Making Adversarial Assumptions in the Sales Process

From2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

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Making Adversarial Assumptions in the Sales Process

From2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

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Length:

35 minutes

Released:

Aug 14, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

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.

Released:

Aug 14, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Conversations on the art of creative entrepreneurship with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

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What Happens When You're Away: 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 . by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
34 min listen
Five Irrational Fears: 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 firms. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
26 min listen
Using Assessment Instruments in Your Firm: David and Blair explore the big topic of personality assessment tools that can help firms “get the right people on the bus.” by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
34 min listen
Thriving In the Middle of the Road: Blair questions David on about identifying the risks on either side of the road and navigating a path between both extremes. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
31 min listen
A Sales Skeptic Interviews a Sales Expert: Blair does his best to reform David's skepticism of sales, discussing what works well and what fails miserably in the sales process. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
35 min listen
How Not to Act Like an Expert: David and Blair make a list of the common mistakes that people make in trying to portray themselves as experts. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
31 min listen
Mea Culpa: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
32 min listen
Seven Positioning Mistakes to Avoid: After having discussed positioning in multiple previous episodes, David puts together in this one episode the seven most common mistakes firms make when positioning themselves. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
34 min listen
Planning for the New Year: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
32 min listen
Why Advertising Agencies Don't Advertise: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
30 min listen
Positioning Cheats: David is bothered by the notion of helping people cheat, especially at positioning. So Blair discusses 10 ways firms could succeed even if they either aren't ready or don't believe in the idea of tight positioning. You’ll feel dirty. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
32 min listen
The New Entrepreneur: David and Blair discuss how the nature of entrepreneurship is changing and what the new entrepreneur is facing today. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
29 min listen
Paid Time Off or Earned Time On: Blair needs a vacation. And David is blown away by how little time principals take off. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
27 min listen
How Much Should You Write?: Blair lays out . by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
30 min listen
Valuing and Selling Your Firm: Blair and David discuss why, when, and how principals sell their firms, and Blair reveals he is skeptical about selling his own firm. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
35 min listen
The Business of Expertise - Part 2: 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 Positioning of Expertise." by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
35 min listen
The Best Ways to Disrespect Account People by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
29 min listen
An Introduction to Blair Enns: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
19 min listen
The Business of Expertise - Part 1: David Baker wrote a book! And Blair asks him about his authoring process, publishing, and the book's topic. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
33 min listen
An Introduction to David C. Baker: Blair interviews David about who he is and why people should pay attention to what he has to say - if they should at all... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
20 min listen
Truths and Myths About Money: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
31 min listen
Big Clients Vs Small Clients by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
36 min listen
The Science Behind Structuring Roles: 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 . Blair asks him to explain the three roles principals cannot let go of, along with the three roles they should give... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
34 min listen
Thoughts on Partnership: Blair and David dive into a discussion on ownership structures, looking at the results of a survey that David did recently about partnerships. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
35 min listen
How to Drive Your Employees Bat Sh*t Crazy: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
28 min listen
Words That Make Us Wince: Blair and David try to wind each other up by going through a list of phrases they hear from their clients way too often. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
34 min listen
Words We Try to Define: Expertise, selling, marketing, entrepreneurship, branding, positioning, and consultant. Blair and David do their best to come up with definitions for terms that they use regularly with clients. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
38 min listen
The Complexities of Commission Culture: 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 full commission and salary with no incentives. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
36 min listen
Seven Words You Can't Say in Business Development: 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 relationship. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
32 min listen
The Role of Profit in a Creative Enterprise: Blair has some questions this week and David has answers. The topic is profit - what it is and the targets firms should be setting. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
28 min listen

More Episodes from 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

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Creating a Premium Pricing Culture: Pricing is a prison cell of our own making. And it’s cultural. Blair has come up with a series of prompts as a creative exercise to help us all move into a realm of higher pricing. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
31 min listen
Building a Scalable Sales Strategy: David wants agency principals to develop new business plans which delivers more new leads with less labor so their organizations can have more controllable growth, as well as increasing their likelihood for a successful exit when that time comes.... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
27 min listen
Have We Hit Peak Strategy?: Blair thinks too many design firms and other service providers are trying too hard to raise prices by presenting themselves as more “strategic.” Both he and David see these agencies losing more and more work to competitors moving to off-shore... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
24 min listen
What Tech Bros Get Right...and Wrong: David definitely doesn’t want anyone to be like tech bros, but he has recognized a few things creative agencies might be able to learn from them. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
21 min listen
Turning Your Delivery Team Into a Sales Team: Blair has five steps creative agency leaders can take to turn their account managers, project managers, developers, engineers, and advisors into a source of instant scale to their sales efforts. LINKS “” article by Blair on... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
30 min listen
Advising Clients Ethically: Whether you call yourself an advisor or consultant (or not), David has seven core ethical principles that should govern advisory work. LINKS by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
24 min listen
Just Stop Talking: The fact that sales people tend to talk too much is nothing new, but Blair has observed in recent client work just how profound of an effect this pervasive problem has on sales outcomes. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
31 min listen
Working With a Maverick: When it comes to qualifications for ideal clients, David doesn’t hear anyone talking about how agencies can benefit when the person across the table is someone who presses boundaries and ethically skirts the rules within their own organization. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
23 min listen
The Dichotomy of the Expert Salesperson: 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 person during the sale: pitching,... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
24 min listen
Maximizing Pro Bono Opportunities: 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. LINKS by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
19 min listen
Attending the Way: 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 fit over new business strategy.... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
22 min listen
A 7-part Theory of Principal Compensation: 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 paid, so he’s come up with a 7-point framework he can use in each unique scenario. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
23 min listen
The Time Value of Knowledge: 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. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
29 min listen
Revisiting Remote Work: 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 makes Blair wonder if he would even survive if he was starting out in his profession today. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
28 min listen
Ditch the (Sales) Script: 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 long-term engagement. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
25 min listen
Constrained by Artificial Boundaries: 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 like the 80/20 principle.... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
24 min listen
A Theory of Leisure: David shares his thoughts on some bad advice he hears involving the focus on pursuing personal passions in business. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
26 min listen
The Death Throes of the Pitch: Blair weighs in on this year's Forrester report, which shows the ridiculous amount of money agencies have been wasting on pitches. LINKS by Blair Enns for Win Without Pitching by Olivia Morley for AdWeek published on 4 A's by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
28 min listen
How Much Should You Spend on Your Own Marketing?: David addresses another frequently asked question, looking at what creative firms should budget in terms of both money and time for their website, SaaS/automation, PR, content creation, and social media. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
30 min listen
The Conflicting Ethics of Selling and Negotiating: Blair identifies the differences between the ethics of selling expertise and the three schools of bargaining ethics, and what happens when we don’t adapt our bargaining approach to match our opponents in the game of negotiation. Links “”... by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
23 min listen
Doing Employee Orientation Right: 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 speed as quickly as possible. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
23 min listen
The War on Payment Terms: 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 to just defending themselves against procurement departments who impose onerous terms. LINKS by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
33 min listen
What Your Team Wants From You: While analyzing data from his Total Business Reset surveys, David has noticed five significant trends which principals should be aware of to run their firms more effectively, as well as one thing your team wishes you’d stop doing. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
32 min listen
How to Ask for Referrals: 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 effective referral strategy as a way to gain new business. LINKS by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
27 min listen
How to Make Referrals: 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 get more referrals. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
27 min listen
Do You Even Need New Business People?: 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. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
24 min listen
Predictive Traits of Successful Owners: David has observed six common characteristics of agency principals that can affect whether or not their business succeeds. by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
24 min listen
Six Barriers to New Business Success: Even after understanding and trying to adopt the philosophies from Win Without Pitching, Blair sees many creative firms struggling to increase profit because of these six obstacles involving their people and processes. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
28 min listen
Ten Questions I Want to Ask You: 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. LINKS by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
32 min listen
Qualities of the World’s Best Project Managers: 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 worked with over the years. Links by 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns
29 min listen

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Making Adversarial Assumptions in the Sales Process

Making Adversarial Assumptions in the Sales Process

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from 2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns