Introduction

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, design firms and other creative practices resign themselves to it. Trade associations are powerless against it. Search consultants, business development consultants and out-sourced business development firms all earn their living by perpetuating it. And business development conferences put the worst offenders from all sides on stage and have them preach about how to get better at it.

It is a mistake to look to the creative professions to deal with this issue. Free pitching - speculative creative, will only be beaten one firm at a time, with little help and much loud opposition from the professions themselves. This battle is but a collection of individual struggles; the single artist or creative firm against the many allied forces of the status quo.

But while collectively the battle may seem lost, a revolution is afoot. Some firms are fighting and winning. They are reclaiming the high ground in the client-agency relationship, beating back the pitch and winning new business without first having to part with their thinking for free. They are building stronger firms in the face of the encroaching forces of commoditization.

This treatise contains the twelve proclamations of a Win Without Pitching agency. It is a manifesto for firms that have made the difficult business decisions and transformed themselves and the way they go about getting new business. These firms have resisted the profession-wide pressure to tow the free-pitching line. They have gone from order-takers to expert advisors and have forged a more satisfying and lucrative way of getting and doing business.

Their path, described in these pages, may not be your path. Not everyone has the heart or stomach for revolution. Their path is not an easy path, as you will see right from the first proclamation. No one will fault you if you turn back.

If you do follow you will become part of the proof that there is a better way, and while you may never be in the majority, you’ll never walk alone either.

Blair Enns
Kaslo