The Win Without Pitching Manifesto

it is the availability of substitutes – the legitimate alternatives to the offerings of our firm – that allows the client to ask, and compels us to give, our thinking away for free. (Location 39)

The world is drowning in undifferentiated creative businesses. (Location 43)

Expertise is the only valid basis for differentiating ourselves from the competition. (Location 44)

Power in the client-agency relationship usually rests with the client. His power comes from the alternatives that he sees to hiring us. (Location 46)

It is first through positioning our firm that we begin to shift the power in the buy-sell relationship and change the way our services are bought and sold. (Location 51)

Positioning is the foundation of business development success, and of business success. (Location 52)

We must choose a focus. Then articulate that focus via a consistent claim of expertise And finally, we must work to add the missing skills, capabilities and processes necessary to support our new claim. (Location 61)

when and where we choose to compete, we win more often than not. (Location 73)

when we win, we do so not by cutting price, but while charging more. (Location 74)

price elasticity is tied to the availability of substitutes. (Location 76)

positioning brings us control in the form of increased ability to guide the engagement. (Location 80)

For us to do our best work we need to leverage our outside perspective. (Location 83)

We need to take control. (Location 84)

Our ability to control the engagement diminishes with time. (Location 84)

It is important, therefore, that we enter the engagement with as much control as possible. (Location 85)

If we do not win it here, before we are hired, there is little point in proceeding. (Location 86)

We are optimistic, enthusiastic people, but it is time to admit that our enthusiasm has not always served us well. (Location 89)

we need to accept that loving our craft is no substitute for making intelligent business decisions. (Location 91)

Some choose to be strong because they’ve experienced the alternative and never want to be weak again. (Location 98)

One of the hallmarks of creativity is a fascination with the new and the different. Properly harnessed, this fascination allows us to bring fresh thinking to old problems and ensure that our offerings to our clients are always evolving. (Location 101)

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Un-harnessed, our firm-wide desire for the new and the different can lead us to avoid The Difficult Business Decision. It can serve as a rationale for not having to choose a focus, for not having to eliminate competition. (Location 103)

When we make this choice, however, we invite all kinds of undifferentiated competition as well as some highly differentiated, specialized competition. (Location 108)

we place the power squarely with the client. (Location 109)

In this competitive environment we will never be the expert firm, we will never command the respect or margin we want, and we will never be free of the pitch. (Location 109)

We stand in a room full of doors. As highly curious people, we want to see what is behind every door. This is our desire as artists – to satisfy our curiosity and solve the problems we haven’t previously solved. (Location 116)

we will never know for sure unless we walk through the door and close it behind us. (Location 123)

we cannot escape the fact that money is both a necessity in life and the most basic scorecard of success in business. (Location 134)

financial strength affords us all kinds of options in our business and personal lives. (Location 138)

We are at the root of our free-pitching problem and we alone have the power to free ourselves from the pitch. (Location 141)

The revolution we must fight is within. There is no enemy. We are victims only of a creative mind that makes choosing a focus more difficult for us than most. (Location 143)

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. (Location 149)

Presentation, like pitch, is a word that we will leave behind as we seek conversation and collaboration in their place. (Location 151)

We love presenting so much that we are willing to do it for free. (Location 155)

we must work to eliminate the big reveal. (Location 157)

Even when we pitch and win, we lose. (Location 161)

Preserving the surprise requires us to keep the client at arm’s length and let our knowledge pool up behind a dam that will only be opened at the presentation. (Location 168)

At a time when we should be conversing, we are instead cloistered away preparing for the one-way conversation called the presentation. (Location 172)

Making the big reveals small and reducing our dependency on the presentation requires us to work more closely with the client. (Location 176)

When we do not clearly spell out how we will work together we leave a void that the client is quick to fill. (Location 179)

Strategy First → We will agree with the client on the strategy before any creative development begins. (Location 185)

we never find ourselves presenting creative rooted in ambiguous strategies. (Location 186)

Continuous Reference to Strategy → Immediately prior to presenting any creative, we will review the agreed upon strategy with the client. (Location 188)

Any time we come back to the client to share new ideas or concepts we will set the stage first by reviewing, once again, the strategy that guides us. (Location 190)

Freedom of Execution → 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. (Location 191)

Suggestions on this front are always welcome, but dictates are not. (Location 193)

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We will not allow proper guidance to be sacrificed at the altar of company politics. (Location 204)

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!” (Location 215)

“How would we conduct ourselves in the meeting if we were not allowed to present?” (Location 220)

Presenting is a tool of swaying, while conversing is a tool of weighing. (Location 226)

Through the former we try to convince people to hire us. Through the latter we try to determine if both parties would be well served by working together. (Location 226)

Presentations build buying resistance; conversations lower it. (Location 229)

Our mission is to position ourselves as the expert practitioner in the mind of the prospective client. (Location 233)

We must resist the temptation to sacrifice our mission for money or other short-term gains. (Location 234)

convincing has no place in selling. (Location 237)

Objective: Determine Fit → While our mission is to position, our objective at each and every interaction in the buying cycle is simply to see if there is a fit between the client’s need and our expertise suitable enough to take a next step. That’s it. It is not our objective to sell, convince or persuade. It is simply to determine if there exists a fit suitable enough to merit a next step. Our mission is to position; our objective is to determine a fit. (Location 240)

how we sell shapes what we sell. It impacts our likelihood of delivering a high-quality outcome and it affects the remuneration we are able to command for our work. (Location 252)

We Will Diagnose Before We Prescribe (Location 260)

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 client’s challenge. (Location 261)

While it is common practice in the creative professions to prescribe solutions without fully and accurately diagnosing the problem, in almost every other profession such a sequence would render the professional liable for malpractice. (Location 266)

In a process that pits multiple firms against each other and asks each to present solutions, the client does not have the time to invest in meaningful diagnostics with them all. So he abbreviates the diagnostic phase; he dictates the process, marginalizes it and proclaims that his self-diagnosis is valid enough for us to proceed. (Location 270)

how many times have we proceeded based on the client’s self-diagnosis only to discover that it was wrong? (Location 272)

It is more likely that the client’s perspective will be wrong, or at least incomplete, than it is that it will be whole and accurate. (Location 274)

When the client comes to us self-diagnosed, our mindset must be the same as the doctor hearing his patient tell him what type of surgery he wants performed before any discussion of symptoms or diagnoses. (Location 277)

Our reaction must be, “You may be correct, but let’s find out for sure.” (Location 279)

One of the advantages the outside expert brings is perspective. (Location 281)

one of the hallmarks of creativity is the ability to see problems differently, and thus find solutions others cannot see. (Location 281)

Design is not the solution – it is the process. (Location 283)

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We cannot be effective, responsible designers if we allow the client to impose his process, or truncate or otherwise marginalize ours. (Location 283)

To reverse the trend and live up to our professional obligation to diagnose first, we must map out and formalize our own diagnostic process. (Location 290)

we must make the case that the consistency of our outcomes is rooted in the strength of our process, therefore we must be allowed to employ it. (Location 292)

the most successful clients, whether owners or executives, have achieved their success in part because of their ability to take control – their ability to rise above and orchestrate others. (Location 300)

we are the guilty party when we let the client control the engagement and dictate to us how we will go about understanding his problem. (Location 302)

The control that we need in order to do our best work includes the imperative to bring our own methodology to the engagement. (Location 321)

Possessing our own formalized diagnostic methods, whether they are proprietary to us or not, goes a long way to our positioning in this matter. (Location 324)

if we address similar problems on a regular basis then we would have a formalized way of beginning the engagement. (Location 325)

A good client will begin to relinquish control once he has the confidence that the expert practitioner knows more than he does, or has the tools to learn more. (Location 328)

From here forward we will view the act of prescription without diagnosis for what it is: malpractice. (Location 330)

We will embrace sales as a basic business function that cannot be avoided and so we will learn to do it properly, as respectful facilitators. (Location 336)

If we are any good at what we do, we believe, then we should not have to talk people into hiring us. (Location 341)

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Maybe his incentives were aligned solely to sell to us rather than to help us. (Location 348)

Making things and selling things are the two basic functions in business. For our business to succeed we must succeed at both. (Location 352)

No matter how good we are there will be times when we are required to sell. (Location 354)

until we embrace the fact that we are salespeople too, and we learn to master this craft as well, we will not achieve the success that we desire. We cannot be in business without embracing selling. (Location 356)

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selling, when done properly, has nothing to do with persuading. (Location 362)

The first salesperson had it right: selling is about determining a fit between the buyer’s need and the seller’s supply (our very objective) and then facilitating a next step. (Location 363)

We sell ideas and advice – the very contents of our heads – and so how we sell impacts what we are able to deliver. We cannot disappear immediately after the transaction is concluded, and leave the client to wallow in his buyer’s remorse. After the close, our clients are stuck with us for a long time. (Location 366)

Convince or pitch: these are the options of the undifferentiated firm. (Location 372)

To sell is to: Help the unaware Inspire the interested Reassure those who have formed intent (Location 377)

the client’s motivation, and by necessity, our role as salesperson, evolves as he progresses through the buying cycle. (Location 380)

He moves from unaware of his problem or opportunity, to being interested in considering the opportunity, and finally, to intent on acting on it. (Location 381)

our role must change from one of helping, to inspiring, and ultimately to reassuring. (Location 382)

The psychology of buying is the psychology of changing. Selling, therefore, is change management. (Location 383)

The very best salespeople are respectful, selective facilitators of change. They help people move forward to solve their problems and capitalize on their opportunities. (Location 384)

The focus is on the client and whether or not he has recognized and begun acting on his need. (Location 388)

If we are narrowly focused experts then we should be able to succinctly articulate our expertise, and concisely describe to the client who we help and how, over the phone. (Location 391)

we must take the long road of helping him, over time, to see that perhaps he does have a problem. We do this primarily through the dissemination of our thought leadership – our writings on our area of expertise. (Location 398)

Over time, true thought leadership positions us as experts in our field and creates the opportunity for some of our thinking to trigger in the client the idea that perhaps his performance in a certain area could be improved. The role of our thought leadership is to educate, not to persuade. The future client should be smarter for reading it, we should be smarter for writing it, and, one day, when the client does experience a problem in an area on which we’ve written, our guidance may be helpful to him in seeing the opportunity within his problem. Until that day, we continue to cement our position as leaders in our field through our writing. Experts write. (Location 401)

When we sit down to write about our area of expertise we will be confronted quickly with an assessment of our success in following the first proclamation. (Location 406)

Writing our way forward is a long-term approach that requires the patience of a farmer versus that of a hunter. (Location 409)

We are among humankind’s most natural inspirers. Our work is inspirational. Our skill in commanding and leading a room is inspirational. (Location 418)

Our ability to come at problems from previously unconsidered angles and our passion for solving the problem not yet solved are both inspirational. (Location 419)

Let us be clear: our goal with such a prospect is to inspire him to form the intent to solve his problem; it is not to inspire him to hire us. (Location 421)

Our focus needs to remain on the client, helping him to facilitate the change in himself that he is considering. (Location 422)

Trying to inspire someone who does not recognize that he has a problem is a recipe for defensiveness and resentment. Inspiration is something we must save for the interested. (Location 430)

In this moment he says to himself, quietly, “I’m going to do this.” (Location 435)

His arrival at the decision triggers a change in brain chemistry that brings a euphoric lift; the bigger the decision, the higher the lift. (Location 436)

And he means it. He truly means it. (Location 438)

Our mistake is in thinking this is the last step. It is not. (Location 439)

After only a few hours, the client’s euphoria wears off and he slips into a hangover of doubt called buyer’s remorse. (Location 440)

Now he questions everything, including his decision to move forward. He considers all the things that could go wrong, all the reasons why this might not make sense. (Location 441)

As natural inspirers, our tendency is to do exactly the opposite of what is required at this moment. (Location 442)

Playing to our strengths, we lean towards inspiration once again at a time when we should reassure. (Location 443)

We tend toward excitement at a time when he requires calm. (Location 444)

We continue to talk big-picture when the client now needs to process sequentially and seeks to understand what the steps are that we would take together. (Location 446)

Closing – the last step in the buying cycle – is all about reassuring. (Location 449)

when a future client has formed intent and asks us for a written proposal containing free recommendations or speculative creative, his primary motivation is fear of making a mistake. (Location 450)

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Win Without Pitching firms offer alternative ways forward. Phased engagements, pilot projects, money-back guarantees and case studies framed in defined methodologies are among the many viable alternative forms of reassurance. The key is to respond to the motivation and not necessarily the request. (Location 453)

This is easiest when the client sees us as the expert and reaches out to us first. (Location 462)

early in the buying cycle, when he is unaware of any need; (Location 463)

Our default assumption should be that somebody always has the inside track. (Location 475)

if he grants us the inside track, then it may make sense for us to proceed. (Location 479)

We walk away when we cannot Win Without Pitching, when we cannot derail the pitch and when we are unable to gain the inside track. (Location 483)

Good prospective clients who recognize and value our expertise will grant us one of the above. The others are not worth sacrificing our mission on in a long-shot attempt to out-pitch others, one of whom almost certainly has gained the inside track ahead of us. (Location 483)

We Will Do With Words What We Used to Do With Paper (Location 494)

the proposal is the words that come out of our mouths and that written documentation of these words is a contract – an item that we create only once an agreement has been reached. (Location 495)

we will never again ask documents to propose for us what we ourselves should propose. (Location 497)

it was rarely the written document that secured the business. (Location 499)

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We have long been conditioned to think that the written proposal is a necessary step in the buying cycle. It is not. (Location 503)

The document that we write is the contract. It serves as public verification of an agreement we have already formed with the client in conversation. (Location 504)

The paper is produced only once the agreement has been reached. (Location 506)

When we spend hours on a lengthy written proposal, one that diagnoses and prescribes for free, it sends the message that we need the client’s business. (Location 509)

If the client does not see a fit between his need and our expertise, we want to hear so as early in the buying cycle as possible. (Location 512)

The more heavily invested we appear to be in the sale, the less likely the client will tell us what he is really thinking. (Location 512)

When he thinks we cannot bear to hear no, he will simply stall or defer or deliver a string of maybes. (Location 513)

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Most of the time, he will do so behind the shield of a request for a written proposal. (Location 514)

we invite him to say no early and often. (Location 516)

The better clients, when they do recognize expertise, will crack open the façade of the proposal process and agree to a proper conversation. (Location 529)

The question is one of merit: is the expertise of our firm deserving of such access? This challenge aids us in determining very early in the process whether or not the opportunity is worth pursuing. For if the client does not recognize and value our expertise then we have failed – failed to build true expertise, failed to demonstrate that expertise or failed by pursuing an opportunity that is not properly aligned with our expertise. (Location 530)

In most of these cases it is appropriate for us to retreat. We can do so without having overinvested in the opportunity. We can do so with our integrity intact and with possible future business opportunities preserved. (Location 534)

True differences do not shine through in written proposals. (Location 540)

Value = Quality/Price. (Location 543)

the value of our services is that the quality of an idea not yet delivered is difficult to measure. (Location 543)

two options: he can over-weight the decision toward that which he can measure (price), or he can ask us to deliver the idea (for free) in an effort to determine its quality. (Location 544)

By following the third proclamation (We will diagnose before we prescribe) we demonstrate that our ability to do our best work is rooted in the strength of our diagnostic and strategic development processes. (Location 545)

The most common, and costly, business development mistake shared by creative firms around the world is that of mistaking interest for intent. (Location 551)

We must learn to measure the client’s intent; (Location 554)

If the engagement has not yet moved from his wish list to his to-do list, then it is still inspiration he seeks. (Location 556)

We are better off in these cases exploring our previous work for examples of inspiration, or examining with him his competitor’s work or other best practices from further afield. (Location 557)

we must not mistake the seeking of inspiration for the will to move forward. (Location 559)

when we push too hard – when we pitch, present and invest in a written proposal – we often make it difficult for the client to be honest with us. (Location 562)

If the answer is no, we want to hear it; therefore, we want to make it easy for the client to say it. (Location 564)

Of all the reasons that a client might ask for a written proposal, none can withstand the stronger logic of having a conversation with an expert of few equals. (Location 569)

We do not begin to solve our clients’ problems before we are engaged. (Location 574)

Many times, the client’s situation, or the probable solutions, are so complex or technical that we need to better understand the challenges if we are to propose and quantify responsible solutions. (Location 575)

Such engagements demand that we begin our diagnostic work in order to present a plan. But let us not make the mistake of doing this diagnostic work for free. (Location 576)

understanding and diagnosing the client’s situation is vital to the success of any engagement, and it is our work here at the very front of the engagement that will largely determine whether we succeed or fail in our endeavors for the client. (Location 577)

We must charge for this work. (Location 579)

Doctors charge for MRIs. Accountants charge for audits. Lawyers charge for discovery. And we charge for our diagnostic work as well, whether it is a brand audit or discovery session that we conduct ourselves, or outside research that we commission. (Location 580)

For these complex challenges in which we must diagnose before we can even begin to quantify a prescription, our clients pay us to write proposals via a phased sale that begins with a diagnostic. (Location 582)

The outcome of the diagnostic phase is two parts: findings and recommendations. (Location 583)

Our proposal is indeed the words that come out of our mouths: “We propose to do X for you, over Y timeframe, for Z price.” (Location 586)

Instead of seeking clients, we will selectively and respectfully pursue perfect fits – those targeted organizations that we can best help. (Location 592)

We will say no early and often, and as such, weed out those that would be better served by others (Location 593)

By saying no we will give power and credibility to our yes. (Location 593)

If we are to build a lucrative expert firm then we must regain this balance of a small number of high-quality clients. (Location 597)

we must accept that our client base will turn over and we must understand that this churn is healthy. (Location 598)

Our client relationships should not be life sentences. (Location 599)

Clients hire us at times of need. We generally solve the most pressing problems at the beginning of our relationships, and over time the nature of our work slides toward the tactical end of our offering. (Location 600)

Thus, our positioning with the client changes. At some point we become less of an outside advisor and more of a partner, and then, ultimately, a supplier. Eventually we part ways. (Location 601)

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the new clients we take in represent increased opportunity over that of those departing. (Location 606)

Selectivity is one of the defining characteristics of the expert. (Location 606)

It builds credibility, reduces buying resistance and creates the conditions where it is possible to replace presentations with conversations. (Location 607)

Clients can smell selectivity. It is one of the early cues that signal to them to drop their guard and participate in meaningful discussions of fit, (Location 612)

It is human nature to follow what retreats from us and to back away from what advances. (Location 614)

The client’s experience in dealing with the selective expert versus the enthusiastic generalist who barges headlong into every opportunity is night and day different. (Location 617)

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Selectivity begins with positioning – the very focus of our enterprise. Our public claim of expertise must describe who we help and how, and in this description those that would be better served by others should be able to select out. (Location 620)

The client should be able to determine from a sentence or two whether our expertise is likely to meet his needs. (Location 621)

The narrower our claim of expertise, the more integrity we earn. (Location 622)

No is the second best answer we can hear. If the answer is no, we want to hear it as soon as possible, before we and the client unnecessarily waste valuable resources. (Location 629)

When an opportunity first arises, therefore, we try to see if we can kill it. (Location 630)

Our inclination is to avoid the questions to which we think we may not like the answers, but here again we must learn to fight our tendencies, demonstrate the selectivity and efficiency of the expert and march headlong into these conversations in pursuit of no. (Location 634)

Our tendency is to avoid areas of potential objection, but they cannot be avoided forever. (Location 640)

raise the objections first and place them on the table for the client to address. (Location 642)

Instead of waiting to hear, “You seem expensive,” we might say, “I’m a little concerned about the ability an organization of your size has to afford us.” In this manner we want to learn to lean into potential objections. If the objection is going to kill the deal, then let’s kill it early. (Location 642)

It is okay for us to accept work outside of our area of expertise, provided: we have the ability, we have the capacity, we can do it profitably and we are not deluded into thinking that such work immediately merits expanding our claim of expertise. (Location 645)

If we are well positioned then we will possess capabilities beyond – often well beyond – our declared expertise. (Location 647)

“We can do that!” This reply builds buying resistance and makes it difficult to replace presentations with conversations. (Location 650)

The target is not the market. (Location 651)

We take precise aim at the smaller target and are happy to hit the wider market. (Location 651)

Our claim of expertise should be a lot narrower than the sum of our capabilities. (Location 652)

we owe it to the client to tell him that, yes, we can do this, but no, it is not why we are typically hired. (Location 653)

We owe it to him to reiterate our claim and point out the gap between what he needs and what we do. (Location 654)

the client can make the decision to bridge the gap or not. (Location 655)

If the gap is to be bridged, it’s better if it is the client who does so. (Location 657)

let us remember that we never want to be enticed into competing for it. (Location 658)

we do not want to sacrifice our mission and be dragged into competing for work that is outside of our expertise. (Location 662)

When we play up the tiebreakers of price, chemistry and passion, however, we tacitly imply that when it comes to measuring us on the most important variable – expertise – we are no better equipped than others in consideration. We must be free to use our passion, without forgetting that it can easily become a liability. (Location 667)

The generalist is drawn to the problem he has not yet solved. (Location 673)

he will not be easily enticed back to operating from the powerless position of the generalist. (Location 677)

When given a choice to operate from the position of power that comes with deep expertise or to pursue work outside that area for clients who will not allow him to lead, the expert will refuse. (Location 678)

He will be wary of situations in which he does not have confidence in his ability to find the best solution – in which the landscape and challenges are unfamiliar and he has to admit to his client, “I’ve never done this before.” (Location 680)

He must put his passion in its place and walk away from those opportunities where he is not viewed as the expert. (Location 684)

We will view our claim of expertise as a beginning and as a rallying cry for perpetual progress. (Location 688)

First we select a focus, we then articulate that focus via a claim of expertise, and finally we work to quickly add proof to our claim. (Location 691)

When we put our flag in the ground, heads turn. The competition, seemingly oblivious to us before, suddenly takes notice. (Location 692)

Those that do not claim meaningful territory are rarely attacked. (Location 693)

Nobody attacks the unthreatening generalist. (Location 694)

The truth about the average human being is that, regardless of what he claims to want, he will avoid the difficult decisions and the undesirable tasks, even if they represent the path to the outcome or future he desires. (Location 695)

We commit to deepening our expertise, rapidly and forever, so that we can find out just how good we can become. (Location 705)

Our claim of expertise helps us break through the clutter of competition and gain attention at the very first interaction with the prospective client. (Location 711)

Without proof, we find ourselves having to pitch – having to begin to solve the client’s problem as proof of our ability to solve his problem. (Location 713)

the very act of focus is likely to build depth. (Location 717)

when we narrow our field of thought we think deeper. (Location 720)

We need not be smarter or more creative than our competition, only more focused. (Location 720)

Writing gets us found. Writing helps to cement our position as experts. (Location 722)

As focused experts, we benefit from repeated observation of the same challenges. (Location 724)

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Writing is the tool that helps us formalize our thinking on these observations. (Location 725)

It forces us to tighten our arguments and therefore our understanding. (Location 725)

If we are to be experts we must write. (Location 727)

consulting first, writing second, artistry third. (Location 728)

The problem-seeing and problem-solving skills of the advisor, along with the ability to lead others through the engagement, trump everything else. (Location 728)

The artistry, increasingly, is the commodity. It is inexpensively acquired from those that neither have, nor attempt to cultivate, the first two skills. We must take control and we must write. (Location 730)

Repeated observation and problem solving is bound to improve our quality and efficiency. (Location 734)

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it is the strength of our processes that drives the consistency of our outcomes. (Location 736)

we must take pains to document how we work, (Location 737)

Nothing reassures the client more than him drawing the powerful inference that little variability in process equals little variability in outcomes. (Location 740)

his misfortune is rooted in his early success. He was not forced to make the difficult decisions early, so when faced with them late he remained certain that the decisions and the effort could be avoided, (Location 764)

Our thinking is our highest value product; we will not part with it without appropriate compensation. (Location 772)

If we demonstrate that we do not value our thinking, our clients and prospects will (Location 772)

How can we diagnose and prescribe for free one minute, and later ask for hundreds or thousands of dollars for similar thinking? (Location 776)

there is a line that separates proving our ability to solve the client’s problem from actually solving his problem. (Location 779)

“It is our policy to not begin to solve our clients’ problems before we are engaged.” (Location 782)

we must respond with policies of our own. (Location 784)

our designs are merely the application of our strategy; and our strategy, when arrived at responsibly, is rooted in a thorough diagnosis. (Location 787)

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We correctly collect preliminary diagnostic information in the buying cycle in order to assess the client’s situation and make a determination of our ability to help. But we should not progress so far as to share our diagnosis with the client before we are hired and appropriately paid. (Location 791)

we certainly should not be prescribing strategy without proper diagnosis and compensation. Free pitching is free thinking, period. (Location 793)

One third to one half of the fee portion of the engagement is appropriate, or even the entire fee for the first phase in a phased engagement. (Location 804)

Never again should we find ourselves attempting to clarify issues of payment after we have begun working on the engagement. (Location 807)

for all new clients, we will be paid in advance. (Location 809)

We will resist putting ourselves in a position where we have overinvested in the buying cycle only to find the client cannot afford to pay us what we are worth. (Location 812)

Stress is caused by the things we do not do. (Location 828)

As soon as the opportunity arises we will lean into the discomfort of the topic, deal with it immediately and eliminate the stress from the subject. (Location 830)

When we commit to deliberately managing a slow, steady churn of a small number of clients, we commit equally to the idea that each new client must be of a certain size, representing a certain amount of fee income. (Location 835)

The annual fee minimum that we require becomes our Minimum Level of Engagement. (Location 837)

It is an approximate number (usually somewhere around 10% of our total target fee income for the year) that we use as a tool to quickly weed out poor financial fits, to escalate discussions of short term tactical projects into discussions of long term strategic engagements, and to help us begin the money conversation early. (Location 838)

Soon after a need is initially determined, it is incumbent on us to let the prospect know that we only work with a small number of new clients every year and therefore can only add clients that will spend at or above our Minimum Level of Engagement. (Location 840)

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we are simply saying, “This is the size of client it makes sense for us to work with, so if you decide at some point that you would like to work with us, we ask that you be prepared to commit to fees at or above this level over the year.” (Location 842)

without being overly rigid in its application. (Location 846)

We want to develop the habit of routinely sharing our Minimum Level of Engagement in every first discussion of an opportunity with a new prospect, (Location 847)

it is not in our interest to pursue project work that is tactical in nature or well below our Minimum Level of Engagement. (Location 850)

Project work is a byproduct of pursuing a small number of more meaningful engagements. We use it to fill gaps in capacity, but it is not the mainstay of our practice. (Location 855)