How Clients Buy

The Seven Elements framework presented in "How Clients Buy" represents a list of ingredients essential for business development success. As such, they can be used to conduct a self-assessment of relative strengths and weaknesses at the firm, practice, or personal level.

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When researching "How Clients Buy," Doug Fletcher and Tom McMakin interviewed dozens of successful rainmakers. Their subjects ranged from solo practitioners to managing partners of global consulting firms. Doug and Tom’s goal was to field test their business development hypotheses. In addition, as Doug explains, several themes regarding the essence of rainmaking emerged from their conversations.

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By all means, create content. Share the good stuff. Use inbound marketing and marketing automation—mindfully—to build awareness and understanding of your firm and its capabilities. Just don’t neglect the importance of relationships and trust. For that, you need to get personal. A sharpened focus will make the effort easier, more productive, and personally satisfying.

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When it comes to professional services, Tom McMakin believes trust is everything. That's because information asymmetries are inherent in professional services. The service provider diagnoses the disease and provides the cure, the effects of which may take a long time to ascertain. Consequently, there is a very real risk of exploitation of the buyer by the seller. So, competence isn't enough. A higher standard of trust is required.

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Which is more important to professional service providers: marketing or selling skills? The answer is both, contrary to common assumptions about the value of division of labor. Solutions providers conduct research and product development (marketing functions) in the same instant they present and pitch (selling functions). The need for versatility makes professional services challenging and rewarding. Above all—according to Don Scales, the CEO of Investis—we must think.

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Doug Fletcher is one of the most likable people you'll meet. His easy-going manner puts one at ease. So, it's a bit jarring to hear Doug advise, "Forget about being likable." Instead, Doug encourages us to do great work and take really good care of our clients. In his estimation, respect and trust trump likability.

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When it comes to content marketing, if you hold back your “good stuff,” your efforts will be less effective. Your good stuff is, by definition, the most interesting stuff. If you hold back and offer up only your not-so-good-stuff, your offering will be less compelling.

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Playing golf at the country club used to be an effective way to cultivate business relationships. That's no longer true. Globalization and specialization have made selling professional services more difficult. That's because trust may be more important than ever, and building trust across distance is hard.

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Even if the primary purpose of your practice isn’t to make money, making money is a requirement for sustaining your practice. By definition, a sale is the exchange of a service for money. So why isn’t selling featured in the curricula of business schools—or any other professional schools?

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In this second in a series of interviews, Andi Baldwin of Profitable Ideas Exchange interviews "How Clients Buy" co-authors, Tom McMakin and Doug Fletcher, about the framework they call, "The Seven Elements" of business development for professional services.

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