Sell With Authority

Welcome to the Sell with Authority Podcast – I'm Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI. If we happen to be meeting for the first time — Predictive ROI helps agency owners and their teams sell more of what they do…typically for a higher fee.

We do that by helping our clients build an authority position in the niche they've decided to serve — and then — monetize that position by creating a steady stream of right-fit prospects flowing into their sales pipeline.

If learning proven strategies, tactics, and best practices to help you sell more of what you do aligns with where you want to take your agency — you're in the right place.

Today's episode is a solocast — just you and me. I'll take you behind the curtain into the content we created for an email writing workshop we delivered for Predictive ROI clients and then recently transformed into a new guide entitled "How to Write Effective Emails and Improve Your Open Rates."

The guide is so new that it hasn't been added to our Resource Library yet. But — if you'd like a copy — just email me at [email protected] and I'll be sure to send it your way.

During this episode — I'm going to share with you in full transparency our "Where to Begin" process for writing effective emails on behalf of our clients and as part of our own content strategy. How the content we create leans into the common questions we know our audience cares about. How our emails address the pain points we know our audience is feeling and how each message is designed to be helpful by sharing a relevant story.

Honest — writing effective email content can be that simple. I look forward to your thoughts.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• How Box 1: What are the common questions you know your audience, clients, and prospects typically ask you when you're spending time together?
• How Box 2: What are the pain points, business issues, roadblocks, and challenges you know your prospects are trying to overcome?
• How Box 3: What are the outcomes they desire the most — so that when they look back on the last year — they will feel like they made measurable progress?
• How Box 4: What are the strategies, tactics, and solutions you know will help make a difference in their business — if they only took the time to apply what they learned from you?
• How Box 5: And lastly — what is a relevant story you can share that packages all of that into an easily digestible piece of content…an email?

• Get the WHO Framework™: Replace your dry sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients.
• Get the WHAT Framework™: Design your irresistible offer and sell it for a premium-priced fee.
• Get the HOW Framework™: Put a proven sales process into place and close 80% of your proposals.
• Get the How You Help Framework™: Use this framework to make yourself an easy YES! for clients.

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority
• Build a Better Agency Summit 2024: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/babasummit/

Welcome to the Sell with Authority Podcast – I'm Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI. If we happen to be meeting for the first time — Predictive ROI helps agency owners and their teams sell more of what they do…typically for a higher fee.

We do that by helping our clients build an authority position in the niche they've decided to serve — and then — monetize that position by creating a steady stream of right-fit prospects flowing into their sales pipeline.

If learning proven strategies, tactics, and best practices to help you sell more of what you do aligns with where you want to take your agency — you're in the right place.

Today's episode is a solocast — just you and me. I'll take you behind the curtain into what we call the "Help Me Understand" framework here at Predictive — and how we use it every single time we have a conversation with a prospective client.

We use it every single time because the framework keeps us on track and focused on the most important thing during those meetings…the person we're meeting with.

This type of meeting is never about selling — and the last thing we ever want to do is look like we're trying to close a sale. You don't like when someone tries to close you so we would never suggest you try to "close" one of your prospects.

Instead — the Help Me Understand framework sets the stage for a great business conversation where you ask helpful questions. Then — there's some leaning in, peeling back the layers, asking more questions…and if you've applied the framework in full…your prospective client will ask you, "So — I've done all the talking. How do you think you can help us?"

Honest — it can be that simple. I look forward to your thoughts.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• How Box 1: "Who you help" sets you and your prospective client for success because you'll find out how focused they are or if they're generalist.
• How Box 2: "What problems do you solve" will give you a glimpse into the strategies and tactics they consistently deploy to help their clients.
• How Box 3: "How does it work" will quickly show you if your prospective client has a methodology in place. Or — are they throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks?
• How Box 4: "Top 3 Most Vital Priorities…" gives you permission to ask about their goals — the data points agencies always want to know, but few are bold enough to ask.
• How Box 5: "Roadblock in your way…" will peel back the curtain and show you the "back of stage" problems and constraints — and if you can solve them — holy bananas — you may have just won your agency a brand new client.

• Get the WHO Framework™: Replace your dry sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients.
• Get the WHAT Framework™: Design your irresistible offer and sell it for a premium-priced fee.
• Get the HOW Framework™: Put a proven sales process into place and close 80% of your proposals.
• Get the How You Help Framework™: Use this framework to make yourself an easy YES! for clients.

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority
• Build a Better Agency Summit 2024: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/babasummit/

For this episode of Sell With Authority, I am thrilled to welcome back Jane Pfeiffer, the brilliant Founder and President of Fieldtrip, for an encore interview. Jane and her team have developed a new service offering that's a game-changer for clients and prospects in their niche.

We discuss how to design a service offering that is limited in scope, with a defined start and end date, and a set budget. This approach leaves your clients wanting more because you demonstrated your expertise, were incredibly helpful, and built trust from start to finish.

Jane takes us behind the curtain to reveal how you can be the most helpful to your clients by showing them all the problems — but in a way that prevents them from getting overwhelmed.

Jane also shares strategies for enrolling your team, preparing for client discussions — while creating a service line that makes your agency an easy yes for right-fit prospects.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• The measured approach Jane and her team use to identify and address key client problems
• How to simplify and focus on a single impactful solution rather than over-engineering plans
• Steps for enrolling your team and preparing for client conversations effectively
• The shift nonprofits need to make from transactional fundraising to inviting transformational investments
• Methods to engage right-fit prospects and shift conversations from deliverables to meaningful business solutions

Resources:

• Website: wearefieldtrip.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janepfeiffer/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewpfeiffer/

Additional Resources:

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group

For this episode of Sell With Authority, I invited Corey Quinn, who has a 25-year record of extraordinary success as an entrepreneur, sales leader, and marketing executive, to come back for an encore.

In episode 86 of the podcast, Corey and I went on a bit of a mining expedition where we unearthed a ton of golden nuggets around how to narrow down your target market — and then — how to avoid some of the typical roadblocks that agencies run into when they begin to specialize and focus on a particular vertical market.

Today, we dive into an area that we've never explored with any real depth on the podcast before.

And that's — how to escape founder-led sales.

If I had a dollar for every time I've chatted with agency owners celebrating the hire of that mythical, unicorn new biz salesperson who's supposed to ignite a fire of new clients and profitable work, I'd be rolling in it.

On the flip side — I've also heard countless stories of disappointment — owners lamenting yet another failed biz dev hire who couldn't even cover their salary.

Then there are the founders who desperately want to focus on biz dev, but just can't find the time. As a result, lead generation stalls and conversations with right-fit prospects fall by the wayside.

That's why I asked Corey to join us today. He is a powerhouse in outbound marketing strategies, and he shares game-changing insights to help agency owners generate consistent sales and communicate their expertise.

And — if you apply the strategies Corey lays out in his book, Anyone, Not Everyone, A Proven System to Escape Founder-Led Sales, you'll be well on your way to filling your sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients — the clients you want to serve and those that bring opportunities to sell more of what you do.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• How to focus on a vertical market and get razor-sharp positioning
• The power of a strategic, long-term gifting approach
• How to transition from founder-led sales to a more scalable sales model
• Why investing in a well-curated list is crucial for outbound success
• Key components of a strong sales process to capitalize on generated opportunities
• Common outbound marketing mistakes and how to avoid them

• Website: https://www.coreyquinn.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyquinn/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/coreyquinn
• Newsletter: https://www.coreyquinn.com/free-resources
• Anyone, Not Everyone, A Proven System to Escape Founder-Led Sales
• Episode 86 of Sell With Authority: How to Narrow Down Your Target Market, with Corey Quinn

Additional Resources:

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group

I am thrilled to welcome our guest expert, Sharon Toerek, back to this episode of Sell With Authority. It's her fourth time appearing on the show with us, but for those who are meeting her for the first time, she's the Founder of Toerek Law and the host of the podcast "The Innovative Agency".

Sharon is also Predictive's wicked smart intellectual property attorney and has reviewed and advised us with our client agreements and created our buy-sell and partnership agreements.

She has been helping professionals in the advertising, marketing, and creative services industries protect and monetize their intellectual capital, and manage the legal implications of their marketing and advertising work.

Many of us have faced the dilemma of wanting to have certain crucial conversations with our clients — but not knowing how to approach them without causing friction or damage to the relationship.

On this episode, Sharon and I focus our discussion on how to ensure you get paid by having the right conversations with your clients at the right times. And — we discuss how to start relationships with clients on the right foot from the very beginning.

Ensure that you and your agency get paid for your hard work.

Sharon's expertise provides the tools and confidence to have these essential conversations with your clients.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• Smart ways to set up payment terms with clients so we're aligned right from the start
• Crucial elements of an effective payment agreement
• Strategies for setting assertive negotiation tones with clients to establish professionalism and confidence
• Steps to address payment delays
• Pros and cons of different payment structures
• How to attend Sharon's next virtual free Q&A session

Resources:

• Website: legalandcreative.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharontoerek/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SharonToerek
• The Innovative Agency Podcast
• Get Your Money – Legal Strategies that Get Agencies Paid Q&A
• Episode 52 of Sell With Authority: How to Protect Intellectual Property, with Sharon Toerek
• Episode 59 of Sell With Authority: AI Copyright Law, with Sharon Toerek
• Episode 99 of Sell With Authority: Building Profitable Agency-to-Agency Alliances, with Sharon Toerek

Additional Resources:

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group

This episode of Sell With Authority is one I have been eagerly anticipating! I'm excited to reintroduce you to our special guest expert — because this conversation has been about 6-months in the making.

When Marcel Petitpas, the Co-Founder and CEO of Parakeeto, joined us for Episode 95, the insights he shared were just the tip of the iceberg. That's why I immediately extended the invitation for an encore.

Marcel has an unparalleled understanding of agency profitability and the essential metrics we need to focus on as agency owners to ensure not just growth — but profitable growth.

Today, Marcel and I pick up right where we left off, delving deeper into the nuances of agency profitability. But that's not all. Thanks to the timing of this encore, we have a unique opportunity to gain some exclusive insights.

Marcel has been on the move, traveling the country, sharing his wisdom on countless stages, and fielding questions from eager agency owners like you. So, during this encore, we take a peek behind the curtain.

I'm beyond excited about this encore with Marcel — because when you sell more of what you do at a higher fee — that's awesome — but it's only awesome if you're also more profitable.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• Why finance, operations, and sales alone won't solve profitability problems
• Common misconceptions about where profitability problems stem from
• How to dig deeper — beyond surface-level and address the underlying problems
• Strategies for renegotiating resulting in better profitability
• Marcel's key takeaways from conversations with agency owners and their teams at the most recent events where he was a guest speaker
• How to get Marcel's free Agency Profitability Toolkit with everything you need to start measuring the basics in your business

Resources:

• Website: https://parakeeto.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-petitpas-20059588/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agencyprofitability
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Parakeeto
• Agency Profit Toolkit
• SWA Episode 95: Strategic Planning for Growth & Profit, with Marcel Petitpas

Additional Resources:

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group

In this episode of Sell With Authority, Hannah Roth and I welcome Tim Burke, CEO of Conduit Digital Marketing. We focus our discussion on strengthening your agency through strategic partnerships — and the effective use of white-label solutions.

Tim shares his brilliant perspective on the power of choosing the right strategic partners, optimizing processes, and the crucial metrics that drive successful client outcomes. We explore how the right partnerships can prove pivotal in transforming your agency from just another vendor into a valued strategic partner.

Be even more helpful to your right-fit clients with strategic partnerships that keep your agency competitive in constantly changing markets.

Applying Tim's insights and recommendations will put you and your agency in a better position to streamline, upgrade, and scale.

And by doing that — you will sell more of what you do.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• How collaborations with the right strategic partners can streamline operations, amplify capabilities, and foster agency growth
• Why picking the right partner means beginning with the end in mind
• How to properly onboard a white-label partner
• Tracking the success metrics numbers that actually matter
• The three-step methodology Tim advocates for becoming a top-tier agency
• Why setting expectations helps you retain and grow your clients

Resources:

• Website: https://www.conduitdigital.us/
• Linkedin Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timburkeconduitdigital/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conduitdigital/
• Podcast: https://www.agency-talk.com/

Additional Resources:

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group

For this episode of Sell With Authority, we're shaking things up a bit. Instead of our usual format — I've got something special in store that's related to how to grow your agency.

We're diving into an episode I recorded with Drew McLellan for his Build a Better Agency Podcast.

Why this twist, you might wonder? There are a few reasons I'm excited to share with you.

First off — Drew and I delved deep into the topic of niche, but from a perspective that might surprise you. We explored how Predictive pivoted its niche a few years back, the reasons behind it, and, candidly, how we got a bit too comfortable in our previous niche.

Secondly — I believe the insights we share about building community and adding value will resonate with you, especially if you attended Day 1 of our March Intensive, where community was at the forefront.

And third — buckle up for some powerful takeaways from Drew's keynote at the Build a Better Agency Summit. He discusses steering our agencies out of safe harbors, embracing the storm, and why those risks we fear might not be risks at all. Drew's wisdom adds a brilliant layer to the conversation.

If you take and apply what we talk about in this episode on how to grow your agency — you're going to be in a much better position to roar through 2024 by selling more of what you do.

A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here.

• Why breaking away from the playbook and charting a new course could be the right strategic move for your agency
• How to identify the client types you excel at serving, potentially uncovering your agency's new niche in the process
• How to grow your agency through approach and positioning
• Why your agency niche can establish you as the authority on how to become "The Authority"
• The pivotal role of cultivating a community of eager learners, facilitating more streamlined sales processes

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Continue learning about how to grow your agency by listening to this similar podcast with our guest, Shawndel Spader
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority
• Build a Better Agency Summit 2024: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/babasummit/
• If you want to know how to grow your agency, then schedule a FREE 3-step action plan with us!

Welcome to the Sell with Authority Podcast – I'm Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI. If we happen to be meeting for the first time — Predictive ROI helps agency owners and their teams sell more of what they do…typically for a higher fee. We do that by helping our clients build an authority position in the niche they've decided to serve — and then — monetize that position by creating a steady stream of right-fit prospects flowing into their sales pipeline.

If learning proven strategies, tactics, and best practices to help you sell more of what you do aligns with where you want to take your agency — you're in the right place.

Today's episode is going to be a solocast—just you and me. We'll explore a topic at both a high level and an eye level so you and your team can take it and apply it. The goal is to answer the question, "How to focus and get work done?"

Back when Drew McLellan, CEO of Agency Management Institute, and I decided to write our Sell with Authority book — we knew we needed to include some very practical and tactical recipes and guides on how to get all the work done. And I will tell you — when he and I teach our "Build and Nurture Your Sales Funnel" workshop — we spend a chunk of time on Day 2 helping attendees calendar and map out who in the shop is going to do all of the work so their plan doesn't fall apart when they get back home.

For today's solocast, I'm going to take you behind the curtain into Appendices A and B in the back of our Sell with Authority book and share more about how to focus and get work done here at Predictive so you can take the same recipes and apply them to your shop.

• How and why the WHO Framework and Transformational Triangle should serve as the foundation of your content strategy
• How to decide which form of cornerstone content is right for your gifts and talents
• How to leverage the cornerstone content to best grow your email list
• How do you decide on your cobblestones (they always come off the cornerstone, and the recipes in Appendix A will help) and the right cadence
• How to apply advanced strategies like knitting together your cobblestones to create a new and different cornerstone
• How to focus and get work done for your agency too

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Check out this similar podcast about how to focus and get work done with our guest, Kellie Hill
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority
• Build a Better Agency Summit 2024: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/babasummit/
• Continue your journey on how to focus and get work done by clicking here

If you've been listening to the podcast for a while now — you know we share insights and tactical examples for how to stand out from competitors and make your agency an easy yes for your right-fit clients and prospects.

Two mentors who have been instrumental in our learning around this topic over the last decade are my very special guest experts on this episode of Sell With Authority, Robin and Steve Boehler.

Robin and Steve run Mercer Island Group and are absolutely brilliant in how they help agencies win more business from right-fit clients because of how they help correctly position an agency from the start — how to uncover and find the strategic insight a client or prospect truly cares about — and how to write and deliver a proposal that demonstrates an agency's smarts clearly and concisely.

Robin and Steve have seen it all — the good and the bad. Today we lean into that wealth of experience to work through areas where agencies continually seem to struggle.

I also invited Hannah Roth, our Mad Scientist and Strategist here at Predictive — because of Hannah's unique perspective from working in the trenches day in and day out alongside our clients, helping them fill their sales pipelines with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can sell more of what they do.

If you take and apply the insights, advice, and recommendations Robin and Steve share during this episode — how to stand out from competitors — and — you'll make yourself an easy yes.

• How to stand out from competitors and the status quo
• Smart questions to ask for connecting with right-fit prospects
• How to identify the business issue creating pain for your right-fit prospects and clients
• What content on an agency's website helps them stand out and establish authority with a prospect or agency search consultant
• What agencies should include and exclude from case studies

• Website: https://migroup.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mercer-island-group/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MercerIslandGroup/
• Mercer Island Group Workshops: https://migroup.com/mig-workshops/
• BaBA Summit 2024: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/babasummit/
• Check out this PDF from Mercer Island Group and get more insights on how to stand out from competitors

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Learn more about how to stand out from competitors from our guest, Jesse Cole