Eric Karjaluoto of SmashLAB in Vancouver, BC is sharing an interview he did with business development consultant Blair Enns of WinWithoutPitching.
Enns has a lot of great things to say. Witness:
The only real way for a firm to shift the power is to eliminate as many substitutes to hiring their firm as possible. They do this by building a deep expertise. The easiest way to build deep expertise is to narrow the focus of the firm. But this is where the conflict starts. Creative people, by their very nature, have broad interests and tend to resist focus.
Focus is the foundation of business development success, of business success, and of pretty much any kind of success in life. You can argue this point but you might as well argue against gravity.
On his site, Enns offers a 12-point manifesto with maxims like this: We will replace presentations with conversations and We will seek to better understand the client.
One of Enns’ big themes is NO SPEC WORK. And it’s interesting to see how he has his own site optimized for sales. He gives away some content to hook you, but then it’s a tiered approach to paying for membership, Webinars, his guidebook, etc. All this is in support of his traditional consulting practice, but he’s making money along the trail of interest, so right there, I know I have something to learn from him.
