Episode 171

The Three C’s to Becoming a Rainmaker with Matt Dixon

Published on: 15th November, 2023

By definition a rainmaker is an individual who generates an unusually high amount of revenue for an organization by bringing new clients and new business to the company. 

Listen in as I talk with Matt Dixon, author of a new groundbreaking Harvard Business Review article titled What Rainmakers Do Differently! We break down the 5 Principal Profiles and discuss the Three C’s that can turn anyone into a Rainmaker


Drink of the week….Triple C Welcome Cocktail 



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Transcript
Speaker:

For many of you.

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You know, especially

listeners around my age.

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The first time you may have heard

of the term Rainmaker was when the

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film, the Rainmaker written and

directed by Francis Ford Coppola was

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released in 1997 or when the book,

the movie was based off of written by

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John Grisham was published in 1995.

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By definition.

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Uh, Rainmaker is an individual who

generates an unusually high amount

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of revenue for an organization

by bringing new clients and

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new business to the company.

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Rainmakers outperform others in

the organization through their

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ability to bring in new ventures.

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And their contributions are considered

critical to the success of the business.

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Welcome to episode one 70.

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One of the shit works, a

podcast dedicated to all things.

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Networking relationship building

and business development.

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I'm your host, Julie Brown.

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Speaker author and networking coach.

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And today I am joined by Matt Dixon.

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Founding partner of DC and insights

and coauthor of the groundbreaking

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article and the most recent issue

of Harvard business review titled

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what rainmakers do differently.

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The subtitle of the article.

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What rainmakers do differently is

business development and professional

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services firms is outdated.

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Here's what works now.

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And I couldn't agree more.

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Business development is outdated.

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I work with a number of firms who

want to improve their business

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development activities and identify.

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Who within the office might have the

secret sauce or the it factor to become

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a successful door seller or a Rainmaker.

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If you prefer.

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Well, lucky for us.

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Our guest and his firm has done the

heavy lifting, conducting research

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that has revealed the five distinct

profiles that define how all partners

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approach business development.

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Research that further reveals that

only one of these profiles has a

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positive impact on the performance

and revenue of their company.

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And that only 22% of the people

possess the characteristics that

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make up this Rainmaker profile.

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I bet you're curious to know what the

characteristics of this profile are.

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So without further ado, let's

welcome that to the podcast.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

Hey, Julie.

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How you doing?

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Thank you for having me.

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Track 1: Yeah.

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First I wanna thank you and your

co-authors, Ted, Rory, and Karen for

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this research, which is so in depth and

so eye-opening, and as I mentioned in

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the article, like the five profiles that

you've discovered, like how did you decide

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that you wanted to conduct this research?

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This was what you wanted to

spend a chunk of your time on.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

Yeah, it was, it's kind of an

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interesting, uh, background story.

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Uh, Julie, so I, my background and as well

as, uh, uh, Karen and Ted, uh, we kind

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of grew up as researchers at a company

called CEB, which is now part of Gartner

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Group, and we were all part of the.

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Business to business sales practice.

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So we were serving chief sales officers,

chief revenue officers, heads of sales

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effectiveness, sales enablement, you know,

uh, all the, all the industries were.

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Sales is not a four letter word.

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So it's basically like one minus

professional services, um, or, you

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know, financial services as well.

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So we're really focused on, um, serving

heads of sales in software, medical

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devices, pharmaceuticals, logistics, uh.

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We'd spent probably 20 plus years

studying what great business to business

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sellers do, star sellers do differently.

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We wrote a number of books on it, a number

of HBR articles, and one of the things I

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learned really quickly, uh, is that, uh,

the doer seller world is quite different.

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I remember, actually remember a, an

experience where I presented some of our

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work from, uh, a book we wrote called

The Challenger Sale, uh, which was very

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popular in business to business sales.

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And I was called into.

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A large consulting firm to present, uh,

the findings at the partner retreat.

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Uh, this is going back like a decade

and, um, you know, two thirds of the way

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through my presentation, the managing

partner kind of stood up and, and called

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Time Out and asked me to stop talking,

which is a little bit unsettling.

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Um, and I said, you know, I was gonna take

questions at the end, but please, you're.

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You're paying the bills.

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So go ahead, Um, and he said, you know,

you keep using this term sales and you're

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talking about salespeople and selling

and, um, you know, all this stuff.

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And what you need to understand is that

at our firm, we actually don't sell,

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we don't use that term internally.

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It's not what we do.

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And, um, I, I said back, uh, in

response that, um, let's stipulate

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to the fact that there's a mysterious

process by which the client's money

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ends up in your firm's bank account.

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And we're gonna call it sales

for the next 15 minutes.

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I could just finish up my presentation

and everyone had a good laugh, but it

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did, as I delved into it, and I kind of

continued to have these experiences when

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I was called in by, you know, law firms,

accounting firms, investment banks.

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Wealth advisory firms, um, PR

firms, executive search, um,

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uh, partnerships that this doer,

seller world is quite different.

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Um, a lot of things we talked about

in our previous work is how you need

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to deliver challenging sales messages

that lead to your company's product.

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But what if you are the product, right?

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If the product is your own

advisory skills as a partner in a

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professional services firm, that's

a very different ball of wax and.

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As you know very well, um, partners

in professional services, it's, look,

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it's tough to be a good salesperson

when sales is your full-time job.

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Um, and we've learned that

over, you know, 20 plus years

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of studying great salespeople.

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It's even harder where sales is

a part-time job, and you've gotta

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be responsible for generating

the business with your clients

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and professional services and

then executing it with your team

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is a very, very different motion.

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Um, that puts a lot of

pressure on partners.

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So I always had sort of.

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Uh, kind of back pocket, uh, kind

of curiosity or or study idea to go

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out and do a lot of what we've done

in B two B sales, but a, a sort of

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bespoke clean sheet of paper, new

study of the do or seller world.

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Um, fast forward to when

we founded our company.

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Um.

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Uh, two years ago, DCM Insights.

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Uh, one of our partners, uh,

is a guy named Rory Chan.

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Rory actually spent, um, four years

as Chief Chief Business Development

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Officer at a big law firm, uh, McDermott,

will and Emery, uh, Enam Law 50 firm.

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And at the time I had left cb, he

and I, he was a former CB guy too.

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He actually hired me.

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I was working at Korn Ferry at

the time, running their sales

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effectiveness consulting practice.

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He hired me and my team to come in.

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Study what their top rainmakers

were doing at McDermott.

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So it was our first time ever studying

doer sellers, you know, putting aside

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everything we know about B two B sales,

but looking at doer sellers as kind of a

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unique, um, breed, a unique population.

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And we found some interesting

things in that study, um,

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that just again, further, I.

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Um, piqued my curiosity around what we

might find if we did a broader study.

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So, um, we've had our company two

years ago, um, and we partnered

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with, uh, Intap, who, as, uh, many

of your listeners know, is a big,

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uh, cloud provider to professional

and financial services, uh, firms.

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And Intap agreed to underwrite a

large global study of doer sellers.

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Uh, so we, um, we embarked on that.

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Probably about a year and nine months

ago, um, we scoped out the study.

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We started recruiting

firms to participate.

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And as you know from the article,

uh, we got, uh, 23 firms, global

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firms and 1800 partners to actually,

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uh, complete the study.

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Um, we didn't get any hate mail from

partners, but it was a pretty long study.

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it, it's a long survey.

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The, the thing that we got a lot of

responses from folks saying, um, this

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was a really hard survey to fill out.

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It wasn't a simple I check the box,

kind of, you can blow through it really

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quickly.

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There were kind of forced

trade off questions.

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It really forced partners to think

very critically about how they engage

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clients, how they spend their time,

um, what tools and resources they use,

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how they pitch for business, et cetera.

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Um, it, it forced a lot of introspection,

I think, on the part of the respondent.

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So,

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Track 1: Mm-Hmm.

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. What I . I thought one of the great

points of this article was a problem

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in business that it pointed out,

which is that most businesses believe,

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Hey, you do really good work and your

clients will keep coming back to you.

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But your research showed that there's

a shift in the loyalty of clients.

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Like,

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: yeah.

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Track 1: and so the shift is happening

and you're, you're prospecting

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that it's going to get worse.

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The shift in loyalty

is gonna get worse, so.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

We actually, as part of the

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study, we actually collected,

um, or we, we organized a panel

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of a hundred c-level executives.

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So these are, these are executives,

big companies that have, you know,

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individually, decades of experience

hiring law firms and accounting

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firms and investment banks and

search consultants and management

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consultants and the like.

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So if you edit all up, it was like

thousands of years of buying experience

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with professional services firms and

partners, and we asked them, uh, a

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series of questions, but one of the

most revealing ones was, you know.

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If you had a new need that arose

and provided the firm you're working

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with right now had done good work

for you in the past, would you be

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inclined to just hire them again?

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Would you just go back to

the, well, in other words, or

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automatically go back to that firm?

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We asked 'em to think about what the

response would've been five years

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ago, what it would be today, and then

what it would be five years from now.

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These respondents, uh, the responses

came back were pretty eye-opening,

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um, 70, um, nearly three quarters.

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It was like 73% of respondents

said five years ago.

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Yeah, I would just go

back to those same firms.

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So this was, you know, a, a time where

professional services purchasing Was

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not really the domain of procurement.

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It wasn't highly formalized.

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Um, and, uh, you know, senior executives

could kind of put their thumb on the

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scale for the firm or partner they really

preferred and maybe where they had a

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personal relationship or they'd gone

to law school together with somebody

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or business school or worked together

with the partner, their, um, who's, uh,

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uh, you know, pursuing the business.

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Today, that number is around half.

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So about 53% of respondents said,

yeah, we would go back to the same

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firms thinking out five years from now.

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It's only about a third.

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It's a slightly more, it's 37%.

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And so this really is exactly

what you're talking about, Julie.

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It's a degradation in the stickiness

of our client relationships.

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Um, it is a more competitive environment.

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We interviewed a lot of these

c-level decision makers as part

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of this research, and what we

heard, um, was pretty astounding.

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Many of them said, look, in the past.

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Nobody really cared where, you

know, which law firm I hired,

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which consulting firm I went with?

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I could put my thumb on the scale.

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No big deal.

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It was a black box.

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Today, everything is competitive.

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Everything is a formal pursuit.

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Procurement is involved.

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And you know, for, um, fiduciary,

ethical, uh, legal reasons, I cannot be

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seen as putting my thumb on the scale.

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That's actually, we had people tell us.

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Look, I, if I have a personal

relationship with a partner, I will

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recuse myself from the purchase decision.

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And we had CFOs and CHROs and GCs

and heads of m and a telling us,

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you know, we are doing our firm and

our shareholders, our stakeholders,

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our employees, a disservice if

we don't competitively bid out

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each piece of business.

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'cause we owe it to ourselves to

hear what everybody has to say

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about our problems and our needs.

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It, you know, we're kind of

shooting ourselves in the foot.

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If we just go back to the same

partners we've always used, we

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need to cast that broad net,

which then means the door is open

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for you as a partner to lose that,

you know, longtime client relationship

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because they're bidding it out.

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Track 1: What would be an interesting

follow up study to this is in five

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years when they, when client loyalty

is down to 30, you know, 33%.

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If people are still as happy or if

they wished that they had you gone

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back to their previous providers.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yeah, that

is an, that is an interesting question.

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Will that all that shopping

around actually benefit clients?

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You know, or

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will they feel like

they've missed something

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because they've not gone back to the,

the providers who really know them and

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their firms and their teams very well?

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Uh, that, that is a really

interesting, uh, question.

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But I, you know, what's,

what's so interesting is I.

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When we talk to partners, a I would

say the vast majority of partners

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are very frightened by this prospect.

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They say, this is, this

is not good for me.

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And it's exactly for the

reasons you just articulated.

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Julie, I've grown up in a world where if

you did good work, you, you didn't have

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to compete for the next piece of business.

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The client just

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came back to you for, you know,

the next consulting engagement.

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The next legal matter, the next, uh, tax,

you know, advisory piece of business,

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they would just come back

to you automatically.

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So it's frightening for the majority of

of partners, but there's a small segment

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of partners who are pretty excited about

this and say, look, there are clients

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that I'm looking to get in with, uh,

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uh, stat, I think from, uh, Russell

Reynolds found, um, that a huge percent,

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I think 20 to 30% of Fortune 500 GCs are

gonna retire in the next like five years.

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Track 1: Yeah.

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Oh yeah.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

It's gonna put $60 billion of

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outside council spend up for grabs.

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And so these, you know,

rainmakers, these top performers

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are like, this is great.

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And, and these firms will, these

companies will not automatically

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go back to the firms they've used

for years and years and years.

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They're the door's now open.

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I'm gonna get an invitation to compete

for it and I might win some of these.

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So they're pretty, they're pretty

energized by this prospect.

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Track 1: Yeah.

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It's funny.

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I do a lot of college and university

lecturing on networking and business

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development, and one of the first

things I say to him is like.

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Do you think everybody else

in this room is a dumb ass?

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Besides you?

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Like being good at your job

is the barrier to entry.

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Now let's talk about all the things

that are gonna help you stand out.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Track 1: Um, so as I mentioned, your

research found five distinct profiles,

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which in my, in my experience in working

business to business we're spot on.

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So I wanna dive into them a little bit.

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The, so the.

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For the listeners, the five

distinct profiles are the expert,

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the confidant, the debater,

the realist, and the activator.

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And one of these is the rainmaker profile.

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So let's examine elite a, a little

bit of each of them, because I

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think people will be like, yes, I

know who that person is in my firm.

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Yes, I am that person in my firm.

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Um, so great.

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Let's start with the expert

because I think this is what

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everybody strives to be like.

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I'll just be an expert in the field

and everybody will come to me.

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matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

Yeah, it's, no, you're exactly right.

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Um, so what, a couple thoughts,

just as I go through these.

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I think one is, Julie, you're right.

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The first thing that people do is they

think about themselves, um, and then they

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think about their colleagues and then

they think about the, in their firm, who

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are the top, some of the top rain makers.

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Um, where do the people you

think are kind of doing it wrong?

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What, what profiles they go into?

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If you're a firm leader,

you're starting to think about

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skylines, like, where are we?

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Overweighted and underweighted.

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Um.

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Cautionary points.

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One, I would say every single

one of the:

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a combination of all five.

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However, uh, statistically every single

one of them majored in one of those five.

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We all spike in one, right?

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But people are complicated and

partners in professional services

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are especially complicated people.

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So they, so, you know, this is,

um, it's a messy, messy business.

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The other thing I would

tell you is that, um.

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This almost, I always say this upfront,

but it almost always comes back as a

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question that we didn't study personality.

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And I think when pe

when we go through this,

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Sometimes.

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people say, well, this feels

like you're born with it, right?

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It feels like you, you just, you have

that kind of personality that will

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put you in one of these profiles.

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We studied, uh, behavior skills,

time spent characteristics, use of

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tools and resources, uh, techniques.

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So these are things that with

the right training, coaching,

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um, and support from the firm.

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Every partner can get better at.

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Now, why a partner ends up in any

of these five is probably partly

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because of their personality and

what they're comfortable with.

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But, um, the profiles themselves did not

have personality based characteristics

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to them.

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Uh, if that makes sense.

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So, back to your question.

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So the expert, uh, first profile here.

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Um, and, and, sorry, one more

One more piece of background.

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So the way we did, not I,

this is really important.

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We didn't invent these,

um, these profiles.

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So this is a, we use a technique

called factor analysis.

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Factor analysis looks at a large data set,

it washes out the insignificant variables,

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then it isolates the significant ones.

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And typically in a large model,

uh, the data ends up clumping into

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groups and those groups move up

and down in the model together.

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So if you have something in the bucket,

you tend to have the other things.

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If you lack something, you tend

not to have the other things.

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We've used this technique in the past.

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I mentioned the challenger

sale research in B two B sales.

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And this is the second

time we've deployed this.

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Um, and I actually think it worked

better in professional services than

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in the B two B sales study we did.

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So the first one, um, that the

model identified is the expert.

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The expert I would describe as

a reluctant business developer.

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So this is the person who would

tell you, look, Julia, I didn't go

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to law school to be a salesperson.

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Right?

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Or, you know, I didn't.

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You get my degree in, uh, in tax

accounting to be a salesperson.

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But we all know when you make partner

in a firm, you're expected to bring in

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the business, not just execute on the

business as part of the job, but because

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they're reluctant and, and arguably

uncomfortable with business development,

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they take a very reactive order taker

approach to business development,

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meaning they try to signal to the market.

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If you are looking for, let's say, an

at like, um, an IP litigation expert

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in pharma, or if you are looking for an

m and a advisor, uh, in, uh, consumer

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packaged goods, I am your person.

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So the way they signal to the outside

market is through thought leadership.

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They do a lot of publishing.

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They do a lot of speaking at

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conferences.

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They serve on industry panels and things

like that, and what they're hoping is

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that if a client has a need that aligns

with their expertise, the client will pick

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up the phone and call, or they'll send

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an email and say, Hey Julie, we gotta,

you know, I, we found you in our search

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for an IP litigation expert in pharma.

367

:

We have a matter coming up.

368

:

We could use your, uh, advice on this.

369

:

Now, what that means in practical terms is

that by the time the client has found you.

370

:

They've probably found several

other people who also claim to be

371

:

an expert because nobody, like you

said, there are not a lot of dummies

372

:

out there, and there are a lot of

people who claim to be experts in,

373

:

in very, very specific niche areas.

374

:

Nobody owns a domain unto

themselves, and so they get pulled

375

:

into a lot of competitive bids.

376

:

So that's our first, uh, profile is

377

:

the, is the expert.

378

:

Track 1: The second

profile is the confidant.

379

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Correct.

380

:

Now, the confidant, the confidant,

I think the best way to think

381

:

of them is as the classic kind

of old school trusted advisor.

382

:

And what I mean by that is they now, and

this is probably not to the letter of

383

:

the book or ha as it's described by the,

the creators of that model, but rather.

384

:

The way that it's interpreted by partners

in professional and financial services.

385

:

Um, meaning what they do is they,

they kind of find a small group of

386

:

clients, maybe three to four key

clients that kind of bear hug those

387

:

clients, they they bend over backwards

388

:

forum.

389

:

Many of these clients are clients that

they had preexisting relationships with.

390

:

So we went to law school together, went to

391

:

business school together.

392

:

We worked in the Corporate

development, um, uh, department

393

:

of a Fortune 500 firm together.

394

:

Now I am the partner

and you are my client.

395

:

Um, so these are

longstanding relationships.

396

:

They have.

397

:

They bend over backwards to these clients.

398

:

They deliver very client-centric,

a very client-centric experience.

399

:

They deliver a great work product.

400

:

Um, and their mindset is, if I

do all those things, what I'm

401

:

effectively doing is building a moat

around this client that makes it

402

:

impossible for anybody else to steal

403

:

the relationship.

404

:

And I should be good.

405

:

If next time the client needs help,

they're gonna come to me automatically.

406

:

It shouldn't be a competitive pursuit.

407

:

And so I basically build these

ATM machines and then I stand

408

:

by it and collect the money.

409

:

Right Now, one of the other, uh,

interesting rubs about the confidant

410

:

is because they've invested so deeply

in these relationships and because

411

:

they cannot afford to have any of

them, um, uh, go south or go sideways.

412

:

They don't share those relationships

413

:

with their colleagues internally,

so they don't collaborate,

414

:

they don't make referrals.

415

:

I had one, uh, uh, chief marketing

officer of a big accounting

416

:

firm said, I know these people.

417

:

These are the people who call me up every

month and say, why did my client get the

418

:

firm newsletter without my permission?

419

:

Like,

420

:

how did they even get the client's email?

421

:

You know,

422

:

Track 1: Yeah.

423

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

and they don't put any notes

424

:

in the CRM system again,

425

:

Track 1: Yeah.

426

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

they cannot afford for somebody else

427

:

to come in and, and screw it up.

428

:

Track 1: Yeah.

429

:

Yeah.

430

:

I, I worked construction for

17 years, architecture and

431

:

construction for 17 years.

432

:

And there was a lot of this that the,

this is my client, I take care of

433

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

It's my, yeah,

434

:

that's right.

435

:

My is is used often by the

436

:

by the Cond.

437

:

Track 1: I, I think the most, the two

most I saw in, in, in architecture,

438

:

engineering, and construction

was the expert in the confident,

439

:

sort of side by side together.

440

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

You're right.

441

:

I think those two, actually I think

it's a really good point, so I don't

442

:

wanna skip ahead, but if you look at

how they distribute by sub-vertical,

443

:

which you can talk about like law

versus accounting, um, those are

444

:

the two that dominate the landscape.

445

:

So, um, so you are a hundred percent

right, and, and when I talk to firms

446

:

about this, they either say we are

over without even doing the survey or,

447

:

or having any data to support that.

448

:

Say they just know deep down

we're overweight and confidants,

449

:

or we're overweight and experts,

450

:

but it's very rarely we're over overweight

in one of the other three, which we'll.

451

:

Track 1: Yeah.

452

:

Yeah.

453

:

So the third one is the debater,

which I found interesting.

454

:

I actually didn't recognize this

profile in anybody that I saw, so

455

:

I'm, I was curious about this one.

456

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yeah.

457

:

So the debater in.

458

:

Maybe un charitable words of their

colleagues would be described as a, uh,

459

:

sharp, elbowed, opinionated know-it-all

so that may describe a lot of partners out

460

:

there, but these folks, so their, their

MO with a client and, and so these

461

:

folks, you find a lot of these folks in

industries like investment banking or,

462

:

you know, you do find a big chunk of

them in places like executive search.

463

:

And I think the reason is that, um.

464

:

These are spaces in which the fees

are the same across all the firms.

465

:

The assets that an, an investment

banker, uh, would represent or be

466

:

able to sell, you know, uh, on your

behalf or, um, to you are pretty open.

467

:

Just like an executive search.

468

:

Like we all have the, every

search consultant has the

469

:

same Rolodex of candidates.

470

:

It's a LinkedIn, right?

471

:

There's nobody, like, there's nobody

where from this is my candidate, right?

472

:

Um, and so these folks end up getting

pulled into a lot of competitive bids.

473

:

So you do find this debate or approach

where their goal is to come in and

474

:

say, I'm gonna box out every every

other player who's competing for the

475

:

business by telling you, giving you

a completely different point of view.

476

:

So I had a search consultant who told me

that, um, this was his go-to playbook when

477

:

he got call called into like, let's say

ACFO search from a big, for a big client.

478

:

Um, and he knew that he was up

against the other big search

479

:

firms, which we all know by name.

480

:

His goal was to come in and

basically tell the hiring committee,

481

:

um, that they're thinking about

the job spec completely wrong.

482

:

And my goal is to say

like, turn it upside down.

483

:

And what he said was, he said, it

doesn't always work, but every once

484

:

in a while it boxes everyone else out.

485

:

And then they're starting to be

skeptical that because all the other

486

:

people competing for the business,

they're telling them the same.

487

:

They're telling you x I'm telling you y.

488

:

And if I do that, create

white space and I can win's.

489

:

Interesting.

490

:

Part of this is that.

491

:

For those listeners who are familiar

with the Challenger sale, again, I

492

:

mentioned this a few times, this is our

study of business to business sales.

493

:

That approach was actually the

winning approach in B two B sales.

494

:

So coming in, reframing the clients,

understanding what they need, upending

495

:

their, you know, breaking their mental

model, shaking them by the lapels,

496

:

shaking them outta their comfort

zone, figuratively, not literally.

497

:

Um, that was a winning approach.

498

:

Um, but what's interesting in tipping my

mid, we'll get to the results in a moment,

499

:

these debaters don't do particularly

well in professional services.

500

:

And I think the reason is that

if you're selling software.

501

:

It's all well and good to come in and

reframe the client's world and blow

502

:

up their conception of what they need.

503

:

If you're selling yourself and you

are the product, it's exhausting for a

504

:

client.

505

:

And we had clients tell us this.

506

:

They said, I, you know, we had a

specific question in our client

507

:

interviews we asked about, um, I.

508

:

You know, how important is it to you that

your partners and your firms you work

509

:

with push your thinking and challenge you?

510

:

And, and they all said,

absolutely, it's critical.

511

:

I don't want any, I, I don't

want yes people, right?

512

:

I want people who push me, make me a bit

uncomfortable, push my thinking a bit.

513

:

I need a, a thought, thought partner.

514

:

But they also said, if every time

I sit down with them, they're

515

:

telling me I'm doing it wrong.

516

:

Like,

517

:

I don't have time for that.

518

:

Sometimes

519

:

I just need you to do

what we know we need.

520

:

Right?

521

:

So that is, uh, that is

our debater, uh, profile.

522

:

Track 1: Yeah.

523

:

Um, the, I'm glad I haven't

come up against that a lot.

524

:

in my professional career.

525

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yeah,

it's, by the way, and to your point,

526

:

and I think there's a specific point,

uh, reason I think Juliet, maybe for,

527

:

for I, you're not the first person who

said, I, I don't know if I've worked with

528

:

Track 1: Mm-Hmm.

529

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

or been pitched to by those folks.

530

:

Those were the smallest percentage

overall in professional services.

531

:

So it, again, I think because

you're selling yourself and it is a

532

:

relationship focused business, that

it kind of weeds out people like that.

533

:

I mean, you do have some, but

they're, they're not very prevalent.

534

:

Track 1: So the fourth one is the realist.

535

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yes.

536

:

Yeah.

537

:

So realist is another one that

you, it's a unique profile.

538

:

This is completely unique

to professional services.

539

:

This is the above board.

540

:

Truthful, transparent.

541

:

Um, you know, I'd say the, the

truth teller of, uh, to the client.

542

:

Tell the client what they need to

hear, not just what they wanna hear.

543

:

They're very comfortable saying

no, they do not sign up for work.

544

:

They can't, they know, they can't

deliver on, they will not sign up

545

:

for work that the client hasn't

allocated, um, enough budget for.

546

:

And they will always set proper

expectations with their clients.

547

:

Again, tipping my midst of the results.

548

:

Clients think that this approach

is, they appreciate it, but it can

549

:

be a little bit of a downer, right?

550

:

It's a little bit of a glass

half full approach, especially in

551

:

places like strategy consulting

552

:

where, you know, sometimes it's about

painting the art of the possible

553

:

and, and, you know, uh, the blue

sky kind of thinking our bluish

554

:

in strategy, uh, type of approach.

555

:

And so clients can find that.

556

:

If you will, Debbie Downer kind of

557

:

approach should be a little bit deflating.

558

:

Now, it, it is interesting that you

find these people in professional

559

:

services, and I think the reason

is that, um, professional services

560

:

is, it's not like buying software.

561

:

It's not like buying a medical

device, which you can test out.

562

:

You can see the features and benefits.

563

:

You can touch it, you can feel

it, you can pilot it, right?

564

:

Um, when you're buying a service

from a firm in professional services,

565

:

you are hiring for expertise

that is not possible to assess.

566

:

Until you get into the engagement and

you're kind of taking a leap of faith.

567

:

And I think what these realists understand

is that every client out there has

568

:

been burned in the past by a partner

that has overstated their capabilities.

569

:

A firm that is overpromised

and underdelivered

570

:

a, a lawyer who's like, who sends

surprise invoices after the matter

571

:

is concluded that are well in excess

of the stated budget that, you

572

:

know, was articulated way upfront.

573

:

So everyone's had that experience.

574

:

And so these folks try to set themselves

apart by kind of going overboard.

575

:

On the truthfulness.

576

:

Now, again, this is not to say

you don't want every partner

577

:

to be truthful and transparent and

honest, but these realists know that

578

:

unfortunately that is not the case.

579

:

And so they try to really set themselves

apart, um, and get clients to understand

580

:

that if you really want the honest

truth, you come to me, I'm the person.

581

:

Never gonna tell you, um, uh,

you know, uh, never gonna spin.

582

:

I'm always gonna tell you what you need to

hear or not what you wanna hear sometimes.

583

:

So,

584

:

Track 1: Mm-Hmm.

585

:

. Um, so the activator is our

final profile, which spoil?

586

:

Alert.

587

:

That's the rainmaker profile.

588

:

. Um,

589

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

When we get to that point,

590

:

Track 1: right.

591

:

So this is, I.

592

:

I, I think I am the activator profile,

like I and I, so I just, I wanna dig

593

:

into all the pieces of it because I

think this is part of the activator

594

:

profile is that relationships, it's

relationships inside the office with

595

:

the clients, making new relationships.

596

:

So I, I wanna dig into the activator.

597

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yeah,

so the activator, uh, to summarize is

598

:

I would call them a super connector.

599

:

So, um, they are su like if you looked

at what we had a set of questions

600

:

around, for example, LinkedIn

601

:

usage or how a partner engages

with clients at a, a firm sponsored

602

:

event or an industry conference.

603

:

Activators, they are heavy users of

LinkedIn and, and, and technologies

604

:

like Sales Navigator for instance.

605

:

Um, they are purposeful

attendees at events, meaning.

606

:

Most partners will go to

an event and it's there.

607

:

You're there to consume the event,

have a nice dinner, have a couple of

608

:

cocktails, maybe you meet somebody, um,

maybe some business falls into your lap.

609

:

Great.

610

:

Um, but activators are there as a

business development event, right?

611

:

So they look at the attendee list, they

612

:

schedule meetings in advance,

coffees, breakfasts, you know,

613

:

lunches, dinners, side conversations.

614

:

They're looking at the attendees

and they're specifically saying, I

615

:

want, my goal is to meet this person

and that person, this other person

616

:

now.

617

:

They leave that event with a stack

of business cards or connections

618

:

they've established, and then they

try to convert those, uh, connections

619

:

into conversations and then use those

conversations to create paying clients.

620

:

Now what's also interesting about

these conversations is they are very

621

:

proactive in nature and they're, it's

all about bringing clients new ideas.

622

:

So, um, the, that is the way they move

somebody from the outer rings of their

623

:

network where they're just a connection.

624

:

Just somebody I met at a conference or I.

625

:

Into the inner circle where

I become a paying client.

626

:

What I'm trying to do is spot an

opportunity for that client, whether

627

:

that's a regulatory change, it's

an m and a event in their space.

628

:

It's a, a change in the labor market.

629

:

It's um, you know, gen ai, right?

630

:

There's lots of different

things that are happening.

631

:

Tax court decisions, you name it.

632

:

Things that clients don't

have time to monitor

633

:

these activators say, yeah, I.

634

:

I can put myself in a great position

if I don't wait for the phone to

635

:

ring, but I spot an opportunity.

636

:

I say, Julie, I don't know if you

saw this tax court decision in

637

:

your jurisdiction, but I think it

might represent a threat or perhaps

638

:

actually an opportunity for your firm.

639

:

I'd love to hop on a Zoom

640

:

or, or grab a coffee.

641

:

Let's talk about it.

642

:

Now, what's also interesting is

these activators will tell you, I'm

643

:

not looking to bill for that time.

644

:

But what I am trying

to do is pay it forward

645

:

to give them a chance to kick the tires

on me as an advisor, and also earn

646

:

a bit of goodwill so that when Julie

realizes, Hey, this is a real need.

647

:

I wanna carve out budget for this.

648

:

We need to hire a service provider.

649

:

I've, and even if it's

competitive, I've got a leg up.

650

:

'cause I brought the idea to

you and I paid it forward.

651

:

Where every other partner's

only gonna talk to you if you,

652

:

they can bill for the time.

653

:

I'm gonna pay it forward

with a bit of free advice.

654

:

Now the last thing about

activators, which is very.

655

:

Interesting is that unlike the confidant

who kind of hoards relationships,

656

:

these folks are the exact opposite.

657

:

So activators believe that, um, in a

world of diminished client loyalty,

658

:

the way that you create stickier

relationships is that you gotta shift

659

:

the locus of loyalty from me to we.

660

:

In other words, I've gotta get

that client to stop being just

661

:

loyal to me as a service provider.

662

:

My goal is to bring in my colleagues

in other practice areas in my firm

663

:

because when I do that, that, becomes

a multi-point, kind of multi-threaded

664

:

connection, which a client will think

twice about severing and going with a

665

:

competitor when we serve

them across so many different

666

:

functional areas and domain areas.

667

:

Um, and so they are actively

looking to bring people in.

668

:

Um, and you know what's also interesting?

669

:

We talk to activators

and they'll say, look.

670

:

I also, um, leverage my network as

a strategic asset for my client.

671

:

So a client, and it's the very best

activators you talk to will say that.

672

:

Let's say, um, uh, we spoke to, for

example, um, a partner in a law firm

673

:

in the uk and he told us, he said,

I get calls all the time about I.

674

:

You know, uh, hey Jim, do you know

any, um, search consultants in our

675

:

space or we're looking for a tax

advisor in, you know, Malaysia,

676

:

or we're looking for an m and a?

677

:

You know, but you've always get, you've

always, you have a great deep network

678

:

and you always steer us the right way.

679

:

And so he will point people

to others in network, say, you

680

:

gotta really talk to Julie.

681

:

You gotta talk to Susan.

682

:

You got to, you know, here's, here

are the people you should talk to.

683

:

And they say, I know I get blowback value

for that, even though I don't even do the

684

:

work, but because I can connect my clients

with talented people in my network.

685

:

That is a huge source of

value, uh, to my clients.

686

:

So a lot going on there.

687

:

What I, the way I summarize it

back to your points, activators

688

:

really do three things.

689

:

So,

690

:

um, and one of which I didn't, didn't

actually mention, the first thing,

691

:

um, they do is they have a real

commitment to business development.

692

:

So, um, of the five profiles.

693

:

These were the only partners who told us

that they carve out time to do business

694

:

development every week, if not every day.

695

:

Now it's not a ton of time, right?

696

:

It's, um, but it's, it's

meaningful and purposeful time.

697

:

Maybe it's a half hour in

the morning or the afternoon.

698

:

They do not let it get scheduled over.

699

:

And if it does for an urgent client,

um, uh, uh, engagement, they move it

700

:

to another time of their calendar.

701

:

They

702

:

always make sure they get to it.

703

:

It's like going to the gym.

704

:

If I miss my gym workout in the

morning, I go in the afternoon.

705

:

Um.

706

:

Every other partner in our study said,

I do BD when I have time to do bd.

707

:

We're not busy, busy

serving clients, right?

708

:

These folks don't view it that way.

709

:

Why does that matter?

710

:

Because we are in a world

of lower client loyalty.

711

:

So you better have a pipeline behind

that, those handful of key clients.

712

:

Quick, uh, story on that one.

713

:

Um, one of the PR firms that participated.

714

:

Um, in the research, um, told us that one

of their, um, top rainmakers a person had

715

:

been a top rainmaker at their firm for

many, many years, um, had a huge global

716

:

consulting firm as their key client and

leadership had always tried to encourage

717

:

this rainmaker to broaden his portfolio

of clients to not be so Single, you know,

718

:

exposed to a single client, and every

time they tried to do it and they tried to

719

:

feed 'em other opportunities, they said,

no, no, I'm too busy serving these guys.

720

:

You know, they need me for an event.

721

:

They need me on site.

722

:

They need me to go meet

with the leadership team.

723

:

Never had time to create a pipeline

behind that one key client.

724

:

Then, uh, just this year, that key

client put the work out to bid,

725

:

and this PR firm lost the business.

726

:

That guy went from their top rainmaker

for probably 15 years to the lowest

727

:

performing partner in the firm.

728

:

Overnight.

729

:

We had nothing, nothing to fall back on.

730

:

So that's the first thing we call it.

731

:

Uh, this is the.

732

:

Three pillars of act.

733

:

The first one is commit

to business development.

734

:

The second one is connect.

735

:

And we talked about this before.

736

:

Um, building your network at both

internally and externally as a

737

:

strategic asset to be leveraged, right?

738

:

They understand that, um, a

multi-threaded, a multi-point

739

:

connection with the client is

way stronger, especially in the

740

:

current buying environment than

a single threaded relationship.

741

:

So bring your partners in, bring

your colleagues in, create a high

742

:

tensile strength, multi-point

connection web with your clients.

743

:

That will help you weather, um,

weather the storm, because again, those

744

:

clients are gonna think twice about

pulling up the 10 stakes and leaving.

745

:

And then the last pillar, uh, so

that's, so we got commit connect.

746

:

And the last one is create, so I mentioned

this before, but activators know that

747

:

in today's world where clients want to

bid out the work force you to go through

748

:

RFP is competitive pursuits, et cetera.

749

:

and and they wanna put you in a box and

they wanna assume like, you're all the

750

:

same, whoever who's gonna cut us the

best price possible for this engagement.

751

:

Um, what they understand is that

in that world, way better to create

752

:

demand than to react to demand.

753

:

So I need to be out in front of this.

754

:

I need to bring my clients' ideas, not

wait for the phone to ring, because

755

:

doing so allows me to shape the RFP

if there's gonna be one, but at least

756

:

shape the client's understanding

of what they need in a way that

757

:

feeds to me as the best service

758

:

provider

759

:

Track 1: Mm-Hmm.

760

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: So.

761

:

Track 1: So a couple of things when

you were talking about the activator.

762

:

My first thought was in order for each

and every firm to have . Activators,

763

:

we need to look at how people

are compensated for the work they

764

:

bring in and the clients they have.

765

:

Because I think our compensation plans

and schedules force people into that, that

766

:

confidant role and that these are mine.

767

:

I don't wanna share the, you know,

the, the, you know, uh, promotions

768

:

or, or money or bonuses or whatever

that come with keeping this client.

769

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

Yeah, you're totally right.

770

:

In fact, you know, I should

say I, it's kinda skipped a

771

:

little bit of the punchline.

772

:

We already said the activators win,

but just to put a finder point on that,

773

:

when we ran a regression analysis,

which we talk about in the article,

774

:

we looked at, if you put, for lack

of a better description, if you put

775

:

these five profiles into a horse race,

and you said, let me take the average

776

:

performing partner, and let's see what

would happen if they chose to lean

777

:

harder into any of those five approaches.

778

:

Four of those five.

779

:

Um, realist debaters, um, uh,

confidants and experts actually

780

:

have a negative correlation with

business development performance.

781

:

So in other words, the more a,

you know, your average partner

782

:

leans into those approaches, the

worse they do, uh, relative to

783

:

what they could potentially do.

784

:

They think they're stepping on the gas,

but they're actually stepping on the

785

:

brakes on their own business development

786

:

only one.

787

:

It was the activator that had a

positive straight line statistical

788

:

correlation with performance to

really get down to brass tacks.

789

:

If you took the average partner.

790

:

They went from not very good to very

good on the activator dimensions.

791

:

They could lift their own personal

revenue generation by 32% up to 32%.

792

:

So it's a big, big change.

793

:

Now you hit on, it's so interesting to

me because when I talk to firms, um, I.

794

:

You know, we, and we

show them the results.

795

:

More often than not, they say exactly

what you just did, which is, uh, they

796

:

look at, you know, I show them the

results and they're overweighted,

797

:

let's say in confidants or maybe

in experts, which is where most

798

:

firms end up being overweighted.

799

:

Um, and almost always

the, the chair or the.

800

:

The CBDO or you know, the managing partner

will say, we did this to ourselves.

801

:

Like there, this is not just

happenstance that people all went

802

:

into this confidant approach.

803

:

If you look at our comp plan, if you

look at who we hold up and we celebrate,

804

:

you look at the lateral

hires, we're bringing in the

805

:

people we put on a pedestal.

806

:

We shine a bright, we

put their name in lights.

807

:

Like every signal that our

younger, uh, associates and, and

808

:

income partners and, and junior

partners get is, this is the way to

809

:

make it.

810

:

You know what was interesting is across

these 23 firms, there were a handful

811

:

where they had a spike in activators.

812

:

Which really kind of set them

apart from their peers overall,

813

:

but also in their sub-segment.

814

:

And so we spent a lot of time with

those leaders trying to figure

815

:

out like, how did this happen?

816

:

Right?

817

:

'cause you're doing something differently.

818

:

And what we found was, um, that

they're kind of, they're, that

819

:

activator is not just about partner

skills, it's about firm capabilities

820

:

and creating the right environment.

821

:

So the first thing to your point

is, um, you've gotta have the right

822

:

both monetary, uh, incentives and

non-monetary reward and recognition

823

:

programs that signal to partners.

824

:

Here's what we care about,

825

:

right?

826

:

We care about cross-sell,

we care about collaboration.

827

:

We care about, um, network building.

828

:

We care about purposeful use

of technologies like LinkedIn

829

:

or events or, or what have

830

:

you.

831

:

We care about everyone carving out

and protecting time, uh, for bd.

832

:

Um, you've also gotta have the right

training and coaching programs, right?

833

:

That teach partners how to do this stuff.

834

:

And here's the thing, almost every

one of those activator firms told us.

835

:

We don't wait till people make partner to

teach them how to do business development.

836

:

That's actually in many

respects, too late.

837

:

What you wanna do is start investing

in them at the associate level.

838

:

Because if you think about stuff,

activators do, commitment to bd, network

839

:

building, being a proactive rather

than reactive, um, business developer.

840

:

These are not things you need to

wait till you make partner just

841

:

muscles you need to wait to develop.

842

:

You can

843

:

start developing them early.

844

:

And then the last thing they

would talk about, um, was.

845

:

Enabling an activator approach.

846

:

So that is the way that you equip

partners with technology or the way

847

:

that you support them with the BD team

or with, uh, thought leadership or the

848

:

way you structure your events program,

um, and support partners to turn those

849

:

events into real BD opportunities.

850

:

Like they're, you gotta create kind of a

nest for your, uh, for your activators.

851

:

So they're not swimming against

the system, but rather they're

852

:

supported by the system.

853

:

So I, I think that's one of

the most interesting parts of

854

:

the story actually, is that.

855

:

Again, it's, you could take a partner

in almost any other firm and you drop

856

:

'em into one of these activator firms

where they're supported and all the

857

:

nudges they're getting, tell them

to do things one way not the other.

858

:

And the outcome can be quite different.

859

:

So again, it is a story of

individuals, but it's also a story

860

:

of, uh, firm leadership and firm

861

:

capabilities.

862

:

Track 1: you, you quite succinctly asked

my next question, which was, you know, if

863

:

we need more activators in our companies,

how do we start creating them and giving

864

:

them frameworks to become activators?

865

:

I wanna go back to one thing

that you talked about about.

866

:

When it comes to BD, that the activators

schedule it and they, they, they

867

:

dedicate a certain amount of time,

and you didn't say how much time they

868

:

dedicated, but research shows that about

six hours a week is the sweet spot for

869

:

business development and or network

networking and business development

870

:

at the, you know, in conjunction.

871

:

And when I . Giving keynotes and I talk

about this magical six hour number,

872

:

people are like, I don't have six hours.

873

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Yeah.

874

:

Yeah.

875

:

Track 1: Um, and I think

the activator reframes.

876

:

What is networking and what is business

development as a very holistic part

877

:

of the job you're already doing.

878

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

Yeah, that's right.

879

:

You know, and, and I think, um, I

think sometimes partners get into this

880

:

mode of like, okay, I'm gonna schedule

an hour a day or however much time

881

:

a day to do my bd, and it's, that's

pitching for business time, right?

882

:

Or it's going fine, responding

to RFPs or what have you.

883

:

I.

884

:

But, but it's a very, as you said, it's a

very holistic understanding of what is bd.

885

:

So that hour might be spent, um, following

up on all the stack of business cards

886

:

you collected at the last conference.

887

:

It might be, um, scrolling the news to

look at, are there events here that I

888

:

could bring to one of my clients and say,

this is an opportunity for us to talk and

889

:

maybe potentially do business together.

890

:

Uh, there was a partner, we, um,

interviewed a longtime partner, managing

891

:

partner, actually, of a, uh, an Asian, uh,

Asian off office of a big global law firm.

892

:

And he told us.

893

:

And his kind of specialty area was, um,

patent and trademark kind of, uh, law

894

:

within, um, within the food, uh, industry.

895

:

Uh, and so he said, um, he

only ever had three things on

896

:

his desk, uh, any given time.

897

:

The first thing he had was his checklist.

898

:

Here are the things I'm gonna

do today in, in the BD things.

899

:

Here are the client thing.

900

:

So there's your commit piece, right?

901

:

This is, I've developed

a metronomic cadence.

902

:

I don't let BD fall by the wayside.

903

:

I, I'm always doing it.

904

:

The second thing he had, he always had

LinkedIn open on his, on his computer.

905

:

Never closed it, right?

906

:

Always had it open.

907

:

Track 1: I never close mine.

908

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944:

Never close it.

909

:

Right?

910

:

That's how we got connected.

911

:

I think

912

:

so.

913

:

And then the last thing he had

was on his desk, the stack of

914

:

today's news in the food industry.

915

:

And he's going through it and he's

carving out time and saying, where

916

:

is there some new, like, is there a

firm that's created new innovation?

917

:

Have they patented that?

918

:

Um, should I reach out?

919

:

Is that an opportunity

for having a conversation?

920

:

Um.

921

:

And so that to me was really interesting

'cause you got that commit that

922

:

the commit piece, the checklist,

you got the Connect, which is your

923

:

LinkedIn and you got your create,

which is that those industry events.

924

:

So I thought was a simple kind of way

to think about that activator playbook.

925

:

But you're quite right, it's not.

926

:

Now, if you look at, if you look at

average partners, what they tend to

927

:

do, first of all, their time is way

overweighted to delivering work versus um.

928

:

bd.

929

:

And the reason is they believe

delivering great work is bd, right?

930

:

That means if I deliver great

work, I'm automatically gonna

931

:

get the next piece of business.

932

:

So that's, and the other thing is

activators are equally weighted.

933

:

Not they're, they're more evenly balanced

in terms of BD versus execution time.

934

:

But also if you look at their BD time,

they're more evenly weighted across new

935

:

versus existing client opportunities.

936

:

Now, if you look at most other

partners are way overweighted

937

:

to existing clients, right?

938

:

I've already got this

relationship, I'm just gonna.

939

:

Overinvest in time, shower them

with service and client centricity

940

:

And

941

:

um, uh,

942

:

you.

943

:

know, all kinds of, you know, great work.

944

:

And then they'll just

hire me automatically.

945

:

But again, that, that approach

may have worked 10, 20 years ago.

946

:

You know, maybe we would've

seen the expert of the confidant

947

:

was the winning approach.

948

:

But today the client

environment is really changing.

949

:

And look my.

950

:

My, uh, guidance for partners is,

you know, if you're a top rainmaker,

951

:

if you're a top performer and you

952

:

Don't see yourself as,

953

:

an activator, that's okay.

954

:

There are top performers who are

on the other profiles for sure,

955

:

Track 1: Mm-Hmm.

956

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: but

957

:

I think it's also.

958

:

a recognition.

959

:

We all agree the client buying

environment today is different from

960

:

how it was 10 or 20 years ago, and

if you buy the proposition that the

961

:

world is changing, then by definition

you have to evolve your approach.

962

:

What worked yesterday is

not gonna work tomorrow.

963

:

And so I encourage partners

to think about this as.

964

:

Not changing everything about who you

are and what you do, but rather, um,

965

:

uh, building involving some new tools

to put in your BD tool, tool belt.

966

:

Keep doing the stuff that made you

great, but understand as the title

967

:

of the, um, the Wellknown book goes.

968

:

What got you here is not gonna get you

there, and you gotta keep stepping on

969

:

the gas and evolving your own approach.

970

:

Thank

971

:

Track 1: Matt, this was amazing.

972

:

Thank you so much for taking so much

time to talk with us about this.

973

:

Um, if people wanna learn more about

you and learn more, more about what

974

:

you and your partners do at your

company, where, where should they, um,

975

:

look to find you or go to find you?

976

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Uh, so our

company website is uh, d cm insights.com.

977

:

Um, and that provides an

978

:

overview of kind of

who we are, what we do.

979

:

Um, we have offerings, as I

mentioned, we kind of cut our teeth

980

:

in business to business sales.

981

:

We do still do a lot of business

to business sales support, but also

982

:

what we do to help partners and

firms on this activator journey.

983

:

So can learn all about us and maybe

more than you wish to know on.

984

:

Track 1: Um, and I'll put a, i for

those people who have a Harvard

985

:

Business Review subscription, I'll

put a link to this article in the

986

:

show notes as well, um, because

it's, it's a fascinating article as

987

:

matt-dixon_1_11-07-2023_100944: Thank you.

988

:

Thank you.

989

:

And I should mention, by the way, I, I

love connecting with folks who've, um,

990

:

heard me on a podcast or show like this.

991

:

If you did, uh, send me a LinkedIn

invite, um, uh, Juliet, Julian,

992

:

I'm very active on LinkedIn.

993

:

I am, um, and I, I know I'd love

to connect with your listeners.

994

:

If you have a follow-up question, hit me

up and happy to continue the dialogue.

995

:

Okay.

996

:

Take care.

997

:

All right, so there you have it.

998

:

I want to be a Rainmaker or want

to nurture them within your office.

999

:

Start focusing on the three

CS commit, connect and create.

:

00:44:49,404 --> 00:44:51,894

Make time for business

development every day.

:

00:44:51,894 --> 00:44:56,634

And if not every day, every week,

Become a heavy user of LinkedIn, not

:

00:44:56,634 --> 00:44:59,814

just for connecting, but for commenting

and creating your own content.

:

00:45:00,414 --> 00:45:01,824

Start educating your clients.

:

00:45:01,824 --> 00:45:04,404

Don't wait for the phone to ring or

for them to reach out when they need

:

00:45:04,404 --> 00:45:08,334

help anticipate their needs and how

you can be a source of information.

:

00:45:09,264 --> 00:45:12,624

And convert those connections

into conversations.

:

00:45:13,104 --> 00:45:16,404

All things that we have talked

about on this podcast to still

:

00:45:16,434 --> 00:45:18,234

down and backed by research.

:

00:45:18,834 --> 00:45:23,874

And you know how much I fucking love to

say the research suggests take a drink.

:

00:45:25,164 --> 00:45:25,974

And with that.

:

00:45:26,351 --> 00:45:28,181

We are now onto the drink of the week.

:

00:45:28,601 --> 00:45:29,291

And it is.

:

00:45:29,951 --> 00:45:32,951

Based off of the three's commit,

connect and create it is the

:

00:45:32,981 --> 00:45:35,051

triple C welcome cocktail.

:

00:45:35,051 --> 00:45:36,371

And it's from taste and tipple.

:

00:45:36,581 --> 00:45:37,541

Here's what you're going to need.

:

00:45:38,051 --> 00:45:39,611

A quarter ounce of cinnamon syrup.

:

00:45:39,641 --> 00:45:42,431

We've covered how to make simple

syrup before and flavored simple

:

00:45:42,431 --> 00:45:43,931

served before in this podcast.

:

00:45:43,931 --> 00:45:45,371

So quarter rounds of cinnamon syrup.

:

00:45:45,881 --> 00:45:49,931

Two to three dashes of cardamom,

bitters, one ounce of cognac, four

:

00:45:49,931 --> 00:45:55,751

ounces of chilled, sparkling wine

and grapefruit twist for a garnish.

:

00:45:55,841 --> 00:46:01,601

So I think the three CS are going to end

up being cinnamon cardamom and cognac.

:

00:46:02,081 --> 00:46:03,251

I think that's the three series.

:

00:46:03,731 --> 00:46:06,941

Anyways, poor cinnamon syrup

into a champagne flute at two to

:

00:46:06,941 --> 00:46:08,621

three dashes of cardamom bitters.

:

00:46:08,681 --> 00:46:11,231

Add the cognac carefully

top with sparkling wine.

:

00:46:11,411 --> 00:46:13,721

You know, it could be

four seas if you use cava.

:

00:46:13,751 --> 00:46:14,021

Okay.

:

00:46:14,021 --> 00:46:14,471

I'm getting off.

:

00:46:14,531 --> 00:46:14,771

All right.

:

00:46:14,771 --> 00:46:18,131

Anyways, sparkling wine and

garnished with a grapefruit twist.

:

00:46:18,551 --> 00:46:18,941

Okay.

:

00:46:19,211 --> 00:46:19,871

All right, friends.

:

00:46:19,901 --> 00:46:20,681

That's all for this week.

:

00:46:20,741 --> 00:46:22,631

If you like what you heard

today, please leave a review

:

00:46:22,661 --> 00:46:23,921

and subscribe to the podcast.

:

00:46:24,251 --> 00:46:27,491

Also, please remember to share the podcast

to help it reach a larger audience.

:

00:46:27,761 --> 00:46:29,411

If you want more, Julie

Brown, you can find my book.

:

00:46:29,441 --> 00:46:31,451

The shit works on Amazon

and Barnes and noble.

:

00:46:31,451 --> 00:46:33,941

You can find me on

LinkedIn at Julie Brown BD.

:

00:46:34,151 --> 00:46:35,801

Just let me know where you

found me when you reach out.

:

00:46:35,831 --> 00:46:38,441

And I am Julie Brown underscore

BD on the Instagram, or you can

:

00:46:38,441 --> 00:46:39,881

just pop on over to my website.

:

00:46:40,331 --> 00:46:43,571

Julie round bd.com until next week Cheers.

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About the Podcast

This Shit Works
The people you meet can 100% Change Your Life! Networking is how you meet those people. Which sucks because you hate networking, you think you're bad at networking, and you certainly don’t have time to network. Bullshit! Welcome to This Shit Works, a weekly podcast hosted by entrepreneur, CEO, public speaker, author, business development strategist and networking coach Julie Brown. Just don’t call her Downtown Julie Brown - she doesn’t like that.

Each week Julie will bring to you her no nonsense tips, tricks and conversations around networking your way to more friends, more adventures and way more success!
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