112
Ask, Listen, Act: Enhancing Your Client Experience
Quality is table stakes. The experience is the only differentiator you have left.
A podcast from Connection Builders
Technical excellence is table stakes.
Branch Out ran for 112 episodes between 2020 and 2023, asking middle-market professionals about the half of a career nobody accredits — how work actually gets won, how firms actually grow, and how people actually last.
99episodes with transcripts 16themes 25documented disagreements
Should early-stage business development meetings be done virtually to protect your time, or in person because that is what actually converts?
This decides how a business developer spends the scarcest resource they have: whether to run twelve video calls a week from a desk or four city visits, and whether a firm funds travel budgets at all.
Adam Klein · Alex Drost (host) · Jim Ries · Emily Ackerman
Do first and early meetings by video or phone — the two-hour coffee buys nothing a 30-minute call cannot, and refusing virtual is short-sighted.
Stephen Madsen · George Sirignano
Get in the room — proprietary funnel data shows in-person first interactions convert roughly 5x on management meetings and 10x on LOIs, and no amount of call volume substitutes.
Themes
Talent, Hiring & Retention 32Business Development as Craft 30Networking & Relationship Capital 23Diversity, Inclusion & Access 23Leadership & Management 19Pricing & Business Models 19Firm Strategy & Economics 17Learning & Growth Mindset 16 All 16 →
Most recent
111
Disconnect to Connect: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life
'I don't have time for my people' is self-deception, not a schedule problem.
110
Strategic Growth for Professional Services Firms
Growth is a leadership function; one client at a time is not strategy.
109
The Power of Professional Empathy
You cannot indoctrinate accomplished adults; skill only moves through demonstrated value exchange.
108
The Nexus of Creativity and Entrepreneurship
Every firm owner is already a creative, whether they claim the label or not.
107
The Value of Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is information they cannot get elsewhere. Everything else is a sales piece.
106
Successful Cross-Selling in Professional Services Firms
Cross-selling fails on emotion, not information: experts will not risk sounding ignorant.
105
Strategic Marketing for Private Equity and Deal Advisors
In deal marketing, who is in market beats how well you word it.