SECRET #1
Why Not Compare Yourself To Successful Peers?
You cannot ask your most successful competitors and peers their secrets of rainmaking. That would be awkward, impractical, and sometimes illegal.
So, we did it for you. We went behind closed doors and asked the tough questions. We asked more than one hundred successful rainmakers what they are investing more in, what they are cutting back on, and what are their go-to strategies. In other words, how are they investing their time, treasure, and talent? Think of us as your rainmaking R&D department.
You’ve no doubt heard of using OPM (other people’s money) to grow your business. This book is about using OPE (other professionals’ experience) to grow your business.
This book is for those who serve in roles such as chief executive officer, general manager, principal, partner, or head of an office, business unit, or practice for professional service firms, especially in the fields of accounting, dental consulting, financial services, management consulting, marketing and advertising, executive search services, software development, technology services, and law firm management.
Some define R&D as research and development; we define it as rob and duplicate.
We have done the research so you can rob and duplicate the most successful rainmaking strategies from your professional peers. It’s okay; we did not use espionage to gain their secrets. The OPE rainmaking insider secrets were willingly shared.
Some Say It Is All About Caring
There is a dangerous common misperception in rainmaking that goes something like this: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Wrong-oh.
If you cling to this phrase as the basis of your rainmaking philosophy, you are making a gross miscalculation.
If you think you can win more high-paying clients by building better relationships, you are only partly correct. You make it rain by bringing value and contribution to your client.
The best way to win the hearts and minds plus loyalty of a client is to deliver value to them first, and let the relationship develop from there. If you focus just on building a relationship and neglect to solve a problem for your prospect, then you might end up becoming good friends with your prospect. And then you can watch how he will buy from your best competitor because your competitor showed how they could solve your client’s problem.
MAKE IT RAIN
| Here are three rainmaking steps to take to better understand prospects: |
First, find out what motivates the prospect to buy. This is done by asking questions. When discussing the issue, ask your prospect this question: “What problem would you be able to solve if my service achieves what we discussed?” If you can identify the problem, you can get the client.
