Where angels fear to tread

My agency recently lost out on a bid for a web development project. Nothing unusual in that – happens to everyone. What really burns is the fact that we lost because the key message of our pitch was for the client to slow down…slow down long enough for both sides to have a proper discovery meeting. We lost because we refused to do spec work: it's bad enough when static creative is done on spec, but it's so much worse when asked to produce entire web site designs on spec.
Before I pontificate any further, I shall go and lick my wounds in private….