Chapters
The Twelve Proclamations of a Win Without Pitching Agency
I : We Will Specialize
II : We Will Replace Presentations with Conversations
III : We Will Diagnose Before We Prescribe
IV : We Will Address the Client's Motivation In Asking Us To Pitch
V : We Will Do With Words What We Used to Do With Paper
VI : We Will Be Selective
VII : We Will Build Expertise Rapidly
VIII : We Will Not Solve Problems Before We Are Hired
IX : We Will Address Issues of Money Early
X : We Will Refuse to Accept Work at a Loss
XI : We Will Charge More
XII : We Will Hold Our Heads High
The Thirteenth Proclamation

The Twelve Proclamations of a Win Without Pitching Agency | View Online

The forces of the creative professions are aligned against the artist. These forces pressure him to give his work away for free as a means of proving his worthiness of the assignment. Clients demand it. Advertising agencies and design firms resign themselves to it...

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I : We Will Specialize | View Online

We will acknowledge that it is the availability of substitutes - the legitimate alternatives to the offerings of our firm - that robs us of power and allows the client to ask us for, and often compels us to give away for free, our most valuable product...Back to top

II : We Will Replace Presentations with Conversations | Coming soon

We will break free of our addiction to the Big Reveal and the adrenaline rush that comes from putting ourselves in the win-or-lose situation of the presentation. When we pitch we are in part satisfying our craving for this adrenaline and we understand that until we break ourselves of this addiction we will never be free of the pitch...Back to top

III : We Will Diagnose Before We Prescribe | Coming soon

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 challenge...
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IV : We Will Address the Client's Motivation In Asking Us To Pitch | Coming soon

We will look past the client's request for us to pitch and we will seek to understand his underlying motivation. Only then will we be in a position to propose a way forward that gives him the confidence he seeks and preserves for us the opportunity to approach the engagement properly.
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V : We Will Do With Words What We Used to Do With Paper | Coming soon

We will understand that proposals are the words that come out of our mouths and that written documentation of such proposals are contracts - items that need be created only once an agreement has been reached. We will examine all the reasons we ask, and are asked, to write unpaid proposals and we will never again ask documents to do for us what we ourselves should do.Back to top

VI : We Will Be Selective | Coming soon

Instead of seeking clients we will selectively and respectfully pursue perfect fits – those targeted organizations that we can best help. We will say no early and often, weeding out those that would be better served by others and those that cannot afford us. By using no we will give power and credibility to our yes.Back to top

VII : We Will Build Expertise Rapidly | Coming soon

We will position ourselves as narrowly focused experts and we will develop skills, capabilities and processes to deepen our expertise and put distance between us and our competition, for if we are not seen as expert advisors we will be seen as order-takers, with the commensurate remuneration and respect...Back to top

VIII : We Will Not Solve Problems Before We Are Hired | Coming soon

Under no circumstances will we part with our thinking without appropriate compensation, for our thinking is our highest value product and if we demonstrate that we do not value it, our clients will not. When we are asked to begin solving problems in the buying cycle we will politely but firmly point out that we save our best thinking for our paying clients and should the client-to-be choose to engage us he can rest assured that our best minds will be working on his business rather than trying to win business we do not currently have... Back to top

IX : We Will Address Issues of Money Early | Coming soon

We will never again put ourselves in a position where we have over-invested in a relationship only to find that the client cannot afford to pay us what we are worth. We will set a minimum level of engagement and declare it early so that in the event the client cannot afford us both parties will be able to walk away early without wasting valuable resources...Back to top

X : We Will Refuse to Accept Work at a Loss | Coming soon

We will build our practice one profitable assignment at a time. Excepting our carefully selected pro bono engagements and the occasional favor to our very best and longest standing clients, every project will generate a profit that recognizes our expertise and the value we bring to our clients’ businesses. There will be no loss leaders. We will pursue margin objectives first and then work to add volume at our newer, higher margin. Back to top

XI : We Will Charge More | Coming soon

As our expertise deepens and our impact on our clients’ businesses grows we will evolve our pricing to reflect that impact. We will recognize that to our clients the smallest invoices are the most annoying. Through charging more we will create more time to think on behalf of our clients and we will eliminate the need to invoice for changes and other surprises. Back to top

XII : We Will Hold Our Heads High | Coming soon

We will see ourselves as professional practitioners who are hired to bring real solutions to our clients’ business problems. We will not grovel. We will not be coerced. We will understand that in accordance with all of the above anyone who insists that we devalue our product or compromise our values is not someone we would have as a client. We will seek respect above money, for only when we are respected as experts will we be paid the money we seek. This money will allow us to reinvest in ourselves, become even better at what we do and deliver to ourselves and our families the abundance we deserve... Back to top

The Thirteenth Proclamation | Coming soon

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