Intrenion

Books as Frameworks: Professional Services

Table of Contents

• 100 Proven Ways to Acquire and Keep Clients for Life (Richard Weylman)
• How Clients Buy (Tom McMakin et al.)
• How Not to Suck at Consulting (Axel Janiec et al.)
• How to Win Client Business When You Don’t Know Where to Start (Doug Fletcher)

100 Proven Ways to Acquire and Keep Clients for Life (Richard Weylman)

What Clients and Prospects Want and Why You Get Fired Without It

How to Personalize Communications and Show Clients and Prospects You Care

1. The Power of a Name
2. I Bet You Can Spell Your Name
3. No Problem, No Worries = No Value
4. Communicate More Graciously and at a Higher Level
5. Walmart Understands How To Offer Help
6. Do I Neeed Your Permission To Call?
7. Sign Your Emails and All Other Correspondence Relationally
8. Be Sure Your Telephone Makes a Great First Impression
9. Be Interruptible and Not an Interrupter
10. What To Do When Someone Else Interrupts You and a Client
11. Are You Unavailable or Are You Just Dodging My Call?
12. Set a Telephone Appointment To Avoid Sending People to Voicemail
13. Be Gracious and Positive When You Are Late in Replying or Attending
14. Get Turned On to These Trendy Words and Phrases That Need Clarification
15. Use Lively Words To Energize and Clarify Your Communications
16. Be Mindful of Your Written and Verbal Tone
17. Be Sure to Reference Their Desired Outcome, Not Their Account
18. Pay Attention to the Little Things
19. If You’re out of the Office, Be Sure You Don’t Shut Them Out
20. Close the Loop and Fill Them With Gratitude
21. Positivity Builds and Attracts

How to Make Clients and Prospects Feel Secure Emotionally

1. Position Your Work Based on Solutions, Not on Pricing
2. What To Say When Asked Socially, “What Do You Do?”
3. Be Sure Your Online Presence Is About What You Do for People
4. Resuscitate and Elevate Your Lobby
5. Elevate Your Work and Conference Space
6. When You Meet People, Be Sure You Are Gracious and Welcoming
7. Don’t Just Say You Emphatize - Demonstrate Empathy
8. Use Eye Contact To Avoid Being Seen As Someone With “I” Trouble
9. Serve That Beverage Elegantly
10. Help Them Get Recharged When They Are in Your Office
11. Walk Them to Other Areas They Need To Visit
12. Be Sure To Consider Your Restrooms
13. Be Sure They Have a Private Place To Discuss Their Issues
14. Proactively Provide Clients With an Emergency Contact Number
15. If You Make a Mistake, Apologize
16. Focus on Showing Them How Instead of What
17. Proactively Let Them Know Who To Call
18. Have an Agenda for Major Meetings and Conversations
19. Be Realistic in Your Responsiveness
20. Be Definitive - It Builds Their Confidence

How to Make Clients and Prospects Feel Secure Economically

1. Start Every Meeting Off on Their Footing, Not Yours
2. Uncover Deep-Seated Worries and Solution Willingness
3. Don’t Jump - Be Slow To Respond
4. Be Sure To Explain What They Will Accomplish
5. Avoid Talking Down to Them
6. Any Communication That Tells Them They Are Wrong Will Not Be Received
7. The Phrase That Destroys Economic and Emotional Security and Trust
8. Avoid “With All Due Respect”
9. If Only You Had a Brain, This Would Be the Perfect Solution
10. Reassure Them and Don’t Presume Anything
11. Always Reference Next Steps
12. Near the End of the Meeting, Treat It Like the Beginning
13. Always Close Every Conversation, Regardless of Brevity, by Reinforcing That You Care
14. Stop “Following Up”
15. What To Do When They Say No Instead of Yes!

How to Know Your Clients and Prospects Better and Build a Rock-Solid Relationship

1. Your CRM as a CXM (Client Experience Manager)
2. Onboarding - Know Their What and Their Where
3. Continue To Be Curious About Their Current Interests and Activities
4. Demonstrate Your Interest in What They See or Have Seen
5. Connect With Your Clients and Prospects on Their Social Media Platforms
6. Use Your Social Media as a Relationship Tool, Not Just a Lead Source
7. Use Google To Stay Relevant and Informed
8. Forward Appropriate Google Alerts to Your Best Clients and Prospects
9. Learn More by Walking Them All the Way Out
10. Avoid Making Donations on Your Client’s Behalf
11. Demonstrate Your Values in Your Words and Actions
12. Pay Attention and Avoid Upstaging Them
13. Annually Capture Additional Ways To Elevate Their Relationship With You

How to Keep Clients and Prospects Engaged by Creating New and Memorable Experiences

1. What Is the Best Type of Event?
2. What Size Event Is the Best?
3. How Do You Ensure People Are Comfortable at a Large Educational or Business Meeting?
4. Be Creative and Think Way Outside the Box
5. Keep Social Events Social
6. Educate To Motivate Attendees to Action
7. Don’t Have Clients Just Invite Friends - Instead, “Invite Up”
8. Get in Their Phone and Get More Clients
9. The Best Afterparty That Will Improve Your Event Roi
10. Make That Upcoming Small Dinner Event Memorable for All
11. The Power of the Non-Business Breakfast or Lunch
12. Help Others To Get the Conversation or Q&A Started
13. Tips for Being Confidently Conversational and Engaging
14. Every Event Needs a Pre-, During-, and Post-Event Strategy

How to Be Sure Clients and Prospects Always Know You Value Them and Their Relationship With You

1. When Tragedy Strikes or Bad Things Happen, Don’t Just Say Something - Do Something!
2. Massage Your Social Media Messaging so That People Relate to It
3. Avoid Sending or Posting Anything Generic Anywhere
4. Call With the Intent to Reference What They Have Shared Previously
5. Give To Give Again and Support Their Community
6. Recognize People Inside and Outside Your Market
7. Increase Your Visibility and Thus Your Viability
8. Sometimes You May Have To Create Your Own Network
9. Send Special Notes on Their Special Days
10. Recognize Them on Their Nationally Celebrated Occupational, Professional, and/or Special Interest Days
11. When the Occasion Is Right, Send a Gift
12. When Gifting, Think Location, Location, Location
13. Use Video To Make a Memorable Impact
14. I Am on Home Plate, and You’re Out!
15. Structured Communication Is a Win for Everyone
16. Use Technology and Keep People up to Speed
17. Craft a Communication and Cultivation Calendar

How to Implement These Tactics to Acquire Clients and Keep Them for Life

1. Craft a vision that defines the experience your clients and prospects will have.
2. Assess where you are now and where you need to improve.
3. Be honest with yourself - are you willing?
4. Create a plan to implement the necessary tactics.
5. Seek input from peers.
6. Create weekly or daily rituals.
7. Revamp, renew, and be persistent.

How Clients Buy (Tom McMakin et al.)

The Problem

1. A Curious Problem
2. Finders, Minders, and Grinders: The Business Development Imperative

Obstacles

1. Beyond Pixels: Selling a Service Is Different from Selling Things (and Harder)
2. Obstacle #1 - What They Didn’t Teach You in B-School: If I Am Supposed to Be the Expert, Why Do I Feel So Stupid about Sales?
3. Obstacle #2 - But I Don’t Want to Sell: Moving Past Willy Loman
4. Obstacle #3 - Things Aren’t What They Once Were: It Is Harder Than Ever to Sell Expert Services
5. Obstacle #4 - A Blizzard of Bad Advice: Everything You Know about Sales Is Wrong

How Clients Buy

1. The Secret to Selling: Never Say Sell
2. Element 1 - I Am Aware of You: What Was the Name of Your Firm Again?
3. Element 2 - I Understand What You Do: You Do What?
4. Element 3 - I Am Interested: These Are My Goals
5. Element 4 - I Respect Your Work: You Have the Right Stuff to Help Me
6. Element 5 - I Trust You: You Have My Best Interests at Heart
7. Element 6 - I Am Able: I’ve Got Budget and Buy-In
8. Element 7 - I Am Ready: The Timing Is Right

Putting the Seven Elements to Work

1. A Chain Is as Strong as Its Weakest Link: Using the Seven Elements as a Diagnostic Tool
2. Getting to Work: Learning to Think and Act Like a Rainmaker
3. All Business Is Local: From the Silk Road to the Information Superhighway
4. Our Vision of the Future: A Roadmap for Change

How Not to Suck at Consulting (Axel Janiec et al.)

Steer management correctly

1. Don’t expect your manager to know all the answers
2. Address your issues at the right time
3. Direct attention
4. Be clear about your approach
5. Manage other people’s expectations
6. Brief somebody properly
7. Write emails so that management will react
8. Think Win-Win

Waste less time

1. Be more productive and less busy
2. Be bold enough to go home
3. Learn to say no
4. Do not reinvent the wheel
5. Identify key decision “influencers”
6. Focus on progress instead of deliverables

Get good performance ratings

1. Grasp your company’s rating system
2. Realize that it’s not only about you
3. Position yourself
4. Act like a freelancer and take personal responsibility
5. Don’t be the problem guy
6. Ask the ‘Winner Questions’
7. Don’t justify yourself

Make better decisions

1. Realize that changing systems are not productive
2. Be confident about what you do not know
3. Think in future scenarios
4. Challenge underlying beliefs
5. Reflect on decision options
6. Use resonating patterns

How to Win Client Business When You Don’t Know Where to Start (Doug Fletcher)

If I’m So Smart, Why Do I Feel So Stupid About Selling?

1. Things Rainmakers Do That Most of Us Don’t: The Five Rainmaker Skills: Universities Don’t Teach Us and Our Firms Don’t Train Us
2. How Clients Buy: Understanding the Client’s Buying Decision Journey
3. Where Clients Come From: Understanding the Key Client Pathways
4. Rainmaking for Introverts and People Who Don’t Want to Sell: Winning Client Business While Being True to Yourself

The Five Skills We Must Learn If We Want to Become a Rainmaker

Skill 1: Create Your Personal Brand Identity

1. Decide What You Want to Be Known For and Who You Wish to Serve: You Can Be Known for Anything: But You Can’t Be Known for Everything
2. The Power of Focus: The Key to Being Remembered
3. Choosing Your Specialty: Shrink the Pond Until You’re a Big Fish
4. You Can’t Sell Beyond Your Credibility Zone: The Cautionary Tale of EDS

Skill 2: Demonstrate Your Professional Expertise

1. How Clients Tell Who the Real Experts Are: Clients Need Clues That We Are Really Good at What We Do
2. How to Toot Your Own Horn Without Looking Like a Jerk: Proven Techniques for Demonstrating Your Expertise
3. Using LinkedIn to Build Your Credibility: It Won’t Make the Cash Register Ring: So What’s It Good For?

Skill 3: Build Your Professional Ecosystem

1. The Two Hundred People You Need to Know: The Closest Thing to Knowing Something Is Knowing Where to Find It
2. Does Cold-Calling Work? And What to Do if It Doesn’t: Remember What Mom Said: Don’t Talk to Strangers!
3. Making Friends in a Natural Way: How to Get an Introduction Without Seeming Pushy
4. I Can’t See the Forest for the Trees: Segmenting Your Ecosystem into Three Distinct Groups
5. Why Advertising Doesn’t Work for Us: Leveraging Your Firm’s Brand Reputation and What to Do When You Don’t Have One

Skill 4: Develop Trust-Based Relationships

1. What Is Trust and Where Does It Come From?: Do Clients Really Hire People They Like?
2. Conversation Skills for Introverts (and the Rest of Us, Too): Using Small Talk to Find Common Ground
3. The Art of Keeping in Touch: Finding Opportunities to Be Thoughtful and Helpful
4. Transparency Is Good, Right?: How and When to Be Transparent

Skill 5: Practice Everyday Success Habits

1. The Daily Habits of Successful Rainmakers: The One Hour Each Day That Will Build Your Career
2. Making the Rainmaker Skills Stick: 66 Days That Will Shape Your Future
3. Finding Your Rainmaker M.O.: Building a Rainmaker System That Works for You

The Rainmaker’s Journey

1. Thoughts on Becoming a Rainmaker: Stop Trying to Be Wonder Woman or Superman
2. Finding the Work That You Love: And What to Do When You Don’t
3. A High Road with a Long View: Parting Words as You Begin Your Rainmaker Journey