The Win Without Pitching Manifesto

This slim book is structured around 12 key principles for running a successful business as a creative. Although I've been working as a solopreneur for over 13 years now, this book made me understand that I was making fundamental errors in approaching and managing my clients, as well as growing a business I could be proud of. I appreciated its straighforward explanations of the reasons not to spend time on writing proposals, how to approach pricing, how to value my expertise, and how to make decisions on which clients to serve to my highest and best ability. This is an essential for any business owners, especially those in creative services.

As someone who spent more than a decade in professional services and over a decade on the other side, buying professional services, this is a great book with practical examples that are useful to everyone.In particular - the fact that you should walk away from RFP processes where you don't have the inside tracks, and that the big "surprise" presentation is a bad idea. Also great is the focus on talking money early to establish value and that change orders and small incremental bills kill the relationship much more than the "big" bills that justify the engagement in the first place.For all business people, the key insights are to SPECIALIZE and gain expertise in your craft. There is no way to compete as a generalist in an RFP situation except on price and this is the road to the bottom and bankruptcy.A great book and pithily written and well worth your time. I would pair this with books by Maister on Managing the Professional Service Firm.

I’ve been running my own design agency for almost a decade and this is the first book that I’ve read that has had me emphatically agreeing throughout its entirety that “OH MY GOD THIS GUY GETS IT.”It is abundantly clear from the first few pages that Mr. Enns has worked extensively with ‘creative types’ across the spectrum and has a great love for this industry. He addresses so many of the common pitfalls that creatives run into: namely, how to set yourself apart from the myriad of technicians who are willing to do free/spec/cheap work for those who do not value their skills and the creative solutions they bring to the table.If you want to position yourself as an expert at your craft, read this book as soon as you can. And bring a highlighter and a notebook - you’re about to get 12 great lessons on how to win at what you do without having to subject yourself to the constant demoralizing pitch.

Blair Enns gets it, Period! I have been in the agency world in new business development for over 25 years and have read all the books - Blair wrote this book for me....and everyone that sells creative solutions. "The Win Without Pitching Manifesto" is a must read by any agency Owner, Leader or New Business Pro. Heck, it's a must read for anyone on the agency side!Check this out, page 52 "The good news is that selling, when done properly, has nothing to do with persuading". People for the most part don't like to "sell" (and most don't), they are going to love this book.In all the years that I have been in advertising, I have heard agency leaders say that they are no longer going to do spec work...but then they turn around and give it away. Blair in Chapter VIII tells us "We will not solve problems before we are paid". "Our thinking is our highest value product - our paying clients can rest assured that our best minds in media remain focused on solving their problems.""The Win Without Pitching Manifesto" should be mandatory reading for anyone in the agency world that is responsible for helping grow their agencies and provide services and solutions for their clients.Agency owners, I bet if you asked Blair, he would give you a break on cases of this book so you can give to everyone at your agency, because really - aren't we all responsible for growing business?

Very affirming of both the challenges and opportunities of providing a high-value service that is both strategic and creative. A highly worthy read!

Transformational thinking for visionaries, broken down into practical steps for those uncomfortable about the "money conversation with their prospective cluents"Loved it.