Sell With Authority

Today’s episode of Sell With Authority is a special encore with one of our rock solid awesome guests — Tom Martin, Founder and President of Converse Digital. For more than 30 years, Tom’s been helping startups, agencies, and global brands revolutionize how they sell. He’s the author of The Invisible Sale, creator of the Painless Prospecting program, and a keynote speaker you’ve likely seen at Build a Better Agency, Content Marketing World, Inbound, and more. Tom is on a mission to help agencies ditch pushy sales tactics and instead lean into persuasion, influence, and trust. His latest framework, Life’s a Pitch, is a masterclass in why most pitches fail — and how to craft ones that win. I didn’t want to have this conversation without Hannah Roth — Predictive’s Director of Strategy and our in-house Mad Scientist. Hannah works alongside our clients every day refining positioning, sharpening pitches, and leading experiments inside our Predictive Lab. Tom is back joining Hannah and I to help you reframe your pitch process — and win more right-fit clients. What you will learn in this episode: Why 90% of your pitch is forgotten within 2 days — and how to break that pattern for good The real difference between trust and credibility and how to architect both in your pitch Why most agencies still “show up and throw up” and how to change that The neuroscience and cognitive load theory that reveal why your pitch probably isn’t landing How to build a “yellow brick road” your prospects will want to follow straight to yes Practical ways to reduce risk for your client How to avoid flashy slides that distract — and lead with substance that sticks in their minds instead Resources: Website: https://conversedigital.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommartinjr/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conversedigital/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomMartin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConverseDigital Agency Business Development Resources: https://conversedigital.com/agency-business-development-resources Painless Prospecting Newsletter: https://conversedigital.com/painless-sales-prospecting Building Connections That Matter: LinkedIn Sales Prospecting Strategies For Introverts How To Sell Your Agency’s Services Even When You Hate Selling

Today’s episode of Sell With Authority is a special follow-up to my recent conversation with Don Yaeger about his new book, The New Science of Momentum. In that episode, Don gave us a masterclass on how momentum acts as the “great exaggerator” — multiplying your wins when things are going well, or magnifying your challenges when they’re not. We’re continuing that conversation with Don’s co-author Dr. Bernard Banks, or Bernie, as most people know him. Bernie is the Director of Rice University’s Doerr Institute for New Leaders, where he’s helping shape the next generation of leadership. He’s earned multiple master’s degrees from Northwestern, Columbia, and Harvard, along with a Ph.D. in social-organizational psychology from Columbia. His work has been featured in places like Harvard Business Review and The New York Times. Bernie’s academic background is impressive. But here’s the part that makes today’s conversation uniquely powerful — Bernie has lived leadership in the trenches. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2016 as a Brigadier General after leading units ranging from 10 people to more than 3,000. He also served as Head of West Point’s Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership. In those roles, leadership isn’t theoretical. Sometimes it means choosing the least bad option. It means making a call quickly and ensuring your people have what they need to lead effectively — even in less-than-ideal situations. That’s the perspective Bernie brings to today’s conversation. Not war stories — but real-world, lived leadership experience you can take and apply inside your agency to build, protect, and reset momentum when it fades. Dig into Bernie’s perspective on how leaders can create momentum — and keep it moving forward. What you will learn in this episode:  Why leadership must be intentional — not theoretical — when the stakes are high Behind-the-scenes research, stories, and lessons from The New Science of Momentum Why momentum is built through preparation long before the first spark A step-by-step framework: leadership, recruitment, culture, preparation, spark, communication, and climate What it looks like to unlock dormant potential in your team and clients How high integrity, trust, and intentional actions will set your agency apart How to protect — and reset — momentum when things get tough Resources: Website: https://profiles.rice.edu/staff/bernard-bernie-banks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernard-bernie-b-4458003/ The New Science of Momentum book

Welcome to Sell With Authority — I’m Hannah Roth, Director of Strategy here at Predictive ROI — and your resident mad scientist. If you’ve been around a while, you’re probably used to hearing Stephen kick things off. But today’s episode is a little different — you’ve got me in the driver’s seat. And I’ve got my strategic co-pilot joining me — Erik Jensen, our Chief Strategy Officer. Erik and I are in the trenches every single day with agency owners, helping them spot and fix the nine money-draining mistakes — those sneaky patterns that quietly erode your profit, your confidence, and your growth. One of the biggest culprits we see over and over again is what we call the Expertise Discount. It’s what happens when you downplay your value because the work feels “easy” to you. Erik and I are digging into how that mindset ties directly into multiple money-draining mistakes — and how it chips away at your distinction, creates confusion, and traps you in the underpricing cycle. We’re giving you ways to reframe the value conversation — both in your own head and with your clients — so you can start charging what your expertise is truly worth. What you will learn in this episode: Why so many agency owners equate hours with value, and how this mindset leads to underpricing Why work that feels “easy” to you is often the most valuable to your right-fit clients — and why speed should command a premium The direct link between undervaluing your expertise and several of the 9 money-draining mistakes Practical ways to anchor your fees to outcomes — time saved, revenue unlocked, risk removed — instead of deliverables The subtle ways you may still be discounting yourself How to confidently raise rates, simplify your offer suite, and sell with clarity instead of apology Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Erik’s LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-jensen-b9946068/ Hannah’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-roth-387a6b223/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

Why does business development feel so much heavier than it did even a year ago? Biz dev pipelines feel fragile. Opportunities stall unless the founder is in the room. New hires struggle to deliver results. And after a while, agency leaders start to wonder: “Is it just us?” It’s not you. It’s distrust. In this solocast, Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI, breaks down the first brick in The Trust Architecture™ — a 60-minute session called Help Me Understand. It’s a conversation designed to flip the script on new business by building trust at scale, long before you ever talk about solutions. You’ll hear: Why distrust — not “pipeline” — is the real barrier holding agencies back. The five core questions that form the spine of Help Me Understand (and the follow-ups that unlock candor). The five lessons that elevate this from “just discovery” to a trust-building experience. A real story of how one agency leader (we’ll call her Sally) shared more vulnerability in five minutes than most prospects do in five months. The exact playbook: how to prep, open, guide, and close the session — plus the one recap email that cements clarity. The outcomes you can expect when you run this session with excellence. When your prospects experience Help Me Understand, they don’t just feel heard — they leave thinking, “If this agency runs their sales process this well, imagine how well they’ll run my work.” Now’s the time to double down, architect trust, and sell more of what you do. Free Resources: Why Distrust is Rising and What Agencies Can Do About It, with Hannah Roth 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

So many agency owners struggle with building a steady, profitable biz dev engine that doesn’t leak time, energy, money — and most importantly — opportunity.  What if the biggest culprit isn’t the volume of your outreach, the size of your list, or even your pitch?  What if the leaks are about something far more fundamental — understanding? Working alongside agencies, we too often find their ideal client profiles aren’t nearly as sharp as they think. Too often, ICPs are built on assumptions — not data. And when that happens, everything downstream starts to wobble. Targeting documents look good on paper but break down in execution. Messaging is crafted around what sounds clever — instead of what prospects are actually saying. And thought leadership is positioned around belief — not proof. If right-fit prospects don’t hear their own words reflected back, in your voice, they won’t lean in. They won’t see you as the guide who “gets it.” But — when you do capture their exact language, when you listen deeply and build strategy from their voice instead of your assumptions — the whole biz dev game changes. Suddenly, you’re speaking their dialect, and they can’t help but lean in. Agencies that guess at their ICPs — or only check in with clients once a year — are really building pipelines on hope. And as we know — hope is not a strategy.  Listening is. That’s why I’m thrilled to welcome back today’s guest expert for an encore conversation. Ana Laskey, President and Founder of Ground Control Research joins to give us a deep dive into how agencies can stop guessing, listen deeply, and use both AI tools and human touch to extract critical client language that sharpens targeting, elevates your content, and builds a biz dev process that’s a real engine — not just a random act of marketing. If you’re guessing at who your right-fit clients are, or if you’re hoping content sticks when you toss it at the wall — this conversation is for you. Ana’s approach will help you stop shouting in a crowded arena — and instead, speak with such precision that your right-fit prospects say… “Finally. That’s exactly what I need!” What you will learn in this episode:  Why most agencies’ ICPs are built on assumption — NOT data How to build an ICP so sharp that you attract right-fit clients on repeat How to use AI to spot the red threads in your client conversations — without losing the human touch Why it’s vital to understand your buyer’s company and the full “deal path” including secondary decision makers Ana’s tips for open-ended, empathy-driven interviews How to turn client insights into marketing strategies that actually move the needle Resources: Website: www.groundcontrolresearch.com LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastassialaskey/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groundcontrolresearch/ Ana’s Bio Page: https://ana.bio/ How to Sharpen Your ICP, with Ana Laskey

Today’s episode of Sell With Authority tackles a question that comes up almost every time I sit down with an agency owner: Why does biz dev feel harder than it used to? If your sales pipeline feels heavier, slower, or tougher to move than it did even a year ago — you’re not imagining things. Agency optimism has dropped from nearly three-quarters of leaders feeling confident about growth…to less than half. Two-thirds of agencies lost clients last year. And only 7% say they’re effective at expanding with current clients. Biz dev feels like a grind. But here’s the flip side: the agencies that are niching down, planting their flag of authority, and making data-fueled decisions — they’re the ones finding traction and weathering the storm. And that’s where we focus our time and attention today. My guest is Hannah Roth, our Director of Strategy here at Predictive ROI — and my soon-to-be business partner as she officially joins our ownership team this February. We call Hannah our “Mad Scientist” — because she spends days deep in tens of thousands of data points, analyzing sales pipelines, uncovering leaks, and spotting where the highest-probability opportunities are hiding. Hannah is a data scientist — which means her insights aren’t theory. They’re backed by research, data, and real-world client work. In this episode, she walks us through what she calls The State of Agency Biz Dev. We cover: -Why optimism has cratered and pipelines feel stalled – The unseen mistakes draining money from agency biz dev – Patterns that separate struggling generalists from thriving niche leaders – Shifting from chasing leads to attracting right-fit clients If you apply what Hannah shares, you’ll see where the market really is — and where your next opportunities are waiting. What you will learn in this episode: Why agency optimism about growth has cratered — and what the data actually says about why Money-draining mistakes to root out now before they cost you next quarter’s revenue How “trust” has become as valuable as your service — and 66% of you don’t have a strategy for it — yikes! Habits that separate agencies thriving in a storm from those that get “stuck” How leveraging first-party data creates your very own lab Why “failed” experiments can build trust and authority How your sales process might be secretly sabotaging your biz dev efforts Resources: THE STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT INDEX: https://theexpressory.com/engagementindex The 2025 State of Marketing Report: https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing Agency Core: https://audienceaudit.com/agency-core/ Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Hannah’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-roth-387a6b223/

What if business development for your agency didn’t feel like chasing? Or pitching? Or trying to convince someone to say yes? What if instead — you had a process of building trust so strong that your prospects convinced themselves? That’s what this solocast is all about. In this episode, Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI, unpacks our three-part “Trust Architecture” that our team uses to help prospective clients move from curiosity to YES — without pitching, pressuring, or posturing. What you will learn in this episode: Why most sales processes fall flat (hint: it’s not the pitch — it’s the posture) How to structure a “Help Me Understand” session that builds immediate trust What diagnostic tools, like “The Focus Finder,” do to create clarity and urgency How to turn your Meet & Greet into a confidence catalyst — not just a formality What you can install today to build your own trust-driven biz dev process Free Resources: 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

Is your team producing solid content… nurturing leads… showing up consistently in all the right ways — but your sales pipeline still feels like a big pile of question marks? If selling feels harder than it should, the problem might not be your effort — it could be your leverage. You don’t need another tool. Or another platform. Or another shiny object promising quick wins. What you need is a multiplier. Something that helps you multiply the reach of your smarts without burning out your team, attracts higher-quality leads without blowing your budget — and packages your expertise in a way that makes your right-fit prospects say YES! That’s exactly what today’s episode is all about. We pull back the curtain on how real agencies are using AI to sell more of what they do. Our guest, Lucas Petty, isn’t just another AI guy. Yes, he knows the tech. But more importantly — he knows how to make it pay off inside an agency. Lucas is the Founder of AI Daddy — a firm helping agency owners streamline ops, eliminate bottlenecks, and grow more profitably using AI. Also joining today is our very own Director of Strategy, Hannah Roth. Hannah is in the trenches every day with our clients — helping them sell more of what they do and future-proof their pipelines. She also leads our AI strategy inside the Predictive Lab. If you’ve ever wondered how AI fits into your agency’s biz dev engine — you’re in the right spot. What you will learn in this episode:  Why tool overload keeps agencies stuck — and how to break the cycle A framework for identifying true agency bottlenecks A candid, step-by-step approach to getting your team to ACTUALLY adopt AI — without the fear and resistance How to map agency processes to spot where every single friction point — and missed opportunity — actually lives Steps to move from overwhelmed to PRODUCTIVE if you feel behind on AI Resources: Website: https://www.aidaddy.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucapetty/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidaddy/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aidaddy.com

Before I introduce you to our very special guest expert today, I want to ask you a question. I encourage you to give it some real, thoughtful consideration. What if the real reason your agency’s sales pipeline feels stalled has nothing to do with lead flow, your niche, or your team? What if you’re not actually missing content? You’re not missing knocks on the door. You’re not missing invitations to the right room at the right time — or any of the other usual suspects we tend to blame. What if you’re really missing momentum? When momentum is on your side, effort feels effortless. Right-fit prospects seem to appear out of nowhere. Your proposals move forward. Your team operates like a single unit. You speak — and your audience leans in. But — when momentum is gone — everything feels heavy. Wins don’t stack on each other. Confidence fades. Right-fit prospects ghost you after receiving a proposal. The pressure to fix it fast makes you want to chase prospects — which feels like a whole lot of not awesome. Here’s the good news — momentum isn’t magic. It’s measurable. It’s repeatable. That’s exactly what we unpack in today’s episode. There’s no better person to guide us through this conversation than our guest today, Don Yaeger. Don is one of the world’s leading authorities on greatness, leadership, and momentum. He’s the author of 35 books, including 12 New York Times bestsellers. Most recently — alongside retired U.S. Army General Bernie Banks — Don has co-authored The New Science of Momentum — a book that answers one of the most pressing questions agency owners and their teams are facing right now: How do you create momentum when it’s missing? That’s where we focus our time and energy for this episode — how to find the spark. And — how to turn that spark into sustained, unstoppable momentum that can change everything for you and your team. What you will learn in this episode:  Why momentum — not leads, content, or invitations — could be the missing link in your agency’s growth engine How to create the “spark” that shifts your team from stalled to unstoppable Why strong leadership must shape your agency’s culture How to train your team to recognize and respond to opportunity Steps to reverse lost momentum when confidence dips — and how feedback loops set winning teams apart Resources: Website: https://donyaeger.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donyaeger/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greatness-inc/ The New Science of Momentum

Before we dive into today’s episode of Sell With Authority, I want to make sure you know about our July Intensive. Every March, July, and November we gather our Predictive ROI clients together for a 2-day event we call the Intensive. It’s a private, client-only event — but we always hold a few guest seats open. Our July Intensive is happening Wednesday and Thursday, July 30th and 31st, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon Central — and it’s 100% virtual over Zoom. The focus? Helping you fill your sales pipeline so you can sell more of what you do. Turning our attention to this episode — my guest expert and I mapped out what we wanted to cover. We thought about how to structure this episode as a strategic prelude to the Intensive. We’re unpacking core pillars we’ll be teaching — including what it means to build your right-fit prospect map and how to run sales calls that create real momentum. That guest expert is our very own Director of Strategy Hannah Roth. Hannah is a data scientist by trade, and she runs point on helping our clients sell more of what they do. Now’s the time to double down on a strategy that isn’t just about new leads — but about future-proofing your agency through relationships you’ve already built. What you will learn in this episode: The biggest missed sales opportunities most agencies overlook How a right-fit prospect map changes the game The cause-and-effect of focusing biz dev on new prospects vs. current or past clients Simple but powerful tactics to turn lost deals and past clients into new revenue streams Why “by name” — not guesswork — matters How to fix common money-draining mistakes that kill your sales pipeline The role of trust and distrust in today’s market — and why nurturing your orbit matters more than ever How to confidently open doors with tactics that don’t feel “salesy” How you can join the July Intensive as our FREE guest Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Hannah’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-roth-387a6b223/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority