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 industry
• Agency leaders report higher optimism in 2026 than the industry narrative suggests
• Only 25 percent of agencies are fully transparent about AI use, yet 82 percent of clients say that transparency builds trust
• Clients rank cost savings low on their list of AI expectations; they want better strategy and sharper ideas instead
• Demographic and attitudinal data work best combined; neither replaces the other

Chapters:

2:05 - Who is Susan Baier and what is Audience Audit

4:04 - Buyer personas versus attitudinal segmentation, what's the real difference

6:33 - What companies get wrong about their own buyers

8:51 - Why attitudinal and demographic data need to work together

13:35 - Same demographics, different decisions, the family vacation example

14:24 - Susan's biggest findings from the 2026 agency and client studies

15:18 - Thirteen years of data on how the agency industry has changed

18:41 - What the client data reveals about agency value in the age of AI

20:32 - The AI transparency stat that builds client trust

27:17 - Do clients actually want agencies to cut fees over AI

Attitudinal 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 podcast

Host:

Jay Feitlinger, CEO of StringCan Interactive, co-host of Revenue Rewired

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayfeitlinger/

Sarah Shepard, COO of StringCan Interactive, co-host of Revenue Rewired

LinkedIn: 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: podcast@stringcaninteractive.com

Website: https://www.stringcaninteractive.com

Buy the Revenue Rewired book: https://www.amazon.com/Revenue-Rewired-Identify-Leaks-Costing-ebook/dp/B0FST7JCXQ

Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7423414515779936256