Doug Fletcher - How to Win Client Business When You Don't Know Where to Start

Subjects: LCSH: Consulting firms. | Consultants. | Consulting firms—Marketing. | Consultants—Marketing.

Classification: LCC HD69.C6 .F548 2021 (print) | LCC HD69.C6 (ebook) | DDC 001—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005019

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005020

Cover Design: Wiley

To Duncan and Abby, who inspire me every day and give me so much hope for the future .

I love you both and am proud to be your dad .

Here's a simple thought experiment for you to ponder:

Why is it that we have no problem whatsoever buying a home after an hour-long walk-through, yet will agonize for months in choosing an architect if building a custom home?

We're comfortable spending $500,000 on a house after a short visit, but require months to choose an architect who will cost us a small fraction of this amount. Alternatively, we'll spend $100,000 on a new Tesla Model S convertible after a 30-minute test drive, but struggle for months to choose a financial planner.

Hmmm, why is this? Selling a service is much different – and harder – than selling a product. Or, more appropriately, buying a service is a much different experience than buying a product. Something interesting is going on here that I think warrants further thought and discussion.

OK, maybe you've never pondered this before. But I have. I'll admit, among friends at least, that I spend many of my waking hours thinking about things like this: how clients buy and how to win client business . These are fascinating topics, and oddly, not studied nearly enough.

If you, too, find this question interesting, maybe you're a fellow journeyman in this quest to better understand what goes on inside the heads of prospective clients and how to win more client business. Let's join together and travel in search of answers to questions such as these.

If you aspire to become a partner in your firm, I'm sure these questions resonate with you. Maybe you're a consultant, designer, accountant, engineer, or financial advisor; or an attorney, investment banker, or web developer. Or maybe you're considering going out on your own as a solo practitioner or starting up a new firm with a few colleagues to provide your expertise to the world. Regardless of who you are, you likely want to build better relationships with your clients. I want that too. That's why I'm writing this book for you.

The truth is that we have never been taught how to win client business. We're taught to do accounting, practice law, invest money, design bridges, and create websites. But rarely, if ever, do we receive any training when it comes to selling the expert services that we provide. It's a sad truth and it limits our ability to have a successful and fulfilling career. My aspiration for this book is to help remove much of the mystery of how to win client business and to accelerate your career success.

Twenty years ago, I left the world of large organizations and co-founded a management consulting firm with two of my work colleagues. Our clients were among the Fortune 500. I was in my early 30s at the time, and very sure of myself. Frankly, despite my first-rate work experiences and education, I did not have much exposure to selling.

What I didn't appreciate at the time was how hard it can be to win client business, especially when you're just getting started. Life has a way of teaching us some humbling lessons at times, and my self-confidence was quickly knocked down a few notches once I discovered I knew next to nothing about how clients buy.

Of all the aspects of growing a firm, I find the topic of winning client business to be the most interesting and challenging. It's not to say that the other aspects of business are less important. Being an inspiring leader, creating a positive work culture, and implementing vital business processes – yes, all of these are crucial to succeeding in any business.

I am curious about understanding the client's buying decision journey and how we can influence it. It's my passion. Strike that; it borders on an obsession. It's what I wake up at 2:00 a.m. thinking about. It's what gets me up in the morning excited to start the day. And my goal is to share with you what I've learned in the hope that it will help you reach your career aspirations.

Despite more than a few missteps on my part, my partners and I managed to win more than our fair share of business over the next 15 years. Since selling our firm in 2014, I have taken a deeper dive into the study of business development for consulting and the professional services.

The term business development is a euphemism used to describe sales and marketing activities in professional services. For a variety of historical and cultural reasons, we don't use the word sales or selling in professional services. Throughout the book I use the term client development instead of business development. In this shift, I believe it places the proper emphasis on the client. As we'll soon learn, our success begins with an understanding of how clients think and make buying decisions.

Our investigation into the client's mind will include a mix of interrelated fields: human psychology, consumer behavior, marketing strategy, and behavioral economics, and maybe a wee bit of philosophy and history mixed in for good measure. In addition to lessons learned throughout my career, you'll hear advice from many successful professionals. I have benefited from the wisdom shared by many rainmakers from every imaginable profession.

If I had known at 30 what I know now, the arc of my career could have been vastly different. So join me, if you will, on this quest to better understand the client's buying decision journey and improve our ability at winning client business. If we can do this, together, I'm confident we'll have more successful and satisfying careers.

Every professional firm needs more people who develop new business. Accountants, actuaries, attorneys, engineers and management consultants are all familiar with this problem. Bright, young, technical talent is always available. Seasoned project managers usually are. But never are there enough rainmakers.

—Ford Harding, author, Creating Rainmakers

If you're old enough to remember John Grisham's 1995 novel The Rainmaker , you understand what we mean by the term rainmaker . Grisham's novel was a huge hit, rapidly stepping into the number one spot on the New York Times best‐seller list. According to Grisham's publisher, Doubleday, it was the fastest‐selling hardcover book ever at the time. Francis Ford Coppola's movie that followed a couple of years later starring Matt Damon was a box‐office hit. If you were born after, say 1985, you may be thinking to yourself, “I have no idea what we're talking about here.”

What is a rainmaker? A rainmaker generally refers to a partner in a professional services firm who is skilled at bringing in client business. Rainmakers:

Generate leads for new business

Turn leads into new clients

Are skilled at turning existing clients into referrals and repeat business

Keep many people in their firms employed

Are highly respected and frequently have a lot of influence in their firms

According to University of Wisconsin professors Marc Galanter and Thomas Palay, the first appearance of the term “rainmaker” can be traced to the 1970s. Before that, we simply referred to rainmakers as business‐getters . Rainmakers are business‐getters.