Main Content

Beyond free pitching: building stronger, smarter client relationships

DBA x Design Week webinar | Monday 9 June, 4-5:15pm BST | Online | Register now

Free pitching devalues creativity, undermines professionalism, diminishes profitability and weakens the impact of design. And yet the practice persists, too often accepted as the price of winning work.

When you give your thinking away for free, you’re not just losing time. You’re sending a signal that your ideas – your greatest asset as a designer – have no value. If you don’t stand behind your worth, why should your client?

Tough market conditions don’t justify giving ideas away for free. It’s time to take a stand and make a change.

Join us on Monday 9 June at 4pm BST for seventy-five minutes that will look at the root causes of free pitching and what you can do to stop it. From smarter engagement models to clearer internal boundaries, we’ll challenge the status quo, help you protect the value you bring and get paid for the work you do.

Chaired by DBA Chief Executive Deborah Dawton and run in collaboration with our friends at Design Week, book your place today and join us to explore:

  • Why free pitching is a symptom of deeper problems.
  • How agencies set boundaries, communicate value, and create better ways to engage.
  • What you can do – wherever you are in your agency journey – to push back with confidence and build stronger, better-aligned client relationships.

Be part of the shift and draw the line. Book your free place now.

Deborah Dawton, Chief Executive, Design Business Association

Deborah works with the industry to champion the tangible and measurable impact of design and its capability for change in business and government, nationally and internationally.

Blair Enns, Founder, Win Without Pitching

Blair is the author of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, Pricing Creativity: A Guide to Profit Beyond the Billable Hour and most recently, The Four Conversations: A new model for selling expertise. He speaks internationally on how creative professionals can win more business at higher prices and with lower cost of sale.

John Gleason, Founder, A Better View

John helps brands and client organisations strengthen design as a strategic business capability. He also supports agencies in increasing their relevance, creating greater value, building stronger businesses, and improving client relationships.

Vanessa Keen, Director of Marketing, Design4Retail

Vanessa leads the marketing team at Design4Retail, a leading retail design agency working with global brands and retailers. She is responsible for delivering marketing strategies that raise awareness of the agency’s creative work and wider business offer. At the forefront of driving growth, Vanessa and her team actively identify and manage new opportunities with prospective clients.

Richard Taylor, Co-Founder and CEO, Brandon Consultants

Richard’s 30 years’ experience in the design industry has spanned independent agencies such as Elmwood and Frost*, as well as leading client partnerships at WPP’s Brand Union in the United Arab Emirates, and Landor in the UK. In 2012 in a terraced cottage attic on the outskirts of Halifax, England, Richard and his wife Abigail started Brandon Consultants. Since then, their business of two has grown into a multi-disciplinary design team of 45+ people with studios in Manchester and London.

 

The DBA has partnered with Design Week to give design leaders practical and professional advice to tackle free pitching.