The Win Without Pitching Manifesto Hardcover – July 6, 2010

Both practical and logical in the way he explains the divide between those give away their most valuable asset and those who do not.I recommend it to every creative I meet.

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

This succinct and beautifully written book clearly conveys what whole armies of consultants and self-help gurus have tried in vain for years to teach. You will learn something just by reading the table of contents; what Enns calls The Twelve Proclamations. I have spent 30+ years practicing the alchemy of matching the gifts and talents of creative people with clients who so desperately need them. During that time I have witnessed and even encouraged the growing tendency of creative firms to give away their best work for free to win new commissions. I knew there must be an alternative. Surely this strategy of mutually assured destruction could be replaced with something better. Never, until now, have I seen the secret shared so thoughtfully and so well in this (literally) little black book.The message here is for all creative businesses who want to move away from being "order-taker suppliers to expert advisers" and want to forge "a more satisfying and lucrative way of getting and doing business." The transformation begins with a willingness to focus and then articulate that focus through a consistent claim of expertise, working continuously "to add the missing skills, capabilities and processes necessary to support our new claim." Enns first audience is marketing communications firms, yet the fundamental truths and lucid examples he shares are completely applicable to the creative enterprises I am most familiar with, architecture and photography.Enns is clear about the difficulty of beginning and sustaining the transformation, both personal and business, that is required to move from a commodity provider forced to give away their best thinking for free in order to win new work to to expert adviser whose cost of sales is essentially zero. His insight into the hearts and minds of creatives and the culture in which we are trained and have practiced for so long comes from first hand experience. Sadly, he observes that "not everyone has the heart or stomach for revolution."The last proclamation, "We Will Hold Our Heads High", is written with the conviction of a prophet, calling to his people at a crossroad: "On the one side, the process of design is finally being seen as the last great differentiator of business and economics; while on the other, the outputs are increasingly seen as commodities". He invites we creatives to accept our unique mission: "We didn't choose our craft; it chose us. And we were never in this for the money. Like all creative people we only seek to create, and in doing so, somehow change the world." This manifesto provides the blueprint for building a sustainable business model that creatives of every type can implement to win the work they want, gain the respect they deserve, make a profit, and have more fun.

This book has been the biggest game-changer in my business. Period. It has helped me position myself as the expert and understand that I am looking to be selective with my partners. My mentors made millions off the information in this book.

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

The first time I bought this book I understood about 20% of it. I implemented that 20%. Then maybe a year later I re-read it and understood about 60%, implemented as much of that next 40% that was relevant then somewhere lost the book. I thought it would turn up somewhere at some point but it actually never did. So months and months later I finally just re-bought the book again. I devoured it this time, marked up almost all the pages and understood about 90-95% of it! I can’t wait to see what happens when I put that fuel in to the machine! I’m tempted just to read it again two days later in case I lose it again. Unlike many of the brainiacs out there that write books on business this guy makes a tough subject pretty palatable.

This book has helped me tremendously, it’s change the way I look at, talk to and deal with any clients. Selling yourself, your work and your abilities is not taught in college. It seems almost taboo to talk about, at least where I’m attending. While watching a video on YouTube trying to figure out what I did wrong with dealing with a client I came across Chris Do of The Futur. He went over exactly what he read and learned most with this book. I realized that it wasn’t so much what I did wrong, but how I needed to sell, appreciate and position myself and not just be a designer, but rather be a problem solver. Without giving it another second thought I purchased this book immediately. Once I started reading couldn’t stop, I was so engaged on what he was saying. Blair Enns style is so easy to read and he doesn’t pull any punches. Right away on first page and I can’t stress this enough, but it went word for word what I was dealing with and had gone through with some clients. The more I read it was like Blair Enns knew my thoughts, questions and put it all down with ways to go about it differently. I’ve read this book a few times now I’ll keep reading it because there’s always something new that I take away from it. There’s never a moment where it’s not in my bag, I’m constantly bringing this up in different conversations with all of my professors and fellow classmates. I also tell them to watch the Money Talk series Chris Do has on the Futur YouTube channel because he lead and suggested this book to me plus he goes over a lot of other good stuff. I’ve read a good amount of other kinds of graphic design books and or what/how to be a graphic designer and none of them comes close to going over what this book does. This is not just a must read but a must have for any graphic designer or really anyone dealing with sales and business strategy.

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.