We sunsetted Painless Prospecting as a newsletter... but you can read the entire archive here. All 300 posts are devoted to making it easier to prospect for clients for your agency, based on the best-selling book, The Invisible Sale. And if you're intrigued and want to keep learning, get your very own copy of The Invisible Edge delivered to your inbox every week. In this evolved version of our newsletter, we're focusing less on prospecting tactics (though we'll touch on those from time to time) and more on the psychology of prospecting, presenting, persuading, and creating a world where you become the no-brainer referral or hire. Of course, all rooted in behavioral psychology, neurology, and social sciences research.
practical agency business development
The hidden science, insights, and contrarian ideas you need to master the art of influence & persuasion. No fluff allowed.
Painless Prospecting Posts, Webinars & Reports
In 100% of the agency business development engagements I work on, this is almost always one of the first statements I make. And you may think that’s a harsh thing to tell an agency, but according to this year’s 2026 Agency Core Report, the agency owner probably already knows it. In this year’s report, 50% … Continue Reading…
TL;DR Open ten agency websites in ten tabs and read them with the logos covered. Go ahead, try it. Within about three minutes you’ll lose track of which agency is which, because they all blur into the same voice, the same promises about being strategic, full-service partners who deliver results and really get to know … Continue Reading…
TL;DR Most agency owners I talk to are a little proud of running on referrals, and they should be. Referrals from existing and past clients are still by far the biggest driver of new business for agencies, according to the 2025 State of Digital Agencies survey from SparkToro, published in early 2026. If your pipeline … Continue Reading…
TL;DR You built a better deck. Your team out-prepared everyone. The strategy was sharper, and the thinking ran deeper, and you walked out of that conference room genuinely believing you’d nailed it. Then the email came, and you lost to an agency you know, in your bones, was not as good as you. If your … Continue Reading…
TL;DR A few months ago, a friend who runs a small creative shop called me, half-embarrassed. “The phone just isn’t ringing the way it used to,” he said. No crisis. No lost talent or anything he could point to as the problem. The work was as good as it had ever been. The referrals had … Continue Reading…
TL;DR Positioning problems are the great impostors of agency new business. They almost never announce themselves as positioning problems. They show up wearing other costumes, as a dry pipeline or a prospect who won’t stop pushing on price, and you spend months treating the costume while the thing underneath keeps doing damage. So if your … Continue Reading…
TL;DR “Should we niche or stay generalist?” is the wrong question. It frames the decision around what you offer instead of how clearly prospects can choose you. The better question is whether you’re the obvious choice for anyone. You can be a generalist and distinct, or a niche player and forgettable. Generalist positioning tends to … Continue Reading…
TL;DR Constant price pushback is rarely about your price. It’s about a missing reason to pay it. A price objection is usually a distinction objection in disguise. When buyers can’t see a difference, cost becomes the only thing left to negotiate. Pricing power doesn’t come from your rate card. It comes from being clearly worth … Continue Reading…
If I had a nickel for every conversation I’ve had with an agency owner in the last 90 days where they asked me, “Do you think AI will kill marketing agencies?” I could retire and open a taco truck that serves my world-famous TT’s salsa, fish tacos, and margaritas. AI isn’t going to kill marketing … Continue Reading…
TL;DR When your agency’s new business slows down, the question you ask first determines how much money you’re about to waste. Most owners ask “what should I buy to fix this?” The better question, the one that saves you a year and a small fortune, is “what’s actually broken?” If your new business has slowed … Continue Reading…
TL;DR Deals that used to close in a month now take three. The prospect goes quiet, resurfaces, asks for another call, wants to see two more case studies, loops in another stakeholder, and the proposal that should have been approved weeks ago just keeps dgragging on. If that’s your pattern, you’re not imagining it, and … Continue Reading…
A few weeks ago, Meta confirmed that, as part of their AI adoption strategy, the company is logging employee computer activity, keystrokes, and using screen captures to train AI to use a computer the way a human does. When workers asked if they could opt out, the answer was no. The reaction was exactly what … Continue Reading…
TL;DR The call went great. They leaned in and asked smart questions. Somebody said “this is exactly what we’ve been looking for.” You sent the proposal the next day. It was tight, detailed, personalized, and priced right. And then nothing. No reply, no explanation. You followed up once, twice, three times a lady (sorry, had … Continue Reading…
TL;DR Finishing second feels different from losing badly, and that difference is a trap. When you get outclassed, you know something was wrong. When you finish second, everyone tells you how close it was, how impressive you were, how it came down to the wire. It feels like validation. So you keep doing the same … Continue Reading…
When I’m talking to clients about the current rate of AI adoption, it reminds me of the first time I really “got” social media. I didn’t get it from a headline or a TED talk. I got it from a group of junior staffers at the agency I was leading at the time. I had … Continue Reading…
52% of referrals never call. Want to know if you’re the reason? Learn how to check your Google Referral Index Score.
... Continue Reading...TL;DR: This article explains how to make impactful presentations by applying proven principles from cognitive science and brain research. It’s written for anyone who uses PowerPoint or slide-based presentations at work and shows how to reduce cognitive overload, align visuals with how the brain processes information, and design slides that actually improve learning, retention, and understanding … Continue Reading…
Executive Summary: What’s Changed in the LinkedIn Algorithm, and What To Do About It In 2026 LinkedIn’s becoming less like a content platform and more like a networking conference with a long memory. Your post isn’t being judged in isolation anymore. It’s being considered in context: who you are, what you’ve done, what you talk … Continue Reading…
Recently, after delivering one of my Perfect Pitch™ webinars, an attendee asked me: “How do we build credibility DURING the discovery call?” Great question! Truthfully, I told him, if you’re waiting till the Discovery Call to create credibility, you may be too late. Before the prospect ever agreed to a meeting with you, they Googled … Continue Reading…
For a long time, the music business ran on a straightforward value equation. The studios were selling you new products every day. You couldn’t wait to buy them—albums and then eventually individual songs. You stored them in a library. You owned them forever. BUT, your access was always constrained by some box. At first the … Continue Reading…
Stop awkward discovery calls. Learn why yours feel like a date and get expert questions to build trust and qualify leads with genuine conversation.
... Continue Reading...Stop wasting your conference sponsorships. Discover how conference presentation training transforms speaking slots into brand-building, lead-driving moments.
... Continue Reading...Article Overview & Key Takeaways: AI Agents are the new gatekeepers in agency reviews, scanning agency websites and agency review data sources to build a shortlist of potential agencies to include in the review. They function like Social Agents once did, multiplying trust through recommendations—only now at machine speed and scale. AI Agent Buyer website … Continue Reading…
Learn how to win your next agency pitch using science-backed techniques that build trust, inspire belief, and get prospects to say YES.
... Continue Reading...Struggling with a dry agency pipeline? Here are FIVE things you can do today to fix it.
... Continue Reading...Discover the FACE framework to enhance your LinkedIn connection acceptance rates. Learn how strategic engagement outperforms cold outreach.
... Continue Reading...Original Research Content Marketing: How to leverage original research and knowledge to painlessly prospect for new clients.
... Continue Reading...When you sit across the table from a prospective client, you aren’t selling services; you’re selling belief. The modern pitch isn’t a laundry list of deliverables or a gallery of Instagram-worthy portfolio pieces. It’s an invitation to envision a future where conversation drives conversion, where proof validates possibility, and where emotion cements commitment. In my … Continue Reading…
Learn how to craft pitch decks that build trust, avoid confusion, and master the art of overcoming buyer skepticism in pitches.
... Continue Reading...Learn how The Propinquity Principle™ reshapes business development in an AI world, as SEO and PPC lose impact in a zero-click, AI-driven era.
... Continue Reading...