The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, by Blair Enns
The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, by Blair Enns
Blair Enns is someone who has had a huge impact on GreenMellen, despite never talking directly with us (other than when he joined me on my podcast in 2025). He has a number of books that have helped us a lot, and I’ve referenced his 2Bobs podcast on here dozens of times.
The book that really put him on the map was his “Win Without Pitching Manifesto“, which I read in 2020 and reread in 2023. If you’re running a creative firm of any kind, the advice in this book is gold. Here are some highlights.
Always present your solutions live, don’t just send an email:
Whenever our diagnostic findings, strategic recommendations or creative solutions are presented to anyone in our client companies, it will be personnel from our firm that does so.
You should work to give the best solutions to your potential clients, not just try to talk them into what’s best for you:
Selling, when done properly, has nothing to do with persuading. It is not our job to talk people into things.
You need to stand out. If you can “do everything”, just like everyone else, then you’re in big trouble:
If we are not seen as more expert than our competition then we will be viewed as one in a sea of many, and we will have little power in our relationships with our clients and prospects.
Clients are always welcome to provide feedback, but it must be based on strategy, not personal preferences:
We welcome the client’s input on the strategy and in exchange we ask him to grant us the freedom to explore various ways of executing it. This means we invite him to say, “That blue isn’t bold enough to deliver on our core value of strength.” But we explain that he is not invited to say, “Make it darker.” Suggestions on this front are always welcome, but dictates are not.
Related, what a client “likes” should be of little significance:
We will be careful not to cede our expertise by asking, “Which one do you like?” We will direct all discussions around the creative back to the strategy and ask if we are accomplishing our goals.
Because things are based on strategy, clients should respond with “of course” instead of “I love it”. The work should reflect the agreed-upon direction:
There will come a day when we are happy to hear from the client, “Ahhh, of course!” instead of the previously desired, “Oh – I love it!” On that day we will know that we have been working collaboratively and we will know that our addiction is behind us.
It’s a fantastic book, and I strongly encourage you to check it out. For a big more of a peek into the book, here is a 7-minute overview that I’ve put together for Reading Refresh: