everyone has buy in on that budget measurement, like what are the metrics that the part external partners going to be held? To? What? Like, what assets do we have to work with? What is our story, what's our brand position, all those things, really putting a lot of clarity around that, because that's so important, that's going to inform who the right potential partner is for them, that's gonna inform who I talked to. And that's going to help educate that person and help them likewise, we can talk I hope, we get to talk about this, like help them decide whether it's a good fit for them as well. Because the clearer you can, the brand can be around what it is that they're looking for. The clearer the agency or the publicist or the consultant can be around. Is this a good fit for me as well? Is this a client that I want to work with? And do I think I can be successful? So that's, that's a lot of a lot of where I spend my time.
Lexie Smith
Yeah, I mean, it's so much more involved than what may initially meet the eye to your point, it isn't just a database, you know, you said the word client brief. And that's what's going to tie us into, really the core topic today. And we're gonna call it a few different things. Depending on how long you've been in the industry, depending on if you're an entrepreneur, listening to journalists or if you're a publicist, you may or may not have some, some level of familiarity, but we are going to break it down kind of from a foundational level. So we're all on the same page. Today, we're going to decode RFPs. And I have to start by saying that I used to create or I guess, create the responses for RFPs back in my agency day that we want, took a long break. Now, my team and I pursued a few, two, really two and 2023, that we did not win with no feedback as to why so selfishly, I've been really excited for this episode here kind of circuit 2024 You know, what best practices are? So all that to say, RFP, cool. acronym, what does that mean? What are other things? Break it down for us from a definition standpoint.
Rachel Huff
Yeah, there's a lot of terms that get thrown around. So RFP stands for request for proposals. And I think in particular, this comes up a lot when it comes to like government work. So any sort of government Affiliated Organization, or often even nonprofits will put out a bid, and they'll put out an RFP. And what that means is they're putting out that request to external partners to bid for their business. So put together either saying, Hey, we're looking to hire somebody to do our PR, or, you know, whatever it may be that they're looking for a partner around. And then they're looking for folks to respond to that to put together proposals based on the criteria that they've outlined. So that's one term, I think RFP certainly gets a pretty can get a bad rap from time to time, because I think it evokes this idea of those like government driven or very large organizations, but really big companies have entire departments within them called procurement. We don't that's a whole, that's probably a whole topic for a different day. But, you know, basically departments whose job are putting together these incredibly lengthy RFPs that can be can ask for so many questions that in some cases really don't. Like, it's just you as the person responding to them, you have to jump through a lot of different hoops. And, you know, just go into lots and lots of detail. So, you know, there are certainly those types of RFPs that you probably may want to shy away from, but there's others that are pretty clear, and maybe a one or two page document that just outlines really clearly what the client is looking for. Another term that you may encounter is RFI, which is request for information. And that can sometimes happen when a firm a company is looking to talk to partners and they want to narrow it down without asking for a lot of information. So they may say Hey, can you send us maybe some basic, you know, capabilities or credentials document just a basic overview about about yourself as a partner and why you might be a good fit and some case studies and then based on that, we'll decide whether we want to send you our you know, invite you to the process and send you our RFP so that can be like a nice, interim to, you know, not not have to put together too much information. But yeah, just sort of depending on depending on the organization, the size of the organization, how elaborate and intricate their internal stakeholders are and processes are an RFP or a client where you can look like a lot of different things,
Lexie Smith
a lot of different things. So, you know, the appeal in theory, right, is you're applying for to a client who you know, is looking to hire. That being said, you know, from the discovery standpoint, if you're not invited to participate in an RFP, I guess, question, part one, should you even pursue one like a cold, pursue a cold RFP? And then if so, what are some ways you can go about finding them?
Rachel Huff
Yeah, that's a good question. So I? Well, I do think one, one initial point that I kind of failed to mention is I do feel very strongly that there shouldn't be a brief whether it doesn't need to be called an RFP. But I think if you're pursuing an opportunity, you need to be you need to have something in writing from the client that outlines what it is that they're looking for. And that, to me is a big red flag when a client is having conversations with potential partners and hasn't actually taken the time to put on paper what it is that they're looking for. Because that often signals to me that they're not necessarily very serious about the search, they maybe haven't actually gotten buy in, from the internal, you know, from their CEO, or the CMO, or whoever the internal stakeholders are, they haven't necessarily gotten carved out the budget for to bring on this external partner, and they're just kind of shopping around and seeing what's out there. So that's super important. To your question about pursuing cold opportunities. So I'm a big proponent of not doing that. Only, and what I'll say is only pursuing opportunities that you feel confident that you have a high probability of winning, because in order to really win, or you know, really to succeed, and bringing in the client, you're going to want to and probably need to put in a pretty big investment, whether it's time or actual, you know, resources, it's going to pull you away from your client work, it's going to require a lot of focus, and you want to be all in on the opportunity. And so if you are pursuing opportunities that are cold, that are that you don't have a high likelihood of winning, you're probably wasting a lot of your time. So I think from the sight of the person pursuing or the agency pursuing a client opportunity, I think it warrants a lot of thought upfront to determining it, do we have a real shot at winning this. And I've recently been talking about this sort of model or or perspective that I have on it, which I call it say no to grow. In order to grow your business, you actually have to say no to a lot of opportunities, and you have to be really thoughtful about which opportunities that you pursue. And that probably means saying no to some shiny objects, some exciting exciting ones, but unless you feel really good about, again, like unless you know that you have a high likelihood of winning, it's not worth it. And a big piece of that is having an advocate within the organization, who's going to make the case for you, or who believes in you. So if you don't really know somebody, if it's a cold lead, if you don't really know someone within the organization, who's going to help you understand what it is that they're looking for, who can be who can really help you, like, really help you decode the brief and more than just what's on paper. You're you've just don't have a really good shot at winning. And it's not, it's not worth pursuing, at least from my perspective.
Lexie Smith
Okay, so if you're newer entrant, or you're someone who doesn't have those advocates, what can you do? Is there anything short term? Is it really, you know, I guess what can you do to be able to have a shot if you're starting from kind of the ground floor?
Rachel Huff
So you mean in terms of if you hear of an opportunity that you're interested in, but you don't necessarily have at this point? Or do you mean just getting yourself feet but consider it for those opportunities?
Lexie Smith
I think both I mean, look, I'll use myself I'll call myself out as an example. Right? I am not new to the world of PR. I've been doing this for for almost 14 years. However, the PR agency brand is relatively new. And I never had to outbound pursue leads because we started the agency already with annual retainers, great. Halfway through last year, we decided we were like, Okay, we're ready, like we feel capable to take on more. And so you know, my team wanted to pursue RFPs and from, uh, looking at the RFP standpoint on paper, I knew we were very qualified. I knew we could do it. But to your point, we had no connections in the organization, we had no advocate. So I guess for someone like me, or for a freelancer, something breaking out of agency learn to do it themselves. And they're starting from a new recognition level, I guess that's what I mean by ground zero. Now, what can they do to warm up to actually having a chance?
Rachel Huff
Yeah, So I guess I'll answer that in two, in two parts. And the first part will be about sort of attracting clients in the first place, so that you do get considered for opportunities so that your name, you know, so that you're in the running. And then part two will be say you hear of an opportunity or something comes your way? How do you evaluate the opportunity and decide whether it's worth pursuing and how to pursue it?
Lexie Smith
Okay, that sounds good.
Rachel Huff
So, yeah, so I think part one of that is really about so it's about how are you attracting clients in the first place. And you actually, you use this word, when you were talking about setting up THEPRBAR is about your brand, your agency brand. And I think that that's a place that a lot of whether it's an agent, a full blown agency, or whether it's a publicist, it's funny, it's something that they often neglect to think about and to spend a lot of time around is their own personal brand, or their own agency brand. Which is funny, because they do that for their clients, that's they spend so much time on their client. Yep. Yeah. But, and that's, this is the key. I mean, this is not just the case, for small firms. This is the case. I mean, I work with and encounter a lot of really big agencies that in many cases do a horrible job of, of really clearly defining and articulating their brand and their positioning. So the short answer is to really spend a lot of time there, thinking about what makes you unique. There are so many agencies out there, there are so many publicists out there, there are so many folks in this world who do the same work, but you probably do. And in many cases who are also really great at doing that work. So what makes you distinct, and focus on that, and really dig in and know that inherently and make that the center of how you talk about yourself, whether it's on your website, whether it's in your LinkedIn posts, whether it's contributed articles, podcasts, interviews, speaking at conferences, all the different ways that you, as an individual, or as a leader within your agency, can be out there showing up in the world in front of potential clients, you have to really know what makes you unique and distinct, because this world, like the agency world is has become so commoditized, with so many folks out there, that, again, like, you don't want somebody to just be gold, you don't want it to get to the point where a potential client, you know, let's say a food company is, you know, brand is looking for an agency and just Google's food, PR and finds a list of the best food PR agencies and reaches, because that that'll happen. That happens a lot of times, you want them to be thinking about you before that, you know, before they get to that stage in the process. So you also want to be showing up for things like that when they start to search, right. So that's a whole other strategy. But, but it's really about putting yourself out there and, and showing up with a unique point of view. So I guess that's like my, that's, that's my piece on the first, the first part of it is really, really knowing your brand and your positioning and what makes you unique. And that way, you'll know when when a client comes in the door, a prospective client comes in the door and reaches out to you. It's not pulled on their side, they already know you they already are excited to be talking about you. They know what makes you unique. And they're considering you as different or elevated from some of the other potential partners that they're probably talking to. And they're not saying, Oh, this is yet another, you know, this is one of 10 agencies that we're talking to who all do food PR, but they're thinking, Oh, this is the agency that we're most excited to be speaking to because they're the ones who, you know, fill in the blank, right? Yeah, so that's part one. Should I pause now before we get into part two? Do you have any questions?
Lexie Smith
I don't I don't think so. I think that makes total sense. So let's go into part two.
Rachel Huff
Yeah, so part two is about really establishing filters for when a prospective new client comes in the door, having a framework in mind for how you evaluate those opportunities. So in this case, you really want to start to think I kind of think about it in a few different buckets. I think the big buckets for me are, is this meaningful work that we're really well suited for? So is whatever it is that this prospective client looking for? Is this interesting work? Do we have the expertise? Do we have the experience to really succeed at this? Are we staffed to service the team or to service this work? And then, you know, next bucket would be is this? Do we feel like this is a really good partner for us? Is this a good match? Do they align with our values? Do they have a good reputation? Are they fair about their expectations of what success looks like? Those kinds of things? Then you want to think about? Is the process a fair one? Are they asking us to jump through tons of hoops? Do we have to give them pages and pages or you know, talk like tons of ideas? Are they looking for us to like fully develop a plan for them at this point in the process? Or are they just going to be evaluating us based on? Do we seem like a good partner for them? And are we a good fit? So really understanding what that process is? Are they asking us to put together a proposal on Christmas Eve? Or are they game giving us time to really put thought to this? And then the last bucket would be? Do we have a really good shot at winning this? And again, like, are we confident that we're going to be able to put together a really high quality proposal? And are we confident that we have a very good shot at winning this business? So those are the kinds of things that I think about? And a lot of times that information often can be actually in the brief?
Lexie Smith
So let's say you check all the yes boxes, and now we're getting to the meat and potatoes of putting together the proposal. Obviously, there's nuances here, and it's going to depend, but do you have any hacks or best practices? Or just general thoughts on how once you're throwing your hat in the ring you can stand out?
Rachel Huff
Yeah. And wait. Yeah, no, because that's what it's all about. Right? Yeah. Your your goal is to bring them on as a new client and to hopefully, and to me, the goal isn't just, we have to win this project and get this revenue. There's this budget, and we want this money, because we want to make the money, of course, but it's a long term. The goal is this is going to be a long term partner for us, like this is somebody who we want to work with. And this opportunity is going to lead to a lot more from there. So there's going to be obvious things in the brief. Hopefully, hopefully, the brief will give you information like the business goals, the marketing or communications objectives, the target audiences that they're looking to reach who their competition is, what the competitive landscape is, and how they stack up against their competitors, what their KPIs are, what their budget is, who the decision makers are, what the process is, like, those are a lot of the I just rattled off a lot of things. But there's, those are some of the obvious things that will go into the brief. So those are things you want to be on the lookout for. And you want to make sure that you're asking them questions to clarify if any of those things are unclear. But then there's often a lot of subtle signals within the brief. And this to me is like the maker break it with a lot of folks who go after RFPs as they don't pick up on a lot of the signals or in some cases, red flags. Sometimes a red flag might be there. So an example of that is, let's say the client, the prospective client. The process is send it it just mail it into us, like here's what we're looking for, put this together and then send us your proposal and based on what we get will decide whether you're worth talking to or not. Okay, is there an opportunity to talk with the client before that to ask them your questions, hopefully not just one opportunity, hopefully, multiple touchpoints with the client to really dig into the brief to ask them whatever clarifying questions to walk them through whatever proposal you put together. Those for me are actually deal breakers. I would never pursue an opportunity or an RFP that doesn't allow you to have multiple touchpoints with the client. Because that that is not like how are they making the decision and they're making a decision based on a piece of paper. That's not, that's not them really evaluating whether you're a good fit for them. And that's not giving you an opportunity to evaluate whether they're a good fit for you. And it is, it's a relationship, right? Like it's a working relationship. That's the equivalent to me of looking at someone's online, like someone's dating profile on an app and saying, This is the person that I want to marry based on this app. That's, that's, right? Like, that's totally unrealistic, okay. You use that to like, decide whether it's worth going on a date with them, but then you go on a lot of dates with them to really figure out okay, is this like, is this the right match for me? So that's, that is a big one. But I think there's other there's other clues that you can get in the brief things like, you know, what's their appetite for innovation? Or do they have the set way of doing things? And they're really just looking for a partner who's going to take orders from them? Are they looking for execution? Or are they looking for strategy? Like, are they looking for a partner who's going to come to them with new creative ways of thinking about things? Are they even viewing you as a partner or a vendor? You hear that term a lot, I'll hear clients say, Oh, we're looking for a vendor. And that all that, like, makes my skin crawl when I hear that term? Because it's, it's I like to think about a partner, right? It's that back and forth. This is somebody that you want someone who who does look to you as that strategic partner. Yeah, are there like, have they worked with other agencies or publicists in the back in the past? And does that past experience? How is that going to shape the decision that they're making? How's that gonna shape the work that they're asking you to do? So I think there are a lot of those I could go on. But I think there are a lot of those more subtle questions that you can really think about. But to me, it goes back to chemistry, and it goes back to clients aren’t buying a set of services, they're buying a person or a team that they're going to be working with. And so if you're, if the process if the brief if your proposal is solely focused around the service that you can provide, that's a, that's probably a commoditized service, there are probably tons of other folks out there who do the same service as you do. So what makes you unique, what makes your team unique? What makes your agency unique? What's the unique lens or point of view that you can bring to the conversation, and I think clients appreciate that. And ideally, that's the kind of, that's the kind of conversation that you want to be having with them is challenging, even maybe some of the things that they've put out there, and poking holes in some of the hypotheses that they've put out, saying, Oh, we read this really interesting story that you put out there. But we think there could have been an opportunity for you to take it one step further, and to start to sort of show them what it would be like to work with you. And those are the kinds of opportunities that's that's what I see agencies doing when they when the business is really giving clients a flavor for what their working relationship would be like.
Lexie Smith
So interesting to me, in a way, there's an element of like a regular job process involved. If I think of the jobs I've, the more higher profile jobs that I've landed in my career wasn't just because I submitted a great resume. It was a process. And so thinking of it that way makes it feel a lot more digestible. And you guys, it is very clear, I could hold Rachel here hostage for like hours, she has a wealth of information, we're going to begin to wrap up soon. But if people are like, wait, wait, I have questions or I want to work with Rachael or I want to learn more, which I know everyone is screaming right now at me, as I am cutting off the conversation, where can they go to learn more about you and to connect with you to continue the conversation?
Rachel Huff
Absolutely, So I think LinkedIn is probably the best place to reach me. I am pretty vocal on LinkedIn, I have I put out my point of view pretty often and I don't hold back. And I love when people get involved in the conversation and share their perspective or their experiences. So that's probably the best place to reach me. And then from there, you can check out my website and definitely look forward to connecting with folks and hearing their experiences as well.
Lexie Smith
And we'll put, we'll put both her LinkedIn and her website in the show notes. So you guys just unless you're driving open, open the app wherever you're listening or if you're on YouTube, go ahead and click. Now the the most important question of the show inevitably, I always seem for the closer we've talked a lot about pitching RFPs client briefs, RFIs all the all the acronyms. What can we find you sipping? So what is your favorite beverage it does not have to be out Coholic it can really whatever comes to mind.
Rachel Huff
Great question. That's funny. I was actually thinking at this time in the day, it probably wouldn't be appropriate for me to be sipping. But recently, so I'm a I'm a wine. No, I love wine. But for various reasons I've been trying to cut back on my consumption of wine. So recently, I've gotten into dessert wines, and specifically Vinsanto. It's an Italian dessert wine, super yummy. Spent some time in Tuscany and fell in love with it. It's so tasty. And you can just have a little very small amount of it. And it's just very enjoyable. So that's my recent go to.
Lexie Smith
Okay, so on my honeymoon, we went to Greece, and we went on a wine, which isn't, you don't necessarily think of Greece and wine, Italy and wine much more. You think of that associated, but we run on a winery tour in on Santorini. And we bought a Vinsanto that they gave us very specific instructions to age for 10 years. So it is sitting on a shelf and our bar, and that is what we're going to enjoy on our 10th wedding anniversary. We're past the halfway mark, but I look at it. It's so beautiful. And I'm like it's so tempting, but I still have four more years to go four and a half more years to go to like drink it. So
Rachel Huff
I'm excited to hear, we'll have to, you'll have to update me.
Lexie Smith
I'll send you a calendar invite for four and a half years. Just kidding.
Rachel Huff
Hope you're not texting me on your wedding and 10th wedding anniversary
Lexie Smith
Touche, touche, thank you so much. You're just a wealth of knowledge. You guys if you enjoyed this episode, if you learned something, please reach out to Rachel on LinkedIn. Engage with her conversations. If you're looking to to hire someone with her expertise again, check out her website. And you guys, until next time on The Pitchin’ and Sippin’ Podcast.