A Win Without Pitching Manifesto

by Blair Enns

We will acknowledge that it is the availability of substitutes – the legitimate alternatives to the offerings of our firm – that allows the client to ask, and compels us to give, our thinking away for free.

When we drastically reduce the real alternatives to hiring our firm, we shift the power balance away from the client and toward us.

three steps we must take to build deep expertise and meaningfully differentiate ourselves from others: We must choose a focus Then articulate that focus via a consistent claim of expertise And finally, we must work to add the missing skills, capabilities and processes necessary to support our new claim.

It does not come easy to us to ask for control when we have little power in the relationship. To jockey for the power position seems at odds with our belief that we should demonstrate our enthusiasm for winning the business.

Our personal desire for variety is suddenly placed at odds with the fundamental need of our business to focus. Is it possible, however, that on the other side of the door we face there is not one long gray hallway, not one empty boring room, but more doors – more choices?

This creates a challenge: how to invite him in without allowing him to drive? This delicate balancing act of bringing him closer without conceding control can only be achieved when we establish and communicate the rules of the engagement.

The Rules of Collaboration

We will be careful not to cede our expertise by asking, “Which one do you like?”

“Would we prefer to have routine imposed on us, or would we prefer to be the ones who take the lead and define the rules of the engagement?”

Presenting is a tool of swaying, while conversing is a tool of weighing.

Most selection processes set up an audition atmosphere where one party commands and the other complies. We must never allow ourselves to be placed in this presenter/complier role where the terms and next steps of the relationship are dictated to us.

how we sell shapes what we sell.

This we do as a doctor or lawyer would, through conversation and collaboration and not through presentation.

We will take seriously our professional obligation to begin at the beginning, and we will never put our clients or ourselves in the position where we are prescribing solutions without first fully diagnosing the client’s challenge.

“You may be correct, but let’s find out for sure.”

the consistency of our outcomes is rooted in the strength of our process, therefore we must be allowed to employ it.

A good client will begin to relinquish control once he has the confidence that the expert practitioner knows more than he does, or has the tools to learn more.

From here forward we will view the act of prescription without diagnosis for what it is: malpractice.

It is not our job to talk people into things. The first salesperson had it right: selling is about determining a fit between the buyer’s need and the seller’s supply (our very objective) and then facilitating a next step. Sometimes the proper next step is to part ways, sending the client on to another provider who is better able to serve him.

If we are narrowly focused experts then we should be able to succinctly articulate our expertise, and concisely describe to the client who we help and how, over the phone.

To request a meeting after the client has told us he does not see a fit is to admit that a) we need more time with him to explain what we do because we haven’t been able to capture and communicate it succinctly, or b) we’re looking to talk him into something.

Let us be clear: our goal with such a prospect is to inspire him to form the intent to solve his problem; it is not to inspire him to hire us.

The key is to respond to the motivation and not necessarily the request.

We will understand that the proposal is the words that come out of our mouths and that written documentation of these words is a contract

We want to operate from the practitioner’s position where we have not overinvested in the sale, where we are not trying to talk the client into hiring us, and where we invite him to say no early and often.

A client asking for unpaid ideas in a written proposal is like a patient asking for a diagnosis and prescription from a doctor he refuses to visit or pay.

We do not begin to solve our clients’ problems before we are engaged.

Doctors charge for MRIs. Accountants charge for audits. Lawyers charge for discovery. And we charge for our diagnostic work as well, whether it is a brand audit or discovery session that we conduct ourselves, or outside research that we commission.

our clients pay us to write proposals via a phased sale that begins with a diagnostic. The outcome of the diagnostic phase is two parts: findings and recommendations.

“We propose to do X for you, over Y timeframe, for Z price.”

We will say no early and often, and as such, weed out those that would be better served by others and those that cannot afford us.

Our client relationships should not be life sentences.

Confucius famously said, “Speak softly and people lean toward you; speak loudly and they lean away.”

We want to develop the habit of putting on the table for early discussion these or any other concerns we, or the client, might have.

Our claim of expertise should be a lot narrower than the sum of our capabilities.

Writing gets us found. Writing helps to cement our position as experts. Most important of all, writing about what we do is the fastest way to deepen our knowledge.

If we want to build deep expertise we must take pains to document how we work, to define how we will work in the future and to continuously refine and improve our approach.

Training and other forms of individual professional development are vital, for a creative firm either has a culture of continuous learning or it does not.

We Will Not Solve Problems Before We Are Paid Our thinking is our highest value product; we will not part with it without appropriate compensation. If we demonstrate that we do not value our thinking, our clients and prospects will not. Our paying clients can rest assured that our best minds remain focused on solving their problems and not the problems of those who have yet to hire us.

“It is our policy to not begin to solve our clients’ problems before we are engaged.”

Every client reserves the right to change his mind until he parts with his money.

in every culture it is considered a sign of poor business acumen to avoid talking about money in a business setting.

Stress is caused by the things we do not do. The root of this money stress is not in the conversations themselves, but in not having them when we know we should.

Soon after a need is initially determined, it is incumbent on us to let the prospect know that we only work with a small number of new clients every year and therefore can only add clients that will spend at or above our Minimum Level of Engagement.

Excepting our carefully selected pro bono engagements and the occasional favor to our best and longest standing clients, every project will generate a profit that recognizes our expertise and the value we bring to our clients’ businesses.

We know that profit margin, like power, only diminishes with time.

We will save the use of discounts for our best and longest serving clients at times when they need our support.

“If we were to agree to this price, is there anything else to stop us from deciding to work together right now?”

We will let others choose their charities based on the business connections they hope to make in the boardroom, but not us. We will treat charity as charity and not confuse it with business development.

If we truly are trading profit for expertise building, then we will be honest and direct with our client about it.