"The Win Without Pitching Manifesto" - How to Attract Premium Clients Without Competing on Price

Most consultants chase clients and compete on price. Blair Enns shows you how to do the opposite—and make more money in the process.

Here's what I appreciate about The Win Without Pitching Manifesto: It's 128 pages. No filler. No fluff. Just a punchy, contrarian framework for positioning yourself so premium clients come to you.

Blair Enns ran a creative agency for years. He watched talented consultants undercharge, chase clients they didn't want, and compete on price because they didn't know how to position themselves as experts.

So he wrote a manifesto—12 proclamations that flip conventional consulting wisdom on its head.

The result? A positioning framework that directly addresses the biggest fear corporate professionals have when building supplementary income: "I don't want to sell."

Good news: If you position correctly, you don't have to.

The Problem Most Corporate Professionals Face

You have 15+ years of corporate experience. You've solved complex problems. You've managed budgets, people, and high-stakes projects. You know your stuff.

But when you try to monetize that expertise as consulting income, you run into the same pattern:

This is exhausting. And it's backwards.

When you position yourself as a generalist, you compete on price. When you position yourself as THE specialist who solves a specific high-value problem, clients compete for your time.

Enns shows you exactly how to make that shift.

The Core Framework: Expertise-Based Positioning

The entire manifesto rests on one principle:

Think about what that means.

When you're chasing clients and competing on price, you present, pitch, and hope they say yes. You're selling.

When you're positioned as THE expert who solves a specific problem, clients come to you with that problem. You have a conversation about whether you can help. You're diagnosing, not pitching.

That's the fundamental shift Enns teaches.

And for corporate professionals who hate "selling," this is the framework you need. Because you're not selling. You're having a professional conversation about a problem you're uniquely qualified to solve.

The 12 Proclamations (What Actually Matters)

Enns lays out 12 proclamations. Here are the ones that directly impact corporate professionals building supplementary income:

1. "We will specialize."

Not "I do operations consulting." Instead: "I help mid-sized manufacturers reduce budget variance when they're scaling from $50M to $100M in revenue."

Specific problem. Specific client type. Specific outcome. That's positioning.

2. "We will replace presentations with conversations."

Stop pitching. Start diagnosing. When a prospect reaches out, you're having a conversation to determine if you can solve their problem. Not convincing them to hire you.

3. "We will diagnose before we prescribe."

Doctors don't pitch. They diagnose, then prescribe. You should do the same. That's how experts behave. And it's how you avoid scope creep and misaligned projects.

4. "We will rethink what it means to sell."

Selling isn't convincing someone to buy something they don't need. It's helping someone who has a problem determine if you're the right person to solve it. Completely different energy.

5. "We will do away with presentations."

When you're positioned correctly, you don't need to present. The client already knows what you do. You're just determining scope, timeline, and fee. That's it.

How This Connects to Million Dollar Consulting

If you've read Alan Weiss's Million Dollar Consulting, you know about value-based pricing. Enns complements that perfectly:

Why This Matters for Closing Your Retirement Gap

Let's connect this to your Freedom Number.

If your retirement gap is $3,000/month ($36,000/year), you need to build approximately $900,000 in assets at a 4% withdrawal rate.

Positioning directly impacts how fast you build those assets:

That's a 5-8 year difference in your retirement timeline. All from positioning.

Enns shows you how to make that shift—from generalist competing on price to specialist commanding premium fees.

The Parts That Hit Home

On saying no: Enns is clear—you can't be THE expert if you say yes to everyone. Saying no to bad-fit clients is how you protect your positioning. This is hard for corporate professionals trained to be helpful. But it's essential.

On free advice: Stop giving away your expertise for free in "exploratory calls." If someone wants your expertise, that's billable. This protects your time and reinforces your positioning as an expert, not a vendor.

On proposals: Enns argues you shouldn't write detailed proposals for free. Your thinking is your product. When someone asks for a proposal, you're doing the work they should be paying for. Instead: have a conversation, agree on scope and fee, send a brief engagement letter.

These concepts feel uncomfortable at first. But they're what separate profitable consultants from struggling ones.

What I Don't Like

I'll be honest about the limitations.

The book is written for creative agencies, so some examples don't translate perfectly to corporate consulting. You'll need to adapt the principles to your expertise area.

Also, Enns is prescriptive—almost dogmatic—about some rules. That's intentional (it's a manifesto), but it can feel rigid. Take the principles, adapt them to your situation, and don't treat every proclamation as gospel.

Finally, this book is about positioning, not execution. You'll still need to deliver exceptional work. Positioning gets you in the door at premium fees. Results keep you there.

How This Fits the Encore Income System

Building supplementary income that closes your retirement gap requires three things:

The Bottom Line

Is this book going to give you clients overnight? No.

Is it going to make positioning easy and comfortable? Also no.

But will it give you a proven framework for positioning yourself so premium clients seek you out instead of you chasing them and competing on price?

Absolutely.

This is a short book—128 pages—that you can read in an afternoon. But the positioning shift it creates can add 5-8 years to your retirement timeline by enabling premium fees.

If you're serious about building Encore Income that actually closes your retirement gap, this book is essential.

Stop pitching. Start positioning.

Fortune favors the bold. But fortune also favors those who position themselves so clearly that premium clients can't help but reach out.

— Scott Fulbright

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