Why Contribution Value Beats Contract Value — Every Time Most organizations make decisions based on contract value — price, scope, deliverables, and outputs — but I argue that a focus on “Contribution Value” will increase your client win and retention rates. I introduced the concept of contribution value in Epiphany 23, “Contribution Value vs. Contract Value.”
The Master Contribution Value Framework Read More »
A Follow-Up to My Epiphany on Winning Digital RFPs This post is a follow-up to Epiphany 35 on Winning Digital RFPs, focusing on the dynamics of the RFP process and why there is more to the RFP than the submission process. The RFP you’re responding to is not the RFP you’re being evaluated on. This realization is
The RFP Isn’t the Real RFP Read More »
There was a moment in my career when I realized I had been approaching RFPs in the wrong way. I thought RFPs were about demonstrating our expertise, the sophistication of our methodology, and the innovative nature of our work. It turns out that’s how you lose. Committees don’t select vendors based on brilliance. They select
Epiphany 35: You Don’t Win RFPs By Being the Best. You Win By Being the Safest Bet. Read More »
There’s a moment every consultant eventually faces — the quiet frustration of realizing that no matter how much data you show, how many times you explain it, or how clearly you map the financial impact… the client just won’t act. You see the train coming. You warn them — sometimes repeatedly — but they keep
Epiphany 34: You Can Advise, But You Can’t Make Them Act Read More »
Last year, I applied to a prestigious PhD program in International Economics. Unfortunately, I did not get accepted, but I have continued independent research on my general thesis. My goal was to dig deeper into and integrate a few of the key themes that have been percolating in my brain for the last 30 years.
From Search Friction to Digital Inclusion – Designing My Dream Job Read More »
The Thought I Can’t Shake Since my last rant, “The New Gold Rush – What AI Search is SO Easy to Game,” about how easy it’s become to game AI search, my inbox hasn’t slowed down.Every day, I get another pitch: “We can make your content top the AI results!” Half sound like hustlers from
The Question That’s Been Bugging Me Lately, I’ve been inundated with emails, three to ten a week, from self-proclaimed “GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AI SEO” firms promising their tools will generate magical content and listicles that “instantly rank” at the top of generative search results. It’s baffling. These people sound precisely like the content
The Promise of Martech—and the Reality Check I’ll admit it — I love it when McKinsey validates my “crazy” ideas. For years, I’ve been saying that most marketing technology underperforms not because the tools are bad, but because the ownership model is broken.Now, McKinsey’s latest research, “Rewiring Martech: From Cost Center to Growth Engine,” spells
Most agencies think clients cancel because “performance dipped” or “a competitor undercut price.”That’s rarely the truth. After decades of seeing why relationships fall apart—from enterprise retainers to fast-moving SaaS accounts—I’ve learned this: clients don’t cancel because they want a new vendor. They cancel because something stopped making sense. There are four core reasons, and if
Why Clients Really Cancel: The Four Forces Every Agency Underestimates Read More »
Because the web isn’t a marketing channel anymore — it’s a capital allocation exercise. Please read the article before screaming at me on social media about the insane statement that you need a fancy piece of paper for a position. You will read later that I clearly state I don’t need an actual MBA. Still,
Why an MBA Should Manage Your Web Effectiveness Team Read More »