So many agency owners struggle with building a steady, profitable biz dev engine that doesn’t leak time, energy, money — and most importantly — opportunity.

What if the biggest culprit isn’t the volume of your outreach, the size of your list, or even your pitch?

What if the leaks are about something far more fundamental — understanding?

Working alongside agencies, we too often find their ideal client profiles aren’t nearly as sharp as they think. Too often, ICPs are built on assumptions — not data. And when that happens, everything downstream starts to wobble.

Targeting documents look good on paper but break down in execution. Messaging is crafted around what sounds clever — instead of what prospects are actually saying. And thought leadership is positioned around belief — not proof.

If right-fit prospects don’t hear their own words reflected back, in your voice, they won’t lean in. They won’t see you as the guide who “gets it.”

But — when you do capture their exact language, when you listen deeply and build strategy from their voice instead of your assumptions — the whole biz dev game changes. Suddenly, you’re speaking their dialect, and they can’t help but lean in.

Agencies that guess at their ICPs — or only check in with clients once a year — are really building pipelines on hope. And as we know — hope is not a strategy.

Listening is.

That’s why I’m thrilled to welcome back today’s guest expert for an encore conversation. Ana Laskey, President and Founder of Ground Control Research joins to give us a deep dive into how agencies can stop guessing, listen deeply, and use both AI tools and human touch to extract critical client language that sharpens targeting, elevates your content, and builds a biz dev process that’s a real engine — not just a random act of marketing.

If you’re guessing at who your right-fit clients are, or if you’re hoping content sticks when you toss it at the wall — this conversation is for you.

Ana’s approach will help you stop shouting in a crowded arena — and instead, speak with such precision that your right-fit prospects say… “Finally. That’s exactly what I need!”

• Why most agencies’ ICPs are built on assumption — NOT data
• How to build an ICP so sharp that you attract right-fit clients on repeat
• How to use AI to spot the red threads in your client conversations — without losing the human touch
• Why it’s vital to understand your buyer’s company and the full “deal path” including secondary decision makers
• Ana’s tips for open-ended, empathy-driven interviews
• How to turn client insights into marketing strategies that actually move the needle

• Website: www.groundcontrolresearch.com
• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastassialaskey/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groundcontrolresearch/
• Ana’s Bio Page: https://ana.bio/
• How to Sharpen Your ICP, with Ana Laskey

Today’s episode of Sell With Authority tackles a question that comes up almost every time I sit down with an agency owner:

Why does biz dev feel harder than it used to?

If your sales pipeline feels heavier, slower, or tougher to move than it did even a year ago — you’re not imagining things.

Agency optimism has dropped from nearly three-quarters of leaders feeling confident about growth…to less than half. Two-thirds of agencies lost clients last year. And only 7% say they’re effective at expanding with current clients.

Biz dev feels like a grind.

But here’s the flip side: the agencies that are niching down, planting their flag of authority, and making data-fueled decisions — they’re the ones finding traction and weathering the storm.

And that’s where we focus our time and attention today.

My guest is Hannah Roth, our Director of Strategy here at Predictive ROI — and my soon-to-be business partner as she officially joins our ownership team this February. We call Hannah our “Mad Scientist” — because she spends days deep in tens of thousands of data points, analyzing sales pipelines, uncovering leaks, and spotting where the highest-probability opportunities are hiding.

Hannah is a data scientist — which means her insights aren’t theory. They’re backed by research, data, and real-world client work.

In this episode, she walks us through what she calls The State of Agency Biz Dev.

We cover:

-Why optimism has cratered and pipelines feel stalled
– The unseen mistakes draining money from agency biz dev
– Patterns that separate struggling generalists from thriving niche leaders
– Shifting from chasing leads to attracting right-fit clients

If you apply what Hannah shares, you’ll see where the market really is — and where your next opportunities are waiting.

• Why agency optimism about growth has cratered — and what the data actually says about why
• Money-draining mistakes to root out now before they cost you next quarter’s revenue
• How “trust” has become as valuable as your service — and 66% of you don’t have a strategy for it — yikes!
• Habits that separate agencies thriving in a storm from those that get “stuck”
• How leveraging first-party data creates your very own lab
• Why “failed” experiments can build trust and authority
• How your sales process might be secretly sabotaging your biz dev efforts

Resources:

• THE STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT INDEX: https://theexpressory.com/engagementindex
• The 2025 State of Marketing Report: https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing
• Agency Core: https://audienceaudit.com/agency-core/
• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Hannah’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-roth-387a6b223/

What if business development for your agency didn’t feel like chasing?

Or pitching?

Or trying to convince someone to say yes?

What if instead — you had a process of building trust so strong that your prospects convinced themselves?

That’s what this solocast is all about.

In this episode, Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI, unpacks our three-part “Trust Architecture” that our team uses to help prospective clients move from curiosity to YES — without pitching, pressuring, or posturing.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why most sales processes fall flat (hint: it’s not the pitch — it’s the posture)
• How to structure a “Help Me Understand” session that builds immediate trust
• What diagnostic tools, like “The Focus Finder,” do to create clarity and urgency
• How to turn your Meet & Greet into a confidence catalyst — not just a formality
• What you can install today to build your own trust-driven biz dev process

• Website: www.predictiveroi.com
• Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
• Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
• Stephen’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority