Like all humans, we business executives are subject to what behaviorists call “confirmation bias.” Nowhere is this dynamic displayed more prominently than in professionals’ perception of how well their firm is differentiated from rivals.

Strengths contribute everything; weaknesses contribute nothing. Such was the conclusion of the brilliant Peter Drucker after decades of consulting with some of the world’s best companies.

If every agency in America is a “full-service, integrated marketing communications firm” (like they say they are), why do clients chronically complain about the lack of integration from their agencies?

What are the key criteria you use when looking for prospective clients? More importantly, what criteria are your key prospects using when they’re looking for you?

What exactly constitutes success in context of a professional services business like an advertising agency? Should success be defined exclusively in financial terms? Is it more about reputation and recognition?

Answer this simple question: What is the value of three hours of your time spent on a client’s business? You can probably tell me what the cost of your time is (salary plus overhead), but assigning a value to the time is a much more subjective question.

Despite decades of books and literature supporting the importance and value of a clear, well-defined focus, most business firms persist in trying to be a little bit of everything to everyone.

Imagine you’ve just received a notice from the IRS that they’re going to audit your most recent tax return. You’ve never been through an audit before, and because you’re in the habit of preparing your own tax returns, you decide it’s time to get some professional help.

Has your billable time ever been scrutinized? If you work for an advertising agency or other type of professional services firm, chances are you have been subject to a battery of billable time evaluations, all designed to achieve one thing in the mind of the agency owner: maximize productivity.

Does this look like a familiar list of criteria for new business prospects?

When you think about the concept of positioning your firm, what comes to mind? A tag line you can put on your business card? A headline for you the home page of your website? A theme you can give to a new business presentation?

Most businesses start out with a fairly simple business model. As time goes on, they add new services and capabilities and extend out to new markets. Some of this diversification is strategic and deliberate, but most of the time companies start sprawling in ways they never intended.

Countless agencies confuse having a philosophy with having a positioning. A positioning is a strategy, not a tag line.

When creating an investment portfolio, no reasonable person would put all their money in just gold, just Certificates of Deposit, or just stocks (especially in today’s economic climate).

It’s true that most clients want an objective outside point of view from their agency. But not until their agency has bothered to take the time to first understand the client’s expectations.

Agency professionals everywhere are frustrated by the master-servant dynamic that increasingly characterizes client-agency relationships.

Agencies are indispensable partners in helping marketers differentiate their brand. Differentiation is, after all, the essence of branding. But when it comes to their own brands, most agencies haven’t thought through their own brand touch points to look for opportunities to stand out.

As agencies become more and more convinced that they should be selling their services based on value instead of costs, they need to learn a new set of skills to help sell the concept of value and get a better price for what they do.

Imagine three agencies presenting to a prospective client. The client has provided all three agencies with a list of guidelines for the presentation, which includes explicit instructions to outline the agency’s proposed compensation approach, including hourly rates, expected hours, and staffing plans.

Consider the deceptively simply question, “Where do profits come from?” When you pose this question to a group of agency professionals, the answers will typically include such things as clients, hours worked, and even efficiency. But the real answer to this question is that profits come from risk.