Dear Friends & Colleagues:

My new book – How To Win Client Business – has been printed! Yes, it’s true. Copies of my new book have been flying off of Wiley’s U.S. presses for the past week. The hardback and Kindle version will be ready on Amazon by October 26!  The Audiobook will be ready by the holidays.

To celebrate the launch of the book, I’m sharing an excerpt from my new book each week. This works out pretty conveniently to roughly 6 months – as there are 26 chapters. Last week I shared a sneak peek at the Introduction – you can check it out by clicking here. This week’s peek is from Chapter 1: Things Rainmakers Do That Most of Us Don’t: The Five Rainmaker Skills.

I hope you enjoy it!

Doug

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Chapter 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

If you’re old enough to remember John Grisham’s 1995 novel The Rainmaker,

you understand what we mean by the term rainmaker. Grisham’s novel was a huge

hit, rapidly stepping into the number one spot on the New York Times best-seller list.

According to Grisham’s publisher, Doubleday, it was the fastest-selling hardcover

book ever at the time. Francis Ford Coppola’s movie that followed a couple of years

later starring Matt Damon was a box-office hit. If you were born after, say 1985,

you may be thinking to yourself, “I have no idea what we’re talking about here.”

What Is a Rainmaker?

What is a rainmaker? A rainmaker generally refers to a partner in a professional

services firm who is skilled at bringing in client business. Rainmakers:

  • Generate leads for new business
  • Turn leads into new clients
  • Are skilled at turning existing clients into referrals and repeat business
  • Keep many people in their firms employed
  • Are highly respected and frequently have a lot of influence in their firms

According to University of Wisconsin professors Marc Galanter and Thomas

Palay, the first appearance of the term “rainmaker” can be traced to the 1970s.

Before that, we simply referred to rainmakers as business-getters. Rainmakers are

business-getters.

If you want to become a partner in your firm, or to succeed in your own

practice, it’s hard to succeed without becoming a rainmaker.

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Click here to order your advance copy of my new book, How To Win Client Business, today!