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As Blair is finishing his new book that drops later this year, he comes to the realization that pretty much everything he does comes down to the fundamental issue that experts think they need to show up as a different …
While discussing eight ways creative firms can do pro bono work better based on an article David wrote recently, both he and Blair discover a couple new profound insights together.
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Blair recognizes how a Confucius quote is really bad business advice, but is still moved by how a highly principled creative firm in New Zealand continues to thrive by prioritizing their creative practices and client …
David frequently gets hired to help resolve issues at firms between multiple principles when it comes to who does what and how much each should get …
David interviews Blair about his recent article in which he takes a lesson from investing with compound interest to understand the increasing returns we can receive from our relentless pursuit of knowledge over time.
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David looks at the current data and weighs all the pros and cons of continuing to have staff who work from home in our post-pandemic economy, which …
Blair sees too many creative firms talking at prospective clients using sales scripts instead of having a series of wide ranging conversations on their unique issues and objectives that set the tone for the potential …
Blair’s latest obsession is bounded rationality, in which he sees too many creative firms failing to make “rational” decisions because they choose to bind their businesses with outdated and overly-constraining ideals …
David shares his thoughts on some bad advice he hears involving the focus on pursuing personal passions in business.
Blair weighs in on this year's Forrester report, which shows the ridiculous amount of money agencies have been wasting on pitches.
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David addresses another frequently asked question, looking at what creative firms should budget in terms of both money and time for their website, …
Blair identifies the differences between the ethics of selling expertise and the three schools of bargaining ethics, and what happens when we don’t …
In an era of rapid turnover and remote working arrangements, developing a structured onboarding process for new staff is more important than ever. David has a checklist to help agencies get their new employees up to …
Blair sees non-standard payment terms as a two-sided issue, where agencies should be creatively leveraging terms more to their own benefit as opposed …
While analyzing data from his Total Business Reset surveys, David has noticed five significant trends which principals should be aware of to run …
As a follow-up to the discussion in the previous episode, Blair has some criteria for firms that would beneift from prioritizing and codifying an …
In part one of a two-part discussion about developing a business referral strategy, Blair is surprised to hear that David wants to cover how and why we can get better at giving away business, before talking about how to
Blair runs through one of his constraint driven exercises with David by having us imagine running our business with nobody dedicated to the various functions under the banner of new business.
David has observed six common characteristics of agency principals that can affect whether or not their business succeeds.
Even after understanding and trying to adopt the philosophies from Win Without Pitching, Blair sees many creative firms struggling to increase profit …
This is your intervention and David has some tough questions about the important decisions you should be making to manage and grow your creative firm.
David feels like project managers get a bad rap and has tried to raise their profile within creative firms. So he’s gathered a list of traits from the best project managers he’s met in the hundreds of agencies he’s …
A lot has changed since Blair wrote his article about seven mistakes he sees creative firms make with CRM years ago, and David wants to know why …
Blair has six challenges creative agencies face when it comes to being compensated for the actual value they generate for their clients.
David addresses how vertically positioned agencies can manage a client roster containing multiple companies who are competitors with each other.
Blair has been getting too much spam lately and sees an opportunity with warm leads that lies between inbound and outbound marketing which is not being mined well among the creative firms.
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Blair wants sales people to stop ranking proposal options in a way that assigns judgement for prospective clients without considering the many tradeoffs that need to be considered.
Read the episode notes and …
Blair is confused by David’s mixed metaphors about creative agencies being able to sell strategy services up front, instead of entering through the implementation door with new clients and then trying to demonstrate how …
Blair sees some creative firms as “black holes” where accounts go in and seemingly never come out, and others as “new business development machines,” …
David has a brand new book, Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors: Covert Techniques for a Remarkable Practice. In it he reveals exactly how he manages engagements with his clients, and he’s nervous about how it will be …
Blair has talked many times on the podcast about how innovation and efficiency are mutually opposable goals, and after presenting his first keynote on the "Innoficiency Principle" goes deeper into this idea with David.
David gets flack for his contrary perspective on how agencies shouldn’t necessarily aim for long-term client relationships. So he clarifies how he’s …
Blair frequently tells his clients, “You reinvent the firm one new client at a time.” So looking ahead to the new year, he has five areas where …
Have your firm's managers been promoted based on technical proficiency and status, or was it because of their self-awareness and critical thinking? David shares why he sees so many poor managers in the creative firms …
Without turning everything into a power play, David provides seven sources of leverage that can help agencies maintain the leadership role in client …
David has 16 things for principals to try when they feel the need to do something different from running their firm.
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Play the Game of Constraints Read the epsisode notes and transcript at …
Blair talks about his new podcast with Leah Power, 20% - The Marketing Procurement Podcast, in which they are speaking with marketing, procurement, and agency professionals about how to "procure" creativity without …
Blair recommends five things firms need to be effective at qualifying new business opportunities in order to prevent the over-allocation of resources against early-stage buyers.
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David thinks creative firms can learn something from sex workers about how to run their business.
Read the transcript and episode notes at http://2bobs.com/podcast/prostitutes-and-scope-creep
David is not an economist so he doesn’t have any idea if an economic downturn is imminent, but the signs aren’t great. If you decide that a downturn …
Blair had fun on a week of sales calls and came up with four reasons why he thinks most people can learn to have fun selling like he did.
Read the …
Blair and David go into detail about what a model is for a creative firm and how they can be useful in closing new business and improving …
David and Blair follow up their previous discussion about how marketing firms have evolved, going deeper into how different service categories and …
Creative or marketing firms look a lot different today than they did 20 years ago. What happened to the ad agencies and design firms? And what …
David keeps getting asked: “what multiple are you seeing these days?” As if there’s some simple, magic answer that’ll lead to a company’s …
When someone makes Prospect Theory generalizations—saying that buyers either over-weight gains or over-weight losses—Blair wants us to remember that both are true at different times during the sales process, and we need …
Inspired by some observations of what sometimes happens to people on the journey from vendor to expert, Blair sees some newbie Win Without Pitching devotees going too far–power tripping. Read the episode notes and …
Does your list of service offerings look like a Cheesecake Factory menu? David identifies five hallmarks of poor service design along with five principles of effective service offering design.
Read the transcript and …
In a follow-up to the popular “Secrets Behind the Killer Proposal” episode, David unloads everything firms can do to make sure their website is …
David has seven reasons for removing all barriers on his website for readers and prospects to access what he writes - but admits that it may not be for everyone.
Read the show notes and transcript at …
Blair details each buyer type (Convenience, Relationship, Price, Value, and Poker Player), and demonstrates how your proposal should do the …
Blair discusses what they mean by having a process, how to develop it, what to avoid, and how your process at its highest level can be turned into valuable IP. Get the episode notes and transcript at …
Would you fire yourself based on the firm's results? Fortunately, David cannot fire you. Unfortunately, David cannot fire you.
WARNING: If you only listen to only one episode of 2Bobs it should NOT be this one. In this send up of the ridiculous things people put in their …
Every firm will face the possibility of a client concentration challenge, and every client should probably say “yes” to that opportunity in spite of …
Blair identifies six variables that can change the trajectory of the sale conversation with your prospective client.
The most-read New York Times story of 2021 was about the dominant emotion many of us felt. Blair and David just hit record for this episode, without any plan for this conversation about the pandemic and how they feel …
Blair has David expand on his recent article titled "You’re A Dictatorship That Gathers Individual Democracies—Good For You."
Blair tears down seven common sales advice statements that B2B creative firms should actually avoid following in their new business engagements. See …
Blair provides some modeling language in a sales context. While using scripts for a sales conversation is not advised, there are some “set piece” phrases that are handy to have at the ready.
If you ever need to go to war over not being paid, David has some bombs you can lob over your enemy’s front lines.
Blair interviews David on why dropping a client is sometimes necessary and how to best approach letting them go.
Where did the new client come from? Who gets credit? Should the new business person be involved in growing existing accounts? How should they, and/or …
You don’t need a degree or license or permission to write a book. David and Blair share the steps they took and what they have learned from the writing process.
If you think you might have a book in you but aren't sure writing and publishing your own book as an entrepreneur is worth the effort, this episode is for you.
David has eight questions he wants agency principals to ask themselves before hiring him to help add a new partner.
In this follow-up to their July 2020 discussion, “Four Regrets You’re About to Have,” David interrogates Blair on the extent to which he is a …
Blair interviews David on his recent article in which he was very open and honest about his struggles with depression and anxiety.
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For the last time—ever—David and Blair discuss client-side marketing departments, their struggle to be entrepreneurial and what we can learn from them.
Blair combines a few of the deeper topics he and David have already covered to provide a larger view of the overall pricing journey he recommends creative firms take.
In-house creative departments aren't going anywhere, so David wants agencies to be mindful of the unique value they bring to the projects for which …
David asks Blair some awkward questions to get inside his head about his successful book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto.
Most of us haven’t sold one firm that we’ve owned, and those principals who have formerly sold their firm aren’t always...ahem...telling the …
In a nod to the Walt Whitman line, Blair believes successful sales people - as well as agency principals - often need to present themselves as …
As we’ve seen independent creative marketing and digital firms experience rapid growth over this past year, David offers five factors that principals …
Having a problem with either hearing or saying “no” can lead to problems for your business. Blair has 12 statements about the word “no” that can help.
When people from other industries learn about what goes on inside your firm, are they awe-struck in a good or bad way? Blair and David come up with a list of things that are unique to the creative firm biz and how …
Blair shares an overview of all the communication tools creative firms should be using throughout the sales process.
David and Blair discuss what the four performance bands are, eleven critical factors that keep firms stuck at the lower performance bands, and what firms can do to move into a higher band.
David is in a cynical mood and takes turns with Blair sharing clichés they hear their clients use to describe their business.
Blair stops to think about what "agency" actually means, and if it's the right term to describe firms in the creative services space.
David lists eight truths about money that he's identified in his efforts to help entrepreneurs make better business decisions.
Blair addresses the internal struggle for margin that happens in many firms between delivery teams and business development teams due to their lack of distinction between cost and price.
David wants entrepreneurs to live with tension in various aspects of their business, using it to their advantage in making important decisions …
Blair offers some ways to help prevent over-excited new business people and principals from giving away the shop and appearing unprofessional.
David draws a picture for Blair about the implications of this statement he hears almost all of his clients and prospects say about being able to close new business.
Blair shares the tradeoffs creative firms have to deal with when pursuing firms of a particular size, and David gets Blair riled up again about …
As agencies are trading their big city offices for working at home during the pandemic, Blair wants to know if David thinks he should get into real …
David thinks firms have too many meetings and offers some solutions, and Blair pushes back.
David torches Blair's highfalutin notions of timekeeping and offers four instances when timekeeping can actually be used without polluting your …
David articulates five fears that tend to shape management style and impact decisions principals make for their firms.
In part two of their specialization conversation, David and Blair address six arguments they have heard from certain clients who toyed with the idea of broader positioning for their firms.
David and Blair have experienced a backlash against experts, expertise, and specialization thanks to David Epstein's book, and they disagree on whether or not it's worth reading.
Blair and David discuss three tiers of inbound and outbound marketing that firms should be using for new business development.
David and Blair address a listener request to go over the challenges that principals often go through once they decide to reposition their firm.
Blair wonders if he's made an error in his efforts to prevent agencies from going into presentation mode during the sales process.
Blair predicts when we are through the COVID-19 pandemic and business is approaching normal (whatever that means), agency principals will look back with some regrets about the things they did not do, rather than the …
Blair and David, as two white business leaders, try talking about the traumatic and emotional yet very necessary changes happening now to end systemic racism. As they listen and allow space for the voices of diversity …
David is frequently surprised by how many new business people have trouble answering five particular important questions about their jobs and their …
Blair gets David to share a part of his upcoming book about how all client relationships have a cycle of love-hate-love that we have to be prepared for and push through.
David expects to get in trouble discussing Blair's topic about the role of friendship in business—between sales people and prospects, account people …
David and Blair try to predict the future about what principals of creative firms can expect in their relationships with clients as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact business.
Blair and David address five common questions they have heard from creative entrepreneurs as they both have been helping firms navigate the economic changes being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given where the economy is currently heading, David offers a framework that can help principals of creative firms make those tough staffing decisions in a timely and considerate manner.
David asks Blair to clarify his advice on offering proposal options and anchoring. Is it about more than just scope and price?
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Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms by …
Blair and David record a live episode at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans for Bureau of Digital’s Owner Summit.
Thank you to Carl Smith and Lori Averitt at Bureau of Digital for hosting the live recording at the …
David does all the heavy lifting for Blair in his recent article so they can finally discuss the overlap between Agile as a management method and …
Blair wants firms to get paid to write their proposals, which is the first of his four phases of client engagement.
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David keeps encountering clients who don’t appreciate how their account people actually contribute to their overall business, and Blair totally identifies with the traits that David describes.
Blair and David share their frustrations around some contracts that they have been asked to sign, making it clear why they are not attorneys.
This episode does not contain legal advice. Get a lawyer for that:
David keeps seeing principals who get someone else to run their firm, which is not a good idea. Then he gets Blair's thoughts on why he thinks it happens.
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David and Blair lay out some of the reasons why they think, in most cases, agencies pursuing recurring revenue models are making a mistake.
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“Why Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) Arrangements May Not Be Ideal” by …
David brings up one of Blair's favorite topics: how they keep themselves and their clients from being trapped by requests for proposal.
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2Bobs episode 70, “The Only New Business Indicator That Matters”
Blair and David share what they have learned as they have recorded 2Bobs podcast episodes for almost 4 years - what has worked well, what has been …
Blair and David consider the hundreds of firms they have each worked with over the years to identify the characteristics of highest performing firms and what they have seen agency principals do to succeed.
Blair shares some new data (at the time he and David recorded this discussion in January of 2016) that points to the one variable that can predict the likelihood of a prospect hiring your firm.
David wants to know if Blair thinks it's harder for creative firms to find great prospective clients, or great employees, as they unpack how to attract the right candidates using a “lead generation” plan.
Ideas for …
Blair is in the spotlight discussing some bad practices driven by assumptions he's seen his clients make over the past couple decades, a few of which …
Blair interviews David about six employee archetypes which can end up being big hiring mistakes for creative firms.
Blair has another podcast therapy session about “good clients vs. bad clients,” as David tries to help him see procurement people as actual human beings who sometimes are just overwhelmed.
Blair has an aversion to the topic of personal branding, so David offers examples of why, when, and how the personal brands he’s seen principals …
Blair and David explore the differences they see between consultants and agencies in an effort to understand how the landscape is changing and what …
David admits to making a mistake, as Blair finishes his discussion from a couple episodes back on the eighth pricing model, which he claims “is the highest expression of entrepreneurship there is.”
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David and Blair address the obsession that many principals have with the size of firms, and the advantages of being either big or small.
Blair is struck by how creative businesses have trouble applying their creativity to their revenue models, so he and David discuss some of the best ways firms can get paid.
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David and Blair each share their own perspectives on how chasing comfort has kept them and their clients making the right decisions in both management and sales situations.
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Blair wants creative firms to quit viewing in-house resources as the enemy and demonstrates how the arrangements between the two can be mutually beneficial.
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David and Blair each share a list of things that they wish agency principals would do more of to take their firms to the next level of success.
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Blair and David work on clarifying things by coming up with only six reasons why businesses hire creative firms.
Blair and David share the places they find good ideas that they turn into content, the best of which end up being incorporated into their services.
David finds Blair's thoughts fascinating on how far agencies should service or pursue clients geographically, and whether or not the location of a …
David gives Blair four practical reasons for sales people to hand off new business to the account person before the deal is closed instead of after.
David gets into Blair's head to get his 10 basic negotiating tips that he has worked with clients on over the years.
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“10 Negotiating Tips” (with 5 bonus tips)
After having discussed positioning in multiple previous episodes, David puts together in this one episode the seven most common mistakes firms make …
David asks Blair about using "after action reviews" following sales calls, and the two key questions that should be asked as a part of that …
Blair asks David to make some predictions about the new year, and then they discuss some ways that businesses can prepare for and react to (God forbid) an economic downturn.
TRANSCRIPT
BLAIR ENNS: David, predict the …
Blair describes to David how he was able to distill his Win Without Pitching approach into a simple formula:
P=db/DPower = desirability / Desire
…
After touching on the topic of risk in many other episodes of this podcast, David and Blair finally take a full episode to discuss at length the role …
Blair gets David to admit that he was kind of wrong about open book management being just a fad when he originally wrote about it almost two decades ago, and David offers ways that it can actually benefit both employees …
Blair and David analyze and then look beyond the requests for reassurance potential clients make during the late stage of a sale to address their underlying motivations.
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David disagrees with Blair (sort of) on his model for growing existing accounts in the post-AOR era, and then offers his list of 6 ideas on the topic.
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The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and …
Blair remembers what it was like when he was an account person himself, and David shares five ways firms can treat their account people better.
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“How to Drive Your Employees Bat Sh*t Crazy” 2Bobs episode
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Blair offers seven mindsets that any seller of expertise needs to master so that they can behave like the expert in the sales cycle.
Links
"The Great Convergence Is Upon Us" by Blair Enns
"CRM: The Train Coming At You" by Blair Enns
AltGroup.net website
"Eight Gauges on Your Agency Dashboard" by David C. Baker
Blair gives David some homework to identify patterns in the principals of creative practices who are successful and have that "je ne sais quoi."
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Blair interviews David on what each of the three levels of success in running a creative firm looks like.
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2Bobs Episode 39 - "Replacing Presentations With Conversations"
David re-reads the 2nd chapter of Blair’s first book, leading to a discussion about how sales people have to choose between either presenting to clients or being present to them.
TRANSCRIPT
DAVID C. BAKER: Blair, we …
There are seven patterns that almost all principals are guilty of. When David and Blair point them out, it leads their clients to say, “you must have hidden cameras in my office!"
Blair leads a discussion on how clients tend to take mental shortcuts in making business decisions, and how we can nudge clients without …
David and Blair compare each other's competitiveness, and then offer some specific ways principals can actually collaborate with their competitors as …
Blair and David come up with descriptive words that help clarify each of the four parts of what David calls the "pantheon" for new business: positioning, lead generation, sales, and pricing.
David and Blair explore the big topic of personality assessment tools that can help firms “get the right people on the bus.”
Blair and David dive into a discussion on ownership structures, looking at the results of a survey that David did recently about partnerships.
Listeners on Twitter wanted to know what clients actually want from creative firms, so David makes a list based on his experience of what good clients want, while Blair's reaction is "who cares what clients want... all …
David gets Blair to expound on his statement that “the value conversation is where value pricing theory goes to die,” and how crucial that conversation is within the sales framework he lays out in his new book, "Pricing …
David and Blair take a stab at answering the complicated question of what success looks like for each of them personally, as well as what it means for their clients.
Blair and David try to wind each other up by going through a list of phrases they hear from their clients way too often.
David is bothered by the notion of helping people cheat, especially at positioning. So Blair discusses 10 ways firms could succeed even if they …
Expertise, selling, marketing, entrepreneurship, branding, positioning, and consultant. Blair and David do their best to come up with definitions for …
Blair revisits David's new book, "The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact + Wealth" in front of a live audience in London, who get to ask their own questions.
Blair talks about his new book, "Pricing Creativity: A Guide to Profit Beyond the Billable Hour," and the process it took to write it. David gets him …
David and Blair each share some goals that they have for their clients and themselves for the upcoming year, which turns into somewhat of a therapy session.
Blair and David discuss why, when, and how principals sell their firms, and Blair reveals he is skeptical about selling his own firm.
David picks Blair's brain about new business compensation, and what principals need to consider in finding their firm's place on the spectrum between …
Blair has some questions this week and David has answers. The topic is profit - what it is and the targets firms should be setting.
David offers to help Blair remember all the times he's been wrong over the past couple decades. Then Blair says he'll be happy to reveal all of the places he's wrong now but doesn't even know it yet.
David reveals some of the science behind the extensive research he has done over the past couple decades to develop a key part of his Total Business …
Blair revisits David's new book, interviewing him on the two chapters that cover the important topic of positioning: "Distinguishing Between Vertical and Horizontal Expertise," and "Principles for the Less Exchangeable …
David and Blair discuss a list of words Blair came up with that you should avoid to keep you out of trouble and in control of the buy-sell …
Blair needs a vacation. And David is blown away by how little time principals take off.
David asks Blair to describe his work and his passion for the creative entrepreneurial community, and they discuss how where he lives has such a huge impact on what he does.
The issue of how principals manage their employees continues to pop up for David year after year, and Blair is worried that he might have this problem in his own firm.
Blair restrains himself from going off on a rant about who his clients choose to learn from.
Blair interviews David about who he is and why people should pay attention to what he has to say - if they should at all...
David Baker wrote a book! And Blair asks him about his authoring process, publishing, and the book's topic.
David and Blair list good and bad things that can happen when the principal steps away from their creative firm for a period of time, which is based on David's blog post on the matter.
Blair revisits the first piece of thought leadership he ever wrote, taking a look at why firms may or may not do for themselves what they do for their clients.
Blair questions David on an article he wrote about identifying the risks on either side of the road and navigating a path between both extremes.
Blair does his best to reform David's skepticism of sales, discussing what works well and what fails miserably in the sales process.
What keeps you up at night? Blair interviews David about the five most common fears that he has seen in the consulting work he has done with over 900 …
David and Blair discuss how the nature of entrepreneurship is changing and what the new entrepreneur is facing today.
Do you have trouble talking about money with clients? David makes seven common statements about money and Blair states whether they are true or false and why.
David interviews Blair about the art of effectively communicating with clients and coworkers.
David and Blair make a list of the common mistakes that people make in trying to portray themselves as experts.
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