Blair describes to David how he was able to distill his Win Without Pitching approach into a simple formula: P=db/D.

After touching on the topic of risk in many other episodes of this podcast, David and Blair finally take a full episode to discuss at length the role of risk in entrepreneurship.

Blair gets David to admit that he was kind of wrong about open book management being just a fad when he originally wrote about it almost two decades ago, and David offers ways that it can actually improve relationships with both employees and clients when used appropriately.

Blair and David analyze and then look beyond the requests for reassurance potential clients make during the late stage of a sale to address their underlying motivations.

David disagrees with Blair's model for growing existing accounts in the post-AOR era, and then offers his list of 6 ideas on the topic.

Blair remembers what it was like when he was an account person himself, and David shares five ways firms can treat their account people better.

Blair offers seven mindsets that any seller of expertise needs to master so that they can behave like the expert in the sales cycle.

David and Blair take turns asking each other questions about what they each would do differently if they were going to start a new firm today based on what they know now.

Blair gives David some homework to identify patterns in the principals of creative practices who are successful and have that "je ne sais quoi."

Blair interviews David on what each of the three levels of success in running a creative firm looks like.

David re-reads the 2nd chapter of Blair’s first book, leading to a discussion about how sales people have to choose between either presenting to clients or being present to them.

There are seven patterns that almost all principals are guilty of. When David and Blair point them out, it leads their clients to say, “you must have hidden cameras in my office!"

Blair leads a discussion on how clients tend to take mental shortcuts in making business decisions, and how we can nudge clients without manipulating them to make a decision that is in their best interest.

David and Blair compare each other's competitiveness, and then offer some specific ways principals can actually collaborate with their competitors as a part of building beneficial business relationships.

Blair and David come up with descriptive words that help clarify each of the four parts of what David calls the "pantheon" for new business: positioning, lead generation, sales, and pricing.

David and Blair explore the big topic of personality assessment tools that can help firms “get the right people on the bus.”

Blair and David dive into a discussion on ownership structures, looking at the results of a survey that David did recently about partnerships.

Listeners on Twitter wanted to know what clients actually want from creative firms, so David makes a list based on his experience of what good clients want, while Blair's reaction is "who cares what clients want... all they wanted was a 'faster horse.'"