2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

Conversations on the art of creative entrepreneurship, for advertising, marketing, digital, public relations, dev shops, etc.

Defending the Castle When the Moats Are Drained 11/19/2025

Defending the Castle When the Moats Are Drained One characteristic of our industry is disappearing moats. After a brief overview of the fourteen moats we've lost from 1965 to today, we'll look at what turf we really have left to defend and what the future will look like if we get this right. It'll be very different, and you'd better get ahead of it. /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/39094970

The Four Priorities of Winning New Business 11/05/2025

The Four Priorities of Winning New Business What do we do in those situations where we have to pitch? Blair simplifies some important principles from his books into a sequence of four precepts we can follow when the sales process doesn’t progress like we’d hoped. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/38922335

Understanding Earnouts 10/22/2025

Understanding Earnouts 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/38736060

Grow or Die? 10/08/2025

Grow or Die? 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/38510255

You're Cheating Clients Unless You're Repetitive 09/24/2025

You're Cheating Clients Unless You're Repetitive David recognizes that the fear of repeating ourselves in our client work is motivated by the right things: “am I delivering value?” LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/38333955

How to Get $500M to Build a Website 09/10/2025

How to Get $500M to Build a Website 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/38151765

When a Key Employee Wants Equity 08/27/2025

When a Key Employee Wants Equity David provides a framework for one of the most important conversations in a creative agency principal’s life. LINKS "" by David C. Baker for punctuation.com "" by David C. Baker for punctuation.com /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/37977205

SpamHack Your Way to Growth! 08/13/2025

SpamHack Your Way to Growth! 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. /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/37783955

What I Learned From Teaching Motorcycle Racing 07/30/2025

What I Learned From Teaching Motorcycle Racing David recognizes more than a few parallels between his passion for motorcycle racing and the work being done in creative and marketing agencies. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/37607065

A DIY New Business System 07/16/2025

A DIY New Business System 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/37392670

Dealing With Today's Employee 07/02/2025

Dealing With Today's Employee 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/37256555

There Is No Credential Meeting 06/18/2025

There Is No Credential Meeting Instead of beginning the relationship with a prospective client by presenting a deck on why your agency is so amazing and why you should be invited to pitch, Blair encourages us to have the “Probative Conversation” from his Four Conversations sales model. LINKS book by Blair Enns /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/37055560

The Waterfall of Differentiation 06/04/2025

The Waterfall of Differentiation 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). /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/36836410

Always Be Anchoring 05/21/2025

Always Be Anchoring 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? Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/36656615

What to Ask, Sign, and Share With a Potential Buyer 05/07/2025

What to Ask, Sign, and Share With a Potential Buyer 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/36459415

The Power of a Metaphor 04/23/2025

The Power of a Metaphor 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. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/36276560

Should You Entertain That Acquisition Offer? 04/09/2025

Should You Entertain That Acquisition Offer? 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. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/36061605

When Your Clients Talk to Each Other 03/26/2025

When Your Clients Talk to Each Other 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. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/35856000

Facing an Existential Crisis? 03/12/2025

Facing an Existential Crisis? 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. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/35652065

Who Should Set Prices? 02/26/2025

Who Should Set Prices? 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 job title. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/35429495

10 Reasons a Buyer Might Want Your Firm 02/12/2025

10 Reasons a Buyer Might Want Your Firm 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. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/35262960

To Standardize or Customize 01/29/2025

To Standardize or Customize 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. /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/35061465

Don't Bother Eating Your Veggies 01/15/2025

Don't Bother Eating Your Veggies In Blair's experience, the most common reason a lead generation plan doesn’t get executed is it doesn’t recognize and leverage the strengths or motivations of the individuals executing. LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/34859505

Adapting Hiring Strategies Over Time 01/01/2025

Adapting Hiring Strategies Over Time David describes the differences in what kind of people principals should hire during the early stage of their creative firm’s development when it’s all about “what we can afford,” the middle stage when it’s about “what we need,” and then the later days of an agency when it’s about “what we can learn.” LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/34675315

The Barbell of Pricing Risk 12/18/2024

The Barbell of Pricing Risk Blair borrows a concept from finance and fitness to help creative agencies find the balance between low risk and high risk pricing strategies. /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/34441720

Selling Your Professional Services Firm 12/04/2024

Selling Your Professional Services Firm Blair interviews David about his new book, . LINKS /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/34283675

Questions, Not Answers 11/20/2024

Questions, Not Answers Blair interviews David on his recent article about the idea that expertise does involve supplying answers, eventually, but mainly expertise is about asking the right questions, first, and then offering a few answers after the truth surfaces. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/34033010

Assume an Advantaged Player 11/06/2024

Assume an Advantaged Player Blair shares how to determine whether or not we are the advantaged player the “polite battle for control” within the game of sales, and how we can get the odds of winning the sale to be more in our favor. Links /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/33816566

The Four Conversations: A New Model for Selling Expertise 10/23/2024

The Four Conversations: A New Model for Selling Expertise David interviews Blair about , which lays out his proven framework B2B service providers can use to increase closing ratios and average proposal values. Links Order by Blair Enns /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/33582952

200th Episode Special 10/09/2024

200th Episode Special Blair and David reminisce about their podcasting journey since Blair first pitched the 2Bobs idea to David back in 2016, sharing what they've learned along the way, and what they might like to try with the podcast in the future. /episode/index/show/2bobs/id/33397742

2Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

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