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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Wall Street Journal bestseller Build your book of business and sell more services with this expert guide for knowledge professionals How do rainmakers consistently and continuously sell their ideas and grow their client base? What is the secret to their ongoing success? Whether they are in accounting, consulting, investment banking, law, or any other type of professional service, it's not just their knowledge, experience, and unique services that set them apart. They succeed by adopting the mindset, mastering the strategies, and employing the tactics at the heart of rainmaking. In Selling Your Expertise: The Mindset, Strategies, and Tactics of Successful Rainmakers, veteran communications, sales, and leadership consultant Robert Chen provides a practical guide to selling knowledge-based services in a market that demands credibility and subject-matter authority. Chen and his colleagues at Exec|Comm have helped hundreds of thousands of professionals learn to sell, influence, and negotiate more effectively. This book condenses Chen's first-hand experience and over 40 years of Exec|Comm's best sales advice, along with interviews featuring other successful rainmakers from a variety of professions and industries. Whether you're a national practice partner at a Big Four consulting firm or an independent attorney just starting out, this book equips you with the real-life knowledge you need to: * Develop a client-focused mindset to help build a thriving book of business * Use effective strategies to find your ideal prospects and turn them into long-term clients, using concrete metrics to assess whether you're on the right track * Apply practical tactics to build a trusted reputation, sharpen communication skills, manage the challenges of not having enough time to sell, and push beyond obstacles The perfect book for consultants, investment bankers, lawyers, research analysts, and accountants, Selling Your Expertise is an invaluable resource for any professional who makes a living by selling solutions to their clients' most pressing needs.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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Table of Contents
Cover
Praise for
Selling Your Expertise
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
Delivering and Selling
What It Means to Sell
So, Why Should You Listen to Me?
How This Book Is Organized
Notes
PART I: Mindset
CHAPTER 1: Eagerly Dedicated
Chapter 1: Eagerly Dedicated
Why Smart People Struggle with Sales
Driving Revenue Leads to Growth
True Professionals
Notes
CHAPTER 2: Authentically Open
Chapter 2: Authentically Open
Growth Mindset and Self-Efficacy
The Skill-Luck Combo
Know Who You Are
Notes
CHAPTER 3: Consistently Client-Focused
Chapter 3: Consistently Client-Focused
Become an Assistant Buyer through Trust
Focus Less on Yourself and More on Others
Can You Focus Too Much on Others?
Notes
CHAPTER 4: Realistically Optimistic
Chapter 4: Realistically Optimistic
Get through the Dip with Grit
Learned Optimism
Look at Yourself Realistically
Bounce Back and Get Your Head in the Game
Bet on Yourself
Notes
CHAPTER 5: Confidently Humble
Chapter 5: Confidently Humble
Your Ego Is Your Enemy
Confidence versus Ego
Cultivate Humility
Notes
END OF PART I: Mindset Matters
Note
PART II: Strategies
CHAPTER 6: Mining for Gold: When You're Searching for a Real Need
Chapter 6: Mining for Gold: When You’re Searching for a Real Need
Decide Who to Pursue: Your Ideal Connections
Advance the Relationship
Notes
CHAPTER 7: Opportunity Knocks: When a Need Presents Itself
Chapter 7: Opportunity Knocks: When a Need Presents Itself
Close Potential Opportunities
Notes
CHAPTER 8: Success Upon Success: When You're Uncovering Additional Needs
Chapter 8: Success Upon Success: When You’re Uncovering Additional Needs
Embed, Expand, and Establish
Embed
Expand
Establish
Notes
END OF PART II: Strategies Matter
PART III: Tactics
CHAPTER 9: Build a Trusted Reputation
Chapter 9: Build a Trusted Reputation
The True Value of Networking
Make Networking Work for You
Notes
CHAPTER 10: Communicate Care, Competence, Collaboration
Chapter 10: Communicate Care, Competence, Collaboration
Read the Room
Know When to Listen and When to Talk
Notes
CHAPTER 11: Drive the Process Forward
Chapter 11: Drive the Process Forward
Keep Things in Motion
Overcome Obstacles
Notes
CHAPTER 12: Protect Your Rainmaking Time
Chapter 12: Protect Your Rainmaking Time
Discerning Uptime from Downtime
Maximize Uptime
Manage Downtime
Notes
CHAPTER 13: Stay Relevant
Chapter 13: Stay Relevant
Learn with Intention
Notes
END OF PART III: Tactics Matter
Note
Conclusion
Recommended Resources
Mindset
Strategies
Tactics
Acknowledgments
About the Author
About Exec|Comm
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 3
Table 3.1 Warmth vs. Competence Criteria
Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Ego Inflation Warning Signs and Remedies
Chapter 6
Table 6.1 Cold Outreach Template
Chapter 7
Table 7.1 Questions to Assess Your Prospects' Situation
Chapter 9
Table 9.1 Networking at Live Events
Chapter 10
Table 10.1 Physical and Verbal Signs of Non-Judgmental Listening
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Uptime vs. Downtime Activities
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1.1 Actual Cost-Benefit Analysis of Selling Expertise
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2.1 Technical Work and Business Development on the Skill-Luck Continu...
FIGURE 2.2 Beginner vs. Rainmaker Sales Performance over 15 Consecutive Oppo...
FIGURE 2.3 Beginner vs. Rainmaker Sales Performance over 15 Consecutive Oppo...
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.1 Warmth vs. Competence Quadrants
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4.1 Choosing Your Response to Influence Their Response
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6.1 The Right Strategy for the Right Stage
FIGURE 6.2 Keyword Outline Template
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7.1 The Three-Step Assess, Diagnose, Prescribe Process
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8.1 Three-Step Embed, Expand, Establish Process
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9.1 Whose Network Gives More Power?
FIGURE 9.2 Critical Components of Networking
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11.1 The ART Process
FIGURE 11.2 The Six-Step Negotiation Process
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12.1 Impact vs. Effort Matrix
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13.1 The Cycle of Intentional Learning
FIGURE 13.2 Ride the S-Curve of Mastery
FIGURE 13.3 Disrupt Yourself by Jumping S-Curves
FIGURE 13.4 Be T-shaped
Guide
Cover Page
Praise for Selling Your Expertise
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Conclusion
Recommended Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Author
About Exec|Comm
Index
End User License Agreement
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Praise for Selling Your Expertise
“The growth of any organization is driven by its sales team and is vital to future success. Selling Your Expertise shows how a positive approach combined with best practices can increase productivity, output, and ultimately, success. An essential how-to book for professionals in any industry who want to grow their business and build their future.”
—Ken Daly,President, St. Thomas Aquinas College
“If you are like most highly-educated professionals, selling seems like a foreboding exercise that you must force yourself to do at the inflection point in your career when you suddenly face being evaluated not on your expertise but instead on your ability to generate business. Selling Your Expertise is a must read for any professional striving to become a rainmaker, anyone who has realized through painful experience that there must be more to selling than schmoozing.”
—John Chou,former Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, AmerisourceBergen
“Chen gets it right; rainmaking is essential in virtually all business enterprises. And that skill can be taught and learned.”
—Stanley Goldstein,Chair Emeritus, New York Alternative Investment Roundtable, Chairman, Sustainability Investment Leadership Council
“Chen empowers us as professionals to not just deliver our work but to create value by selling. Whether you are a first-timer or a seasoned business developer, new or resistant to selling, Selling Your Expertise will open your mind and heart to greater career opportunities and rewards. Thank you, Robert!”
—Jay Persaud,Vice Chair, Big Four Professional Services Organization
“Building and maintaining lasting client relationships is key for the long-term success of any business. Selling Your Expertise outlines a clear roadmap with proven strategies to leverage your professional experience and knowledge to serve your clients, build enduring relationships, and scale the business.”
—Srinivas Rapthadu,Business Transformation Officer, Global Strategy Consulting Ecosystems, SAP
“Remarkable insights and an in-depth resource for anyone who views a sales role with skepticism or trepidation. I view Selling Your Expertise as essential reading for anyone in professional services who is serving in a technical role. Here is a practical and realistic guide for building a career roadmap for success.”
—Hiroshi Baensch,Senior Partner, Mercer
“You can offer the best data, models, and analytical skills in the world, but more important than any of that is the ability to sell your expertise. Robert Chen provides some unique and invaluable lessons, which I find immediately useful for my own teaching and consulting work.”
—Professor Peter Fader,Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia, Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania
“Robert Chen clearly understands the subtleties and nuances of interpersonal dynamics. In Selling Your Expertise, his advice on how to develop business authentically in your own voice is not to be missed.”
—Michelle Nasir,Chief Talent Officer, Arsenal Capital Partners
“If there is one book to read on developing selling acumen for someone who is not a ‘born salesperson,’ Selling Your Expertise is it. It offers relational guiding principles and step-by-step approaches that help any expert within their business understand how to build a thriving book of business. You'll not only gain practical insights, but the confidence to be a rainmaker!”
—Paul Wypasek,Chief Learning Officer, Turner Construction
SELLING YOUR EXPERTISE
The Mindset, Strategies, and Tactics of Successful Rainmakers
Robert Chen
Copyright © 2022 by Exec|Comm, LLC.
All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Name: Chen, Robert (Executive Coach), author.
Title: Selling your expertise : the mindset, strategies, and tactics of successful rainmakers / Robert Chen.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2022] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021054272 (print) | LCCN 2021054273 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119755142 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119755272 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119755128 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Selling. | Service industries.
Classification: LCC HF5438.25 .C4795 2022 (print) | LCC HF5438.25 (ebook) | DDC 658.85—dc23/eng/20211202
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054272
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054273
Cover image: © Getty Images | Filo
Cover design: Paul McCarthy
To Amy, for always saying, “sure” to my countless pursuits
To Jake and Jonah, for your unexpected comments that always make me smile
Foreword
In 2017, I was introduced to Robert at a networking event. I do not recall exactly what we discussed, but I do remember that he made a lasting impression—he was prepared, present, and engaged. As often happens at these professional gatherings, we exchanged contact information with the usual pleasantries on following up. The difference here is that Robert did reach out to me. Since then, I have been fortunate in partnering with him on presentations in regard to career progression; connecting at alumni gatherings; and watching his leadership in action at Pan-Asian executive events.
Robert is one of the best when it comes to remaining authentic while reading a room, genuinely connecting with others in the moment and building relationships in real-time. He embodies the often-overused term “trusted advisor”—someone you turn to when you have a problem because he provides you with the necessary guidance or knows who can. After learning about his intention to share his knowledge and experience, I am honored that he asked me to write this foreword.
I have sat in multiple seats in the finance world: as a Managing Director in investment banking, a Chief Financial Officer at a public company, and now the Chief Revenue Officer for a leading FinTech firm. My career path is not what I envisioned when I graduated college and joined Salomon Brothers as a programmer, supporting the mortgage bond trading desk. While I enjoyed the technical challenges, I realized career advancement required that I be closer to the revenue generating side of the business. However, for me to feel confident, I wanted to be the subject matter expert. I believed this would give me the “power,” the “right,” and a clear role to play, even if that meant I was not a lead.
I discovered that while there are advantages in being a technical expert, the client relationship is not only the most gratifying personally but also the most valued professionally. The issue for me, however, was that I did not consider myself a salesperson. I did not believe I had the extroverted personality, the pushiness needed to get quick commitments, or quite frankly, the willingness to take risk and rejection. But what I did have was the work ethic, the capability to read a room, and importantly, a very competitive spirit. These traits provided me the ability to generate a growing book of business, to earn respect from clients, and to successfully progress in my career. Along the way, I learned, observed, and adopted winning practices from my many experienced colleagues.
Looking back, I believe I would have benefitted from being more intentional in my strategies and prepared to execute on them. What Robert's book provides so pointedly is advice on developing such intention and preparation in writing that is both strategic and tactical. He shares how a person can leverage their technical expertise and position themselves to be accountable in generating revenue growth. His sound advice deeply resonates with me. It's a holistic approach: First, there is the importance of mindset, which sets the tone. This mindset provides the understanding that anyone can be a rainmaker by accentuating their strengths and developing the mental fortitude to push through often self-imposed obstacles. Second, there is a need for strategy in business development, which requires a longer-term view but also a purposeful one that considers client needs as well as one's personal goals. And lastly, there is the criticality of tactics, which ultimately can seem like a daily grind of tedium and common sense but is the true X-factor—because in the end, it's all about the execution.
Success is a continuous learning process. Our experiences shape us, and we each benefit from taking stock on both our successes and failures. Robert's book contains the right balance of candor, theory, and practicality to help you take stock of your career progression, transition or accelerate into a rainmaker, and succeed in sales. While his intention may be to target those who are mid-level in their careers, I found myself actively agreeing with key points and pausing to consider whether I was in need of such reassessment as well. As Robert notes in Chapter 13, “If you stop taking risks, you stop learning.”
Business development can be incredibly rewarding and challenging. If you have a desire to meet your fullest professional potential, Selling Your Expertise will guide you along the way. Its thought-provoking and action-oriented advice can help you fulfill your career objectives and lead you to a thriving book of business.
Helen ShanEVP and Chief Revenue OfficerFactSet Research Systems Ltd.
Introduction
I never thought I would be in sales.
Growing up, I didn't know anyone who aspired to become a “salesperson.” Culturally, as a first-generation Chinese-American, I was under the impression that sales was the white-collar job you took only if you couldn't find any other. This belief was reinforced when I took my first official sales gig during a summer break in college. Prior to that summer, my only work experience had been in a material science lab researching electro-conducting polymers. It seemed like a good idea to take on a part-time job doing something different to see what other options were out there, and to supplement my research stipend. Coincidently, right before break, I received an unsolicited letter from Vector Marketing inviting me to interview for their summer work program. The letter mentioned the company had been established in 1981, and they were expanding. Then I read the magic words: base salary $17.00 per hour. At the time, minimum wage was just $5.15.
I'd never heard of Vector Marketing, and it wasn't clear what the job was all about, but I decided to show up for my interview anyway. After a long wait in the lobby with several other candidates, and a rather unexceptional interview, I was offered the position on the spot. I envisioned on-the-job learning, market research, and working on a team, so I was surprised when I finally learned what the job actually entailed—selling Cutco kitchen knives.
Feeling somewhat tricked, but also intrigued by the high compensation, I decided to give it a go. I accepted the offer, received my sample knife set, and attended training. I learned the standard sales pitch, which included showcasing the most popular knives and cutting a penny into a swan using Cutco's powerful scissors. After training, I was sent on a sales ride-along with a more seasoned Cutco rep. He made the role look easy. He sold a knife set at two of the three appointments we went to. Then I was tasked to go off on my own.
I failed miserably. I gave the presentation to my immediate family, relatives, friends' parents, and anyone else who would listen to me, cutting penny after penny into beautiful swans, but I could not make a sale. (I might have been better off trying to sell those swans for a nickel). Finally, my uncle took pity on me and bought a set of knives, but he sheepishly called me to return them later that day once my aunt heard about it.
Throughout this process, I felt uncomfortable pushing for the sale or even asking for referrals. I blamed my poor performance on the high cost of those knives, and I griped that Chinese immigrant families do not use seven different kitchen knives—we only use cleavers. All I salvaged from the job was my sample knife set, which still sits on my parents' kitchen counter. However, I keep the swan-cutting scissors on the desk in my office as a reminder that quality products do not sell themselves. (They also happen to come in handy for opening those annoying hard plastic packages.)
This entire experience validated what I already knew: Sales was not for me. Later in my career, after I'd realized this was entirely untrue, I began to recognize this same distaste for sales from many of my professional services clients. I've heard a junior principal at a top management consulting firm say, “I'm not a sales guy. I know my strengths, and I'm focusing on what I do best.” Ultimately, he moved into a non–client facing role, which felt more comfortable to him, but ended up limiting his advancement within his firm. An investment banker at a top-tier firm once told me he was leaving to go where his skills were appreciated, but only after he wasn't nominated for Managing Director because of his limited success in sourcing business. And then there was the senior manager at a Big Four accounting firm who said, “They deferred me for partnership this year because my business case wasn't strong enough.” Without bringing in new clients, partnership was out of reach for her.
Delivering and Selling
If these sentiments sound familiar to you, you're not alone. Like countless others, you may have found yourself at a crossroads in your career. You know you are good at what you do, and you take pride in your work, but you've realized that your technical expertise alone won't help you get ahead. Like most professionals, there is a good chance you have spent your career focused on developing your expertise and delivering work to your clients. If you are a lawyer, you draft documents or analyze cases, spending most of your time on billable work. As a portfolio manager, you listen to earnings calls and read quarterly filings to find strong investments for your clients. And as a management consultant, you scrutinize your client's processes and present them with more profitable strategies (whether they listen to you and follow through or not is another story).
As you aspire to the top of your firm, it will quickly become clear that simply delivering the technical work is not enough. If you look closely at your firm's most successful leaders, they likely spend much of their time building relationships and bringing in business. But they do more than just occasionally or randomly sell their skills and expertise or their company's services—they make it rain.
By definition, rainmakers sell more than the average professional. They are consistently the top revenue generators for their firm, despite the economy, a worldwide pandemic, or fierce competition. Rainmakers are made, not born, and they only get to their level of success by first crossing the chasm from delivering their work to delivering and selling their work.
The shift from delivering the work to delivering and selling the work can often be intimidating, not to mention frustrating. People going through this experience resist this change and often ask, “Why do I need to do that? That's not the job I signed up for,” or argue, “A good product or service sells itself.” Another line you may have heard: “I didn't become a [insert profession] so that I could knock on doors.” These protests mask the real reason for the frustration—doubt and insecurity about one's ability to sell. It also doesn't help that most people are not taught how to sell.
If you are an introvert by nature, or if building relationships is just not your forte, you may struggle to imagine yourself ever becoming a rainmaker. The leap from delivering the work to selling the work might even appear overly risky and unachievable. Even for those who have bridged that divide, they may still see business development as a never-ending, unpleasant, yet necessary activity they must engage in as the price for doing what they “really” enjoy, the substantive work.
Many technical experts see selling as a deviation from their “real” work. In reality, it's not a deviation but an evolution. The goal here is not to become a professional salesperson but rather a professional who can sell. That means uncovering engagement opportunities and instilling confidence in your prospective clients to win those opportunities. Continued success depends partly on your technical expertise, of course, but ultimately, it boils down to adopting the mindset, mastering the strategies, and employing the tactics that are at the heart of successful rainmaking.
Throughout this book, I walk you through these three components, highlighting practical insights and actionable advice to help you successfully build and sustainably cultivate a strong book of business. Everything you read here is backed by research, empirical evidence, and first-hand interviews and experience.
What It Means to Sell
At Exec|Comm, a global skills-based training consultancy, my colleagues and I are often engaged to work with professionals who have tremendous subject-matter expertise. We help them broaden the contributions they make to their organizations by sharpening their business development and communication skills. During these engagements, we regularly find that many technically gifted professionals have an inaccurate understanding of what it means to sell.
For example, when we ask mid-level investment bankers how we might help them build more business, they regularly say something along the lines of, “I have a meeting coming up with an executive at a Fortune 100 company. They are only meeting with me because they are a friend of my managing director. How can I connect with this person so that it is not just a courtesy call?” Another typical response we hear includes something like, “When I'm meeting with someone I know socially, how do I transition to talking about work? I know they're in a position to hire my firm, but I don't want to jeopardize our friendship.” These professionals assume that selling is all about networking effectively, building rapport, and entertaining clients. Although these activities can certainly play a part, there is much more to selling than schmoozing.
Exec|Comm's philosophy is that success comes from focusing less on yourself and more on others. When applied to selling your expertise, this means thinking of selling not as pitching your services, but as making a promise, a promise to solve people's problems and help them reach their goals. Unlike when you sell products, where the promise is immediately fulfilled, short-term success when selling your expertise comes from inspiring confidence that you can deliver on this promise. Long-term success comes from keeping your promise and exceeding expectations while also sourcing new business. Depending on your organization, you may be supported by a business development team of professional salespeople, which is great, but you want to be the one who determines the promise to the client because only you know the full extent of your capabilities.
When you choose not to sell, you limit your opportunities to apply the expertise you have worked so hard to build. You will be dependent on other people to sell your expertise, which is limited to their awareness of what you can do. Even if they understand the breadth of what you know today, they will not know the problems you can solve tomorrow. To land interesting work that is valuable to your professional growth, the success of your company, and your career opportunities, you want to be in front of your clients and adept at persuading them to engage you in ever more challenging work. When you take control of selling your abilities, you blaze your own growth path and actively prevent the professional stagnation that plagues those who do not sell.
When I use the term sell, I am referring to a process that entails much more than the simple, fleeting transaction of selling a product to a customer and moving on. Selling is not a task. When you're selling your expertise, you want to develop your business, a process that is ongoing and permanent. To develop something means to invest resources in building an asset that continues to create value. The three main assets you'll want to build as a rainmaker are your relationships, reputation, and expertise. Successful selling, like successful development, is about growing these assets over time. Accordingly, selling and business development are used interchangeably throughout the book.
Business development requires commitment. As author Pete Davis highlights in Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing, commitment has its own “momentum.” He explains, “The more we commit to something, the more it opens up to us.”1 In the case of sales, by committing to generating revenue, we gain a deeper appreciation for it. Davis also points out that we psychologically adapt to the commitment we make:
Everyone overestimates the psychological effects of change because we underestimate the power of our psychological immune system. Our psychological immune system works by weaving new stories out of our new circumstances. We start finding less meaning in what's outside of our control and new meaning in what's within our control.
When it comes to developing our business, this immune system allows us to focus on our sales activities, instead of whether or not we should be selling in the first place.
The point here is that once you commit to selling your expertise, and the work that comes along with it, you will find success. And that success will perpetuate further commitment to building up your book of business. In the process, business development will become an ongoing, critical part of your role, not just a phase or task to slog through. Think of the difference between “being on a diet” and “having a healthy diet”—one is an event, the other is a lifestyle. With any lifestyle change, the process can seem difficult, time consuming, and daunting. But once you're equipped with the right mindset, strategies, and tactics, you will find business development easier, and I daresay more enjoyable, creating a path to an even more meaningful professional career.
So, Why Should You Listen to Me?
Like many of you, I have spent much of my academic and professional career amassing expertise. After my failed stint as a Cutco salesperson, I graduated college with a double major in chemistry and economics and followed many of my classmates into financial services. I accepted a full-time position as an equities trader at a boutique proprietary trading firm, and I remember feeling so proud that my role did not involve soliciting clients—my sole responsibility was to make money using the firm's money. I developed expertise in capital markets, pattern recognition, and decision making, and I applied it to make profitable trades for my firm. In time, though, I found it wasn't for me.
Soon after, I moved to China to take a business management role at an international manufacturing firm. Upon returning to the US and reflecting on my career, I realized I had a passion for training and coaching. I landed a role at a health insurance company designing and facilitating training programs to build others' knowledge and skills. The only time I needed to “sell” was during the job interview. Beyond that, I focused on learning and doing the technical work. It wasn't until I joined Exec|Comm that I bore responsibility for generating revenue and that my sales number was seen as a major factor in assessing my performance and promotability. For the first time in my professional career, my success was heavily dependent upon my ability to bring in business, not my ability to put my technical expertise to work. (Technical work need not be “technical” in the traditional sense—in my case, my technical expertise is communication and business development skills training, instructional design, and executive coaching.) My selling muscles were severely underdeveloped, but I trained to get stronger, and I eventually was promoted to partner.
This is the book I wish I had read when I first started selling work. It's geared both toward people just beginning the process, who have little to no network, and established professionals who need a fresh injection of life into their book of business. To level the playing field for technically gifted doers, the material is designed as a tactical rainmaking manual. Early in my business development career, I had a theoretical sense of what sales was about and wasted both time and energy learning and applying sales tips and theories in a piecemeal way. I have personally used all of the advice presented, and I have found it to work for my clients and me. At the same time, I acknowledge that what works best for me may not work exactly the same for you. I hope to bridge this gap by sharing guiding principles rather than a do-it-exactly-this-way approach. I encourage you to pull out what is useful for you and judge the advice based on the results that you get.
My understanding of rainmaking comes from three perspectives: learner, practitioner, and teacher. As a continuous learner, I've culled academic research and practical tactics from hundreds of books and resources on rainmaking. As a practitioner with consistent results, the mindset, strategies, and tactics I suggest will help you prepare for, and overcome, the obstacles that often get in the way of building a successful book of business. From my experience as a corporate trainer, sales coach, and lecturer at Wharton, I've applied my teaching expertise to facilitate your learning, highlighting key principles and sharing a step-by-step approach to generate revenue. As a bonus, this book doesn't just leverage my insights; interviews with other successful rainmakers from a variety of professions and industries are peppered throughout, providing the type of advice that can only come from on-the-ground experience.2 I also rely on the collective knowledge found in Exec|Comm's 40+ years of experience working with professionals from top accounting, law, and consulting firms, not to mention many Fortune 100 companies.
When it comes to driving revenue over time, we have found the following:
Expertise alone is not enough.
Enthusiasm alone is not enough.
Experience alone is not enough.
Intelligence alone is not enough.
Strong relationships alone are not enough.
Motivation alone is not enough.
Likability alone is not enough.
Luck alone is not enough.
Optimism alone is not enough.
Sales activity alone is not enough.
So, what is enough? An integrated mix of the rainmaking mindset, strategies, and tactics.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is organized into three major parts with multiple chapters, focusing on a tight integration of mindset, strategies, and tactics. Depending on your experience, you may feel more confident in one or two of these areas over the others. But to become a true rainmaker, all three need to be approached together: When you don't have the right mindset, you run the risk of alienating your clients or being held back by mental shackles. When you don't have the right strategies, you might be wasting your time on the wrong activities or pushing when you should be pulling. When you don't have the right tactics, you won't be able to execute on your strategy effectively.
Part I
: Mindset.
Part I
explains how to adopt an effective mindset to set yourself up for rainmaking success. The way you perceive yourself and the world will heavily influence how you interpret your current situation and the actions you decide to take. The right mindset is therefore necessary before you develop and execute your sales strategy.
Part II
: Strategies.
Part II
shifts focus from your mindset to the mindset of your prospects and clients. You'll learn concrete strategies to build your book of business and to match the right strategy to where your prospects are in the sales process. This section also includes practical metrics to help you measure your effectiveness in implementing those strategies. Whether you're in the early stages of researching clients you want to pursue, or the late stages of closing the deal, you'll find specific guidance to maximize your efforts.
Part III
: Tactics.
Part III
teaches the key tactics to help you effectively execute on your strategies. You'll learn how to build a strong reputation to help you land more business, growing a network that provides value to both you and your contacts. By better understanding how to read the room in real-time and the nuances behind when to listen and when to talk, you can more effectively communicate and collaborate with your clients.
Part III
also gives advice on driving the sales process forward in a client-focused way, overcoming roadblocks that may arise. Most importantly, you'll leave with actionable ways to develop these skills and advice on staying relevant to ensure your success today and beyond.
In addition, “practical tips” sections are included in every chapter, highlighting an immediately useable piece of advice. Each chapter closes with reflection questions, metrics, or tactics to practice helping you apply what you learned to your own unique circumstances. All of the advice in the following pages is meant to help you generate revenue; improve your job and career opportunities; and build long-term client relationships. That may seem like a lot to promise, but once you start putting this advice to use, you will see results that can be replicated time and again. It all starts with the right mindset, so let's begin there.
Notes
1
. Davis, Pete.
Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing
. New York: Avid Reader Press, 2021.
2
. Opinions expressed are solely the interview subjects and do not express the views or opinions of their employer.
PART IMindset
We typically think of our mindset as being just that: something set in place. Difficult to alter. Potentially unmovable. But to become successful rainmakers, we need to adopt the rainmaking mindset. We must see the world, our potential clients, and our value through the lens of a rainmaker. This often means changing the way we approach sales from the inside out, leaving behind any old assumptions or thought processes that may hold us back. Our mindset determines how we perceive the world, which influences our thoughts, actions, and habits. To start thinking like a rainmaker, you must first understand the rainmaker's mindset, compare it to your own, then figure out where the gaps are.
Research shows that to drive sustained change and growth, you must influence your self-concept—how you think about, evaluate, and perceive yourself.1 So though assessing your mindset is important, it's only the beginning. Insights alone are not enough—you need to see yourself as a person who will apply those insights. Most people struggle with sales not because they can't learn sales skills, but because they don't see themselves as salespeople. They either subconsciously avoid selling, or they consciously tell themselves they cannot learn how to do it in the first place. Your willpower and determination to sell your expertise will heavily depend on your openness to see yourself as a rainmaker.
To start, challenge unhelpful but common assumptions about business development. If you equate selling with manipulating and exploiting others, you will likely struggle. No one wants to come across as callously pushing unneeded services, nor does anyone want to feel as if they are hassling or bothering potential clients. Instead, most people want to use their expertise to solve problems while maintaining a positive self-image.
The rainmaking mindset allows you to move beyond self-doubt and hesitance and get to work on building your book of business. When you adopt this mindset and enhance how you perceive yourself and the situation, you will find that your activities will become more purposeful and impactful. You will also spend less time debating whether or not you should sell and dedicate more time to actually selling.
Note
1
. Bergner, Raymond M. “Status Enhancement: A Further Path to Therapeutic Change.”
American Journal of Psychotherapy
53, no. 2 (April 1999): 201–214.
CHAPTER 1Eagerly Dedicated
Chapter 1: Eagerly Dedicated
Many of you reading this book are already excited to start selling your expertise and services, but equally as many, if not more, cracked this book open with a skeptic's eye. Why? Because a lot of you, in all honesty, just don't want to sell. You probably believe the costs outweigh the benefits—selling is nebulous, time-consuming, and takes you away from the work you either love or are good at and find easy to do. Bringing in business is more difficult and less straightforward than delivering on engagements. Building a strong book of business requires that you win new clients, which often involves persuading people who don't know you well to hire you to solve their problems. That's not such a simple task, nor one most of us want to tackle.
You're smart. You're talented. For years, you've been honing your craft and taking pride in becoming an expert. The non-technical activities, like entertaining clients or networking, seem unimportant, and better left to people without “hard skills,” or those who have the right personality and enjoy that type of work. Since you mainly deliver work, most of your client interactions are with people who already value your services. It may be easy to think that sales will naturally happen as you continue serving these clients and building up your reputation. Unfortunately, that limited vantage point is also why many people struggle to build their book of business.
To become a rainmaker, you first need the desire to bring in business. Fortunately, that motivation can be acquired and developed quite quickly once you fully understand the benefits of selling. Landing clients is the name of the game. You cannot generate increased revenue for your organization unless you are eager to sell and dedicated to succeeding, two hallmarks of any professional rainmaker. To get there, you need to understand what may be dampening your enthusiasm for engaging in business development. If you are technically inclined, and pride yourself on solving complex problems, you may be prone to avoid selling for three reasons. By understanding these three reasons, and challenging the assumptions behind them, you will find yourself becoming more motivated to sell.
Why Smart People Struggle with Sales
Research shows that most people strongly resist any activity that threatens their status.1 In many professional settings, there's a general distaste for sales for this exact reason: The role is typically not seen as glamorous or glorious, and people may feel as if selling is “beneath” them. That's why few, if any, professionals pursued a degree in “sales” at college or aspired to become a sales rep when they graduated. The typical sales job does not seem to require special qualifications or credentials. The compensation is often commission-based, and large companies hire tons of salespeople, making the bar to entry seem low. Further, to most people, a job always seems higher-status or more prestigious if they are not tasked to sell a service or product. Companies recognize these facts and rename job titles to mask the role. “Salesperson” becomes “consultant,” “account executive,” “solutions specialist,” or any euphemism that hides the four-letter word sell.
Another reason smart people struggle with sales is that there is a lag time between effort and payoff. If you're a technical expert, you are likely accustomed to seeing your hard work directly translate into results. Whether you are modeling future cash flows or writing a brief, you know how long it will take to complete the task and what the end product will look like. As you shift more time and energy into business development, if you don't immediately see results, you may begin to question your approach and doubt your abilities. Worse yet, if you are compensated on the billable hours model, you may feel pressure to get back to billable work, considering your sales efforts unproductive and abandoning them.
The problem here is the sense of uncertainty that goes along with sales. Success for any given deal does not depend solely on the quality and quantity of your effort. Timing, buyer preferences, economic conditions, personal emergencies, and other factors outside of your control all impact whether you will close a deal. As a result, you may experience a strong pull toward non-selling activities that feel more like a “sure thing.”
Senior managers in professional services firms often fall into this trap. Although it is clear that generating revenue is a critical step on the path to partnership, many professionals choose to spend the bulk of their time focusing on deepening their expertise, executing work already sold, managing teams, and improving internal best practices. These activities feel safer and more productive; they are well-defined, and you can immediately measure your results. Unfortunately, those tasks alone will not distinguish you at your firm and can hinder your career progression if not supplemented with strong revenue numbers.
The third reason smart people resist sales is because sales activity can appear—to be blunt—kind of boring. The tasks involved may come across as rote or intellectually dull. Maybe you got into your line of work because you like analyzing businesses, drafting contracts, or engineering financial solutions for your clients. You likely thrive on the intellectual stimulation of the work itself. The thought of replacing even a moment of that time for making X number of calls per month, or drafting multiple proposals that may go nowhere, seems out of synch with the work you know and enjoy. You didn't develop your expertise to let it just sit idle.
When these three reasons—perceived status downgrade, unproductive use of energy, and tediousness—come together, a full picture emerges of why so many professionals want to stay far, far away from sales. It boils down to two things: your satisfaction and your motivation. Research by organizational psychologists Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham identified five job characteristics that drive these two factors2:
Skills Variety:
Performing tasks that are varied and challenging will be more motivating than carrying out routine and easy ones.
Task Identity:
Being involved in an entire process and seeing the final result of your work will make that work more meaningful than if you'd only been involved in a sliver of the process.
Task Significance:
Working on a task that positively impacts the lives of others will be more rewarding than a task that has a limited effect.
Autonomy:
Having independence to decide how and when to complete your work will lead to greater job satisfaction than needing to follow a manual or a manager's specific instructions.
Feedback:
Knowing whether you're doing the job well or not will be more motivating than not knowing where you stand.
Hackman and Oldham summarized the relationship between these five characteristics with the Motivating Potential Score (MPS), which is used to predict how motivating a specific job might be. You'll see from the equation that autonomy and feedback are multipliers, which mean they play a more significant role in impacting satisfaction and motivation.
If you see sales as a status downgrade (low Task Significance), an unproductive use of energy (low Task Identity and Feedback), or tedious and boring (low Skill Variety), you are justified to focus your efforts elsewhere. Unfortunately, your decision would be misguided for both you and your organization since these three reasons rely on preconceived notions that, when examined, are false. They fail to account for the higher compensation, bigger titles, and increased autonomy that flow to individuals who can bring in business. Having a clear revenue target and having compensation tied directly to that number may be intimidating, but once you start experiencing sales success, they will be incredibly motivating. Your satisfaction is all but guaranteed as you begin to see the results on your own career.
Driving Revenue Leads to Growth
Although you may not aspire to sales, you probably do aspire to rise to the top levels of your firm. Your ability to drive revenue is paramount to achieving those goals. Nothing happens without revenue—you can't do the work until someone first sells it. Sales drives any firm: It turns on the lights and powers the coffee pot. It provides for employees' livelihoods and fuels investments for future growth. Without generating revenue, a business cannot exist.
