In this episode, Fred and John discuss the top ten mistakes made by B2B account managers:

• Thinking some else is the quarterback
• “I think”
• Not bringing recommendations along with problems
• Not being willing to be a pincushion
• Complaining about the client in the open
• Assuming not hearing from clients means everything’s good
• Referring to your internal team as ‘them'
• Waiting until renewal to sell the value prop
• No account plans
• Not answering the question directly - “Curse of Knowledge”

In this episode, we host special guest Tim Stoltenberg, the Creative Director of Dad’s Garage (www.dadsgarage.com) - the legendary Atlanta-based improvisation team. From Tim we learn about:

• How improv skills are not about being funny, but about listening
• Using improv to solve problems together
• Listening to understand, instead of to respond
• Using “yes and..”
• Avoiding bulldozing
• Using silence

And a deep discussion of the meaning of the word portmanteau.

Be sure to check out Dad’s Garage!

In this episode, Fred and John discuss:

-Realities of the client executives you manage

And tactics to help:

-Be present

-Use the phone

-Answer the question

-Send an ‘industry update

-Storm the castle

-Send thank you notes

-Send a holiday gift or holiday card

And Pimento cheese

In this episode, Fred and John discuss:

• Negotiations Process: anchoring, leveraging interests, etc.
• Common negotiation mistakes
• Ethics in negotiations

In this episode, Fred and John review the initial stages of negotiation:1) Knowing the types of negotiations2) Preparation - ZOPA, BATNA, goal-setting3) Books we recommend

In this episode, Fred and John discuss using DISC as an Account Manager:

• Review of what DISC means and how to use as an Account Manager
• Fred and John's DISC profiles
• We attempt to guess famous people's profiles

Also a discussion of Pop-Tarts

In this episode, Fred and John discuss:

• Misconceptions on how to work with internal teams
• What to do instead

In this episode, Fred and John discuss:

• Mindset of Accounting and Finance (vs. Account Managers)
• Finance's primary concerns
• How to interpret the output of Finance and Accounting as an Account Manager