What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently

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Week 321 | Strategy & Business Model Section | 2

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What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently

By Matthew Dixon et al., | Harvard Business Review Magazine | November–December 2023 Issue

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Much research has been conducted to determine what makes top salespeople at B2B companies perform better than their peers. But little has been done on professional services firms, which have a unique go-to-market model in the B2B landscape. 

The authors’ research revealed five distinct profiles that define how professional services partners approach business development.   Five distinctive profiles characterize partners at professional services firms. Although an individual may exhibit traits from several different profiles, one will be dominant.

1. Expert: Responds to established demand instead of proactively creating demand; leads with deep subject-matter expertise that matches client needs; and prioritizes clients with established budgets.
2. Confidant:  Is highly responsive to client needs, delivers exceptional service, builds deep relationships with clients, leverages strong track record of client work to get new business, and emphasizes senior-most relationships.
3. Debater:  Is very opinionated, loves to debate clients on what’s best for their business, brings innovative solutions to the client, and expects the client to agree with the plan of action.
4. Realist: Focuses on setting proper expectations with the client; openly discusses budgets, fees, and schedule issues with the client; is comfortable telling the customer no; and eeliberately avoids no-win situations.
5. Activator: Leverages events and social platforms to build a robust client network, educates clients on critical trends and issues, eroactively engages clients on new opportunities to work together, and introduces clients to other partners and practice areas.

Three business-development behaviors can help the activator to improve their performance.

1. Commit:  reserve time to conduct business development every week, protect time for business development from being crowded out by other work, consistently engage with clients and prospects, rigorously follow up on opportunities that have been discussed, and track contacts and follow-ups in your firm’s CRM system.
2. Connect:  Make a concerted effort to expand the number of contacts in your network, regularly check and post on LinkedIn, regularly attend business events, set specific goals for post-event calls or meetings, and look for opportunities to connect clients with colleagues who can provide value.
3. Create:  Regularly reach out to clients with updates on regulatory, economic, or other trends; proactively identify new ways to work with clients; check in regularly to assess clients’ current needs; and provide advice to clients and prospects even when you are not actively engaged in paid work.

Firms should cultivate an Activator approach.  For this they need to pursue a “push-pull” strategy. They should nudge partners toward Activator behaviors while making the approach the path of least resistance. To do so, firms should make investments in four key areas: invest in training and coaching; while hiring and partner selection emphasized, for instance, a candidate’s proclivity for collaboration; invest in technology; and reinforce the activator behavior through incentives and rewards.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. Much research has been conducted to determine what makes top salespeople at B2B companies perform better than their peers. But little has been done on professional services firms, which have a unique go-to-market model in the B2B landscape.
2. The authors’ research revealed five distinct profiles that define how professional services partners approach business development.   The authors found that four of the five (representing 78% of the partners in their study) are negatively correlated with performance. Only one—the Activator—shows a positive impact on performance and revenue. The Activator approach consists of three key behaviors: committing to business development, connecting with clients and colleagues, and creating value through collaboration.
3. Firms should cultivate an Activator approach.  To do so, firms should make investments in four key areas: invest in training and coaching; while hiring and partner selection emphasized, for instance, a candidate’s proclivity for collaboration; invest in technology; and reinforce the activator behavior through incentives and rewards.

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Topics:  Business to Business, Strategy, Marketing, Selling