B2B Marketing Mindset

My guest today says: If you’re just plugging into ChatGPT like it’s some kind of marketing Jesus — without a crystal clear offer, target, and brand — AI will just scale the confusion that’s already killing your business.

Watch as we test ChatGPT with the dumbest company ideas imaginable.

Blake Thomas is a long time, expert marketer Fractional CMO, Strategic Advisor and president of Bolivia – who has strong opinions a...

Today we have a guest who is asking the eternal question marketers face every day: W.T.F.

This week I sat down with Tim Kilroy, a straight-talking expert who’s helped hundreds of marketing firms and agencies grow by thinking differently about how they sell, who they serve, and what they stand for.

We got into:

The broken state of client acquisition

Why trust is so low in the marketing world

What he thin...

In 1995 I had an employee who was stealing from my company. “Cilia” was a bookkeeper. (Yes, now I know).

Cilia wasn’t just copping paper clips from the stock room. We’re talking “really stealing a lot of (my) money, call the cops, get taken out in cuffs” stealing.

Of course we fired her.

That’s when the shit really hit the fan.

A true story with guest Brett Linkenhohl

Podcast is brought to you by The Agency ...

Is AI in sales the work of the devil? A satanic pilot to make take your job? Find out as I talk to Michael Ocean CEO of SellMeThisPen.ai – He is a fellow coach and doing some incredible things with technology and probably isn’t in cahoots with The Dark Lord… or is he? 

Podcast is brought to you by The Agency Founders Network- a private, online community of marketing founders of all stripes. Join now for free – no credit...

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Today I’m interviewing Eli Rubel. Eli is the founder behind No Boring Design, Profit Labs, and MatterMade, he is a serial entrepreneur and investor that turns struggles into profit while “building in public” – sharing his raw, real (and sometimes insane) entrepreneurial journey as it happens on LinkedIn.

Podcast is brought to you by The Agency Founders Network.com – a private, online community of marketi...

In this episode I talk to Chris Lopes about Sales Playbooks – what they are and why you should care. The right playbook can make the difference between sales success and sales suck-cess. Heh, heh.

What exactly is a Sales Playbook?

Are they unique to each company?

What are the key components of a sales playbook?

Who should “own” the playbook within the organization?

How can sales leaders ensure their tea...

If you sell expertise—whether through consulting, coaching, training, or professional services—you’re not just selling knowledge. You’re selling trust, credibility, and perceived value. And nothing amplifies those faster than influence.

Influence is what turns you into the go-to authority for your niche. Knowing how to create and use it is why some experts command premium fees while others struggle to stand out. It’s w...

If you sell expertise for a living you’ve probably struggled with if you should generalize or focus on a niche.

You keep hearing people say that “The Niche is where it’s at” from a competitive standpoint.

“But….But…But we have to cast a wider net – not a narrower net so we don’t miss any opportunities!”

This week I have master marketer Claudia Ring to tackle this important but narrow topic.

The post To Niche Or...

Today we’ll be talking about the biggest mistakes made by people who sell expertise. So coaches, consultants, professional witnesses and experts hang with us for a few minutes to see if you are making mistakes that are costing you money.

Featuring Louie Bernstein a top LinkedIn Voice and 40 year veteran fractional sales manager, we’ll be talking about hidden mistakes everyone (including us) make that cost us deals and ...

One thing I’m hearing more than every is “marketing doesn’t work for us” – usually it’s more specific – email doesn’t work, social doesn’t work, advertising doesn’t work – nothing works for these companies.

If marketing didn’t work, Apple, Coca-Cola, IBM, your competitors wouldn’t exist.

If you are thinking that marketing doesn’t work for your company, today we are going to try to help you figure out why by sharing...

The marketing industry is in a state of over saturation and fragmentation. That means it’s ripe for consolidation as larger agencies buy smaller agencies.

And it’s a buyers market.

My guest today is Tom Shipley – he’s building a mega agency through acquisition. We’ll be talking about the state of the market and why now is the time to sell your firm – or not.

For many agencies being acquired isn’t the end – it’s...

Today we discuss a concept that is really crucial in terms of determining your marketing strategy but it seems lost to time.

However, it’s no less relevant. It’s called the Market Life Cycle – although we will show you how to expand how it’s used – extending to mapping products, services, industries, your company and more.

We will connect it to specific strategies depending on where you are in the cycle. Plus you can...

Being a vendor sucks that’s not something that you should aspire to. You want to be a trusted advisor but how and why?

Well, worry, not because that’s what today’s episode is about why it sucks to be a vendor why it’s only slightly better to be a solution provider and how awesome it is to be a trusted advisor.

Will be covering the entry intricacies of each type of relationship, and how to transform your business re...

Back in 2003 I had to shutter a seven figure marketing firm. I could have sold it but:

a) I was ignorant and thought that service businesses were hard to sell

b) personal tragedy had struck and I had to focus all of my energy on my family

Advisors all said “Your assets go down the elevator every night – there isn’t anything to sell.” They were wrong.

We had extensive operating manuals, contracts with F100 c...

My guest today has grown several companies from one employee to hundreds of millions in revenue in the Direct to Consumer niche and he’s spilling the beans on what works and what doesn’t.

We helped him make it happen on one of his companies and he’s a true master of growth, marketing, branding and how to leverage marketing and marketing agencies.

Bill Gates is not a serial entrepreneur. He had success once. (Malcom G...

If you can only do one thing to improve marketing – this is that one thing.

This common sense tactic seems to be lost over time but it really makes the difference between failure and success when it comes to both sales and marketing.

Simply put, you need to talk to your customers. But if you don’t do it right, it will be a waste of time. Or worse, you’ll get data that leads to making the wrong decisions.

In Epi...