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

Is your team producing solid content… nurturing leads… showing up consistently in all the right ways — but your sales pipeline still feels like a big pile of question marks?

If selling feels harder than it should, the problem might not be your effort — it could be your leverage.

You don’t need another tool. Or another platform.

Or another shiny object promising quick wins.

What you need is a multiplier.

Something that helps you multiply the reach of your smarts without burning out your team, attracts higher-quality leads without blowing your budget — and packages your expertise in a way that makes your right-fit prospects say YES!

That’s exactly what today’s episode is all about.

We pull back the curtain on how real agencies are using AI to sell more of what they do.

Our guest, Lucas Petty, isn’t just another AI guy.

Yes, he knows the tech. But more importantly — he knows how to make it pay off inside an agency.

Lucas is the Founder of AI Daddy — a firm helping agency owners streamline ops, eliminate bottlenecks, and grow more profitably using AI.

Also joining today is our very own Director of Strategy, Hannah Roth. Hannah is in the trenches every day with our clients — helping them sell more of what they do and future-proof their pipelines. She also leads our AI strategy inside the Predictive Lab.

If you’ve ever wondered how AI fits into your agency’s biz dev engine — you’re in the right spot.

• Why tool overload keeps agencies stuck — and how to break the cycle
• A framework for identifying true agency bottlenecks
• A candid, step-by-step approach to getting your team to ACTUALLY adopt AI — without the fear and resistance
• How to map agency processes to spot where every single friction point — and missed opportunity — actually lives
• Steps to move from overwhelmed to PRODUCTIVE if you feel behind on AI

• Website: https://www.aidaddy.com/
• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucapetty/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidaddy/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aidaddy.com