“The win without pitching manifesto” by Blair Enns

The author 🖋

Blair Enns is a Canadian author, speaker and entrepreneur who founded Win Without Pitching - a sales training and coaching organization for creative professionals.

Blair lives with his wife in the remote mountain village of Kaslo in British Columbia, Canada (a short 10 hour drive from Vancouver).

Key takeaways 🎓

1. Specialize and become an expert

We shouldn’t try to be everything to everyone, because we’ll end up becoming nothing to anyone.

Based on Enns, expertise is the only valid basis for differentiating ourselves from competitors.

Developing deep knowledge and skills in a specific area rather than trying to be generalists allows us to command higher fees, set favorable terms and make clients come to us instead of having to compete through traditional pitches.

2. Replace pitches with conversations

We should engage clients as an expert practitioner determining suitability, not as a persuader trying to win business.

Instead of trying to convince people to buy what we’re selling, we should diagnose their challenges similar to how a doctor goes through our symptoms before prescribing a solution.

This consultative approach builds trust and lowers buying resistance.

3. Charge based on value provided 

Fees should be based on the value we deliver, not the time or effort involved.

This shifts the conversation from costs to results and allows us to command higher fees based on the outcome, not just the deliverables.

Value based pricing requires a deep understanding of the results our clients need to achieve.

Closing thoughts 🧠

The book challenges many traditional sales practices, advocating for building trust through specialized expertise instead of chasing clients and competing through pitches.

Enns teaches us to shift away from selling towards having conversations about people's problems and positioning ourselves as the expert who can solve them.

He’s also willing to share a free chapter of the book with anyone.