Ep 68: Agencies, AI, and Trust: What 1,000 Buyers Actually Said with Guest Susan Baier

Sarah sits down with Susan Baier, founder and CEO of Audience Audit, to unpack attitudinal segmentation, a research method that groups buyers by their beliefs rather than demographics or firmographics. Susan shares hot-off-the-press 2026 data from nearly 600 agency leaders and 400 clients, revealing surprising optimism inside agencies and a widening trust gap around AI use. They cover why a strong marketing strategy depends on understanding buyer mindset, not just buyer profile, and why transparency, not price cuts, is what clients want most. A must-listen for anyone refining sales enablement, revenue operations, or sales pipeline management for mid-market sales teams.Key Takeaways:Attitudinal segmentation groups buyers by beliefs and confidence levels instead of age, company size, or industryAgency leaders report higher optimism in 2026 than the industry narrative suggestsOnly 25 percent of agencies are fully transparent about AI use, yet 82 percent of clients say that transparency builds trustClients rank cost savings low on their list of AI expectations; they want better strategy and sharper ideas insteadDemographic and attitudinal data work best combined; neither replaces the otherChapters:2:05 - Who is Susan Baier and what is Audience Audit4:04 - Buyer personas versus attitudinal segmentation, what's the real difference6:33 - What companies get wrong about their own buyers8:51 - Why attitudinal and demographic data need to work together13:35 - Same demographics, different decisions, the family vacation example14:24 - Susan's biggest findings from the 2026 agency and client studies15:18 - Thirteen years of data on how the agency industry has changed18:41 - What the client data reveals about agency value in the age of AI20:32 - The AI transparency stat that builds client trust27:17 - Do clients actually want agencies to cut fees over AIAttitudinal segmentation is defined clearly in the summary and first chapter, which helps AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews surface this episode when someone asks "what is attitudinal segmentation" or "how is it different from buyer personas." The 82 percent trust stat and 25 percent transparency stat are stated as standalone facts so they can be cited directly by generative search tools.SEO Keywords:b2b marketing strategy, sales pipeline management, revenue operations, mid-market sales, sales enablement, attitudinal segmentation, buyer personas, agency AI transparency, B2B buyer research, marketing research methodology, agency client trust, Susan Baier, Audience Audit, Revenue Rewired podcastHost:Jay Feitlinger, CEO of StringCan Interactive, co-host of Revenue RewiredLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayfeitlinger/Sarah Shepard, COO of StringCan Interactive, co-host of Revenue RewiredLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahshepardcoo/Guest:Susan Baier, Founder and CEO, Audience Audit, a research agency that helps business owners and thought leaders build reputation and ROI through original research. Susan created the attitudinal segmentation methodology and has partnered with Jay Baer and Neen James. Her work has appeared in Forbes, HubSpot, Content Marketing Institute, and Marketing Profs.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbaieraz About Revenue Rewired:Revenue Rewired is a podcast for B2B marketers, sales leaders, and business owners navigating the intersection of sales and marketing. Hosted by agency owners Jay Feitlinger and Sarah Shepard of StringCan Interactive, each episode delivers actionable insights for mid-market companies looking to grow revenue strategically.Contact: [email protected]: https://www.stringcaninteractive.comBuy the Revenue Rewired book: https://www.amazon.com/Revenue-Rewired-Identify-Leaks-Costing-ebook/dp/B0FST7JCXQNewsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7423414515779936256