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If/when you sell your firm, it’ll likely be the largest transaction of your
life, and so it makes sense to understand it! In this episode David gives a
crash course in everything earnouts.
Blair recognizes growth opportunities in every area of life and business,
yet sees many people chasing metrics while unknowingly resisting genuine
progress for various reasons.
David recognizes that the fear of repeating ourselves in our client work is
motivated by the right things: “am I delivering value?”
Blair tells the story of recreation.gov and how its performance pay deal
has been nothing but wins for every party involved, with plenty of lessons
for buyers and sellers of all kinds of services.
David provides a framework for one of the most important conversations in a
creative agency principal’s life.
Instead of railing against AI-generated spam, Blair decides to "get in on
the action" with his brand new SpamHack AI Growth System™️ in this spoof
episode.
David recognizes more than a few parallels between his passion for
motorcycle racing and the work being done in creative and marketing
agencies.
Instead of just relying on the talent of individual sales people, Blair
recommends creative agencies identify and invest in six elements as a part
of their organization’s long-term sales system.
David finds the courage to address a topic he’s been putting off for
awhile, as he is seeing more agency principals struggling to maintain both
healthy and productive work environments by leading the ongoing process of
resolving tensions within their teams.
Instead of beginning the relationship with a prospective client by
presenting a deck on why your agency is so amazing and should be invited to
pitch, Blair encourages us to have the “Probative Conversation” from his
Four Conversations sales model.
When it comes to positioning, David is still seeing creative firms failing
to answer three essential questions in the proper sequence: category,
specialization, and then secondary differentiators (or qualifying
characteristics).
Blair sees high price anchors everywhere—from buying a suit to ordering a
burger. So what factors should creative firms keep in mind as they use
anchoring in selling their service options? And when is the best time to
present the anchor option within the sales conversation?
Following up on the recent episode on whether you should be considering
that offer to sell your firm, David provides four questions to get
answered, two documents to sign, and a short list of materials that can
help you take the lead in early conversations with a buyer.
The more unexpected the metaphor, the more information it carries. Blair
has four less-obvious metaphors to give you access to entire playbooks in
just four words when selling your expertise.
Ignoring any unexpected offers to buy your business that might come your
way is not in your best interest. But neither is dating all opportunities
in desperation. David has four things principals should consider, whether
or not you are actively looking to sell your firm.
Your clients are far more likely to talk to each other when you have
vertical positioning. Blair has observed both good and bad things arising
from this.
As we are hearing about more firms that are closing during these
challenging times, David offers some guidance to help cut through the
confusion when our worst fears in our business become reality.
As Blair continues to encourage expert practice owners to price the client
and not the service, he and David discuss the pros and cons of four levels
of pricing authority they should be thinking about within their firm,
instead of just assuming pricing responsibility automatically defaults to a
specific role or position.
David thinks principals should build their firms as if they were going to
sell it while Blair’s advice is to run it as if you’ll never sell it. Being
aware of options as your firm matures can give you the leverage you might
need in negotiations.
Through the process of writing his latest book, Blair's thinking has
evolved on whether or not firms should resist the urge to productize their
services as they work to creatively meet the unique needs of each client.
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