Search
Close this search box.

Win Without Pitching®: Thinking

Strategy

Business Development Planning

Planning begins with the setting of goals and while we all know the value of goal setting, I regularly see marketing communication firm’s business development achievements hampered by aiming at the wrong goals. Follow these three simple steps to ensure that next year is a banner year for business development.

Quit Selling & Start Helping

To understand selling is to understand that in the pursuit of profitable new clients you have no business trying to convince anyone of anything, ever. To the question, if my job is not to convince, what then, I respond: It is to help the unaware, to inspire the interested and to reassure the intent. This

Strategy Traps

Agencies all over the world today are trying to get ‘more strategic’: to position themselves as strategic partners to their clients, to sell higher margin strategy over increasingly commoditized implementation – all in a bid to profit proportionally from the greater value being delivered. Most are failing in this bid, suffering from the same four mistakes that are easily avoided once they are recognized.

Decision Maker Dynamics

‘Thanks for coming in to make your presentation today. I’d like to introduce you to Carl, our VP of Special Projects. He’ll be sitting in.’ Through the gritted teeth of a forced smile you shoot your business development person a look that says, “Who the Hell is Carl?”. Carl, you are about to learn, is

The Art of Walking Away

‘You are never worse off walking away,’ said Harvey Mackay in his book on selling and negotiating, Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. People want what they can’t have and often they need to lose or risk losing something before they fully appreciate it. That’s one of the reasons why the Take-Away can be one of the more effective closing techniques in your arsenal.

Price: The Final Objection

We are culturally conditioned to avoid talking about money in our personal lives and as a result, in our roles as business development people, we tend to put off financial discussions until the last possible moment. In the last two issues of the Win Without Pitching Newsletter we discussed the commoditization trend in the agency

Battling Commoditization

Commoditization is the act of turning something of subjective or unrealized value into something of quantifiable value. Inherent in this definition is the implication that the value quantified is subject to the same market forces as are physical commodities. A physical commodity is readily available in large quantities from numerous producers, enjoys little product differentiation

We help agencies close more business the Win Without Pitching Way

You will get a curated collection of Blair’s best writing, videos, and podcast episodes immediately after signing up.

Then, you’ll receive Blair’s latest work as it’s published.

Sign up to get our best advice delivered straight to your inbox: