Episode 151: Mastering the Value Conversation with Blair Enns

Aug 27, 2018

Blair Enns, the founder of Win Without Pitching and author specializing in sales for creative agencies, shares invaluable insights into mastering pricing strategies. He discusses the psychology behind value conversations and offers practical tips, such as using one-page proposals and anchoring high with three-options. Blair emphasizes the importance of understanding a client's desired future state before proposing solutions and outlines a four-step framework for effective pricing. His approach aims to help agencies confidently convey their value.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

One-Page Proposals With Options

Keep unpaid written proposals to one page and present three options to facilitate comparison.
Start with the most expensive option first to anchor value and let clients choose the middle option.

ANECDOTE

One-Page Proposal That Shocked Blair

Blair recounts seeing a UX firm's one-page proposal with three price columns that clients accepted without questioning.
The firm usually landed on the middle option, often mixing in items from the top option.

ANECDOTE

Client Made Millions From Small Advice

A Philadelphia-area agency principal told Blair he made millions using his advice despite paying only a few thousand dollars.
That contrast prompted Blair to study pricing and value-based compensation deeply.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

In any trade, mastering the work is just the first of many hurdles. But one of the most daunting for most agency owners is pricing. What is the work worth? Who is my competition, and what if they offer services for less? What is the true value of the work we’re doing and what’s the ROI for our client?

There will always be someone (agency or freelancer) who is willing to do the same work for less. But how does that influence our pricing strategy and should it? This episode is all about the value conversation that leads to identifying a price based on the value you are offering. We’re going to dive into both the theories and principles and how to get over the discomfort of putting these pricing principles into practice.

Blair is an expert in sales, particularly in the creative services industry. He started his career working for a number of Canadian ad agencies and design firms. In 2000, he struck out on his own with a consulting practice named Win Without Pitching. In our conversation, Blair will walk us through a framework developed over decades of learning, trying, failing and perfecting value-based selling for creatives.

Blair is the author of Win Without Pitching Manifesto. He has just written a brand-new book called Pricing Creativity. I have spent some time with it, and the cool thing is, it's not really a book – or more precisely, it’s not only a book. It's more of a training manual – a three-ring binder full of all kinds of tips, tricks, and the psychology of pricing strategy.

This is a meaty episode and I promise – it’s going to give you plenty to think about.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

How to effectively price your creative work
Why a one-page proposal beats a 75-page presentation every time
The value of silence in the sales process
Moving from vendor to valued expert early in the sales process
Making the closing on the sale a “non-event”
The four-step framework for mastering the value conversation
How to discipline yourself to not offer solutions too early in the process
The mindset shift needed to improve selling skills to become a pricing expert
Having value conversations with the right decision-makers
How to move from agreeing with sales principles to making them standard practice

Ways to contact Blair:

Website: winwithoutpitching.com
Ebook/Training: winwithoutpitching.com/pricingcreativity

We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!