Making Rain

Professionals who work with clients or large accounts can create lifetime relationships based on these well-researched secrets. Based drawing from extensive interviews with client executives, Making Rain offers a series of provocative insights on how to shed the expert-for-hire label and develop long-term advisory relationships. Exploding the popular myth of the "Rainmaker," a dated and dysfunctional figure that clients no longer welcome, Andrew Sobel argues that any professional can learn to "make rain" on an ongoing basis with existing clients by developing a special set of skills, attitudes, and strategies. These innovative tips and techniques from a recognized leader in the field of professional services will enable any consultant, salesperson, or service professional to create enduring client loyalty.

Introduction: Learning to Make Rain All of the Time. PART I: BREAKING THROUGH AS AN EXPERT. The Loyalty Equation: Three Factors That Determine Your Client's Loyalty. Are You an  Extraordinary Advisor? Breakthrough Strategies for Experts. Building Trust in the First Ten Minutes. More Important than Your 401(k): Building Your Relationship Capital. Benjamin Franklin's Secret Weapon. Why a Client Might Like You. The Myth of Meeting Client Expectations. Leonardo da Vinci: Why Lutes and Madonnas Matter. Finding the Hidden Creases: Influencing Your Clients. Part One Summary: Are You Breaking Through as an Expert? PART II: MOVING INTO THE INNER CIRCLE. I Love My Guru…and Other Client Pitfalls. The Relationship Masters. The Doubting Mind. The Deep Generalist and the Branded Expert. How to Identify Client Needs. The Power of Size: Developing Large, Multi-Year Client Relationships. The Right Foot: Four Ways to Start a Relationship and Position It for the Long Term. Five Ways to Grow Your Client Relationships. Are Clients Meeting Your Expectations? Part Two Summary: Are You Moving into the Inner Circle? PART III: SUSTAINING RELATIONSHIPS YEAR AFTER YEAR. Sustaining and Multiplying. Merlin: Working a Little Magic with Your Clients. Five Steps to New Business with Old Clients. The Rothschild Bankers: The Power of Unique Capabilities. Cultivating the Attitude of Independent Wealth. Managing Client Relationships during Uncertain Times. Developing Relationships with Foreign Clients: Try Not to Commit These Gaffes. Becoming a Firm That Makes Rain: How Great Organizations Build Clients for Life. Part Three Summary: Are You Sustaining Your Relationships Year after Year? PART V: GETTING STARTED: A SELF-ASSESSMENT. Do You Have the Ability to Make Rain? Two Assessment Tools for Individuals and Organizations. A Pantheon of Client Advisors. Notes. Index.