The Four Conversations: A New Model for Selling Expertise

This book was nothing short of transformative. I've already listened to the audio book twice and am reading the text for the second time as well. The main theme of the book, written for service providers in creative fields (or at least professionals who have to use creativity to solve their clients' problems), is that we can't act like needy vendors desperate to close a sale, thus giving the client all the power. If we are truly great at what we do, if we are truly experts in our field, than the client is just as much a winner as we are when we close a deal, because they will be able to benefit from our expertise. "I am the expert, I am the prize." is one line from the expert's mantra. And because we enter an engagement with the mindset that the client is more lucky to have us helping them solve their problem than we are to have gotten another client, that puts us in the expert position and gives us the upper hand when it comes to negotiating the engagement. It also puts us in the leadership position so that we can do our jobs as effectively as possible when it comes to helping the client solve their problem. After reading this book, I also don't think I will ever make another pitch deck. This was an exercise that would generally take me 2-3 hours per deck. But in this book, the author teaches to have conversations, not presentations. More listening, less sales-mode. And then, with everything you learn in your conversations, you can most effectively diagnose what the client's problems are, and scope out some solutions at different price points that are a win-win for both you and your client. I've already started implementing the framework outlined in this book, and one of the biggest changes I've observed is my own optimism about my business and its potential to grow bigger and faster.

I learned about Blair Enns from Chris Do's, The Futur Podcast. As a creative trying to navigate how to price and structure my sales and client journey has always been a struggle. The product is not straightforward and is often very customized. This book and Enn's other book "The Win Without Pitching Manifesto"n have come to be cornerstones to how I guide my clients through the beginning stages of working with me. It helps me to feel like and to be more of a professional. This book doesn't just help you to close more sales and make more money (which it does), but it helps you serve your clients needs better, and find better ways to serve them. It's truly a win-win. I plan on purchasing the "Pricing Creativity" book soon, and hopefully one day - join the training program they offer.

This book adds to the knowledge I've gained from Blair's other books, Win Without Pitching and Pricing Creativity. The information gained from his books has helped someone who had no clue about selling vastly improve. I still have room for improvement so I would probably buy any future books by Blair. He is one of my go-to resources for selling.

Standout book. If you sell expertise, through conversations and a sales process, run - don’t walk - to get this book. It’s a practical guide of how to run a real business development process and stand out in a generic sea of other consultants and agencies.

For a creative working on new business, Blair's insights are always useful.

Master class on selling creative expertise.

I don't leave many reviews but this book is well worth leaving one. I don't know of any other business ideas that have helped me more than the ideas in this book. If you're in professional services (especially design or architecture), the methods in this book are pure gold. It took me a while to fully embrace it (old habits die hard), but I'd never go back to my old ways now. Sales is actually fun now.

I could write a book on how transformational this book is!

Excellent book. A must read if you are building an advisory practice!

Great book for consultants and agency leaders. I used the learnings when discussing work with potential clients and it worked very well.

Amazingly insightful book, would highly recommend for those in service based businesses.

Blair and his colleagues work at WWP, including Shannyn, have had a hugely positive impact on my business, particularly around our sales process. This book should be read along with the Win Without Pitching Manifesto by anybody in any kind of creative or adviser field. I’ve always struggled with how to approach my sales process, but Blair’s work had changed all that. We have totally revamped our process and approach, we are no longer trying too hard to win business, instead we have adjusted every touch point and interaction with prospects with the belief and knowledge that we are the expert. Blair’s four conversations book lays out how to conduct this process in superb detail. His model is not perfect - and it’s not supposed to be - everyone will need to adapt and adjust it to their own line of work and style, which is what we have done (we are financial advisers). This book, along with Blair’s other work, will be mandatory reading for all client facing hires we make moving forward. It is that important.

Clearly taken the time to distill down to clear, console and actionable frameworks.