Month: November 2024

The Decline of Traditional Rainmakers

The traditional approach to rainmakers is under pressure due to changes in the market:

• Declining Loyalty: The percentage of C-level executives who prefer working with existing partners has dropped from 76% five years ago to 53% today and is projected to fall further to 37% within five years.
• Formal Procurement: Buyers increasingly use structured procurement processes, creating opportunities for innovative competitors.

A Unique Business Development Model

Unlike many B2B industries with specialized roles for sales and customer management, professional services rely on “doer-sellers.” Partners must:

• Generate demand
• Close deals
• Deliver services
• Retain and expand client relationships

This combination of responsibilities makes it difficult for individuals to consistently deliver results, underscoring the need for team-driven models.

The Five Profiles of Business Developers

Research by Dixon, McKenna, and Channer (2023) identifies five profiles of business developers. Among these, only one—the Activator—shows a strong positive correlation with revenue growth.

The Profiles

• Expert: Deep subject-matter expertise but focuses solely on existing demand
• Confidant: Relationship-focused and relies on exceptional service to bring clients back
• Debater: Challenges clients’ thinking but risks alienating them with a confrontational style
• Realist: Transparent and risk-averse, sometimes perceived as overly cautious
• Activator: Takes a proactive, collaborative approach, leveraging networks and anticipating client needs

The Activator represents the modern evolution of the rainmaker: shifting from an individual contributor to a catalyst for team success

The Activator Advantage

The Activator stands out due to three core qualities:

1. Commit: Treats business development as a priority, dedicating weekly time to outreach and follow-ups. Combines efforts to acquire new clients and strengthen existing relationships.
2. Connect: Builds and leverages expansive networks, connects clients to the firm’s collective expertise, and engages through social platforms and industry events.
3. Create: Anticipates client needs by identifying trends and market shifts, proactively initiating conversations before clients articulate their demands.
   These behaviors ensure Activators consistently create opportunities and strengthen client relationships.

Building Teams of Activators

To scale the Activator mindset across an organization, firms must invest in environments that promote proactive behavior. Training programs like those at Eversheds Sutherland develop necessary skills from the start of an associate’s career. Recruitment should prioritize collaborative mindsets alongside technical expertise, while AI-driven CRM tools streamline insights and client interactions. Reward systems that emphasize team-oriented achievements further embed the Activator principles throughout the firm.

The Moore Business Development Model

This model provides a structured framework for balancing reactive and proactive strategies to achieve sustainable growth.

Core Principles

• Proactive Initiatives: Investing in client education, thought leadership within the industry, and innovative solutions to meet client needs.
• Reactive Excellence: Maintaining compliance and quality standards to build trust and reliability.
• Integration: Bridging operational and strategic activities to ensure a seamless client experience.

Implementation

Through systematic training and encouraging team collaboration, firms can effectively integrate proactive and reactive strategies.

From Individual Rainmakers to Collective Activation

The Activator profile marks the evolution of the Rainmaker concept. It emphasizes cultivating team behaviors instead of relying on exceptional individuals. By embedding proactive engagement, deep networking, and value creation into organizational strategies, firms can thrive in a market where traditional loyalty is no longer guaranteed.

Want to Learn More?

• Baker, J. D. (2022). The Evolution of Professional Services. Journal of Business Strategy, 39(4), 45–58.
• Dixon, M., McKenna, T., Channer, R., & Freeman, K. (2023). What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently. Harvard Business Review, November-December Issue.
• Johnson, S. M. (2023). Organizational DNA in Professional Services. Strategic Management Journal, 44(2), 112–134.
• Smith, R. K., & Brown, T. A. (2023). Collective Intelligence in Professional Services. Academy of Management Review, 48(3), 401–422.
• Wilson, P. (2022). The Future of Business Development. Professional Services Management Journal, 33(1), 78–92.

It’s not just about the technical aspects or the rational steps you follow; it’s about the attitude and intention with which you enter into every interaction. Customer relationships are like engines: they require not only a good start, but also constant maintenance and attention to keep them running smoothly.

The journey from meeting to collaboration: bends, bumps and new horizons.

Every customer relationship starts with a first meeting. Maybe a potential customer reads an article about your company, you meet at a networking meeting, or your name comes up on social media.

This moment is like starting an engine: it provides energy and momentum, but it is only the beginning of the journey. What follows can develop into something much bigger: a long-term, valuable collaboration. But just like maintaining a motorcycle, that first contact is just the start.
The real challenge lies in what comes next. How do you ensure that this meeting does not remain just a fleeting moment? How do you further build on that relationship and ensure that you are not just seen as a supplier, but as a partner?

This requires constant attention, the ability to overcome obstacles, and the ability to see opportunities where others may miss them.
Just like driving a winding road full of bends and bumps, every phase of the customer relationship requires adaptability and insight. It’s about not only reacting to what’s in front of you, but also proactively anticipating what’s to come. The goal is not simply to reach the final destination, but to discover new horizons together with the customer.

Time, Trust and Supply: Navigating Bends, Bumps and New Horizons

During every phase of the journey towards a successful customer relationship, three factors play a crucial role: time, trust, and offer. These elements help you navigate the bends and bumps along the way, while also paving the way to new opportunities and horizons.

• Time: Like the right timing during a bend in the road. You have to know exactly when to act in order to continue driving smoothly. Imagine that a customer shows interest: if you respond quickly and adequately to their question, you give them the confidence that they will be heard and taken seriously. But if you are late or do not respond properly to their needs, that opportunity can simply disappear, just as you can go off track if you do not steer in time.
• Trust: Is the oil that keeps everything running smoothly, regardless of the bumps along the way. It builds up slowly, but is as indispensable as maintenance on an engine. Customers want to know they can count on you, especially when unexpected challenges arise. Trust acts as insurance against uncertainties, making customers feel comfortable moving forward even when the road gets bumpy.
• Offer: Is your unique value proposition: it is not just what you sell, but how well your solution fits what the customer needs. Just like a motorcycle that is perfectly tuned for the terrain it rides on, a customer wants to feel like your service is tailor-made for them. They need to feel that you understand their needs and are responding to them — that your offering is helping them reach new horizons.

Overcoming Obstacles: The Bumps in the Road

Just like on a long drive, there may be obstacles along the way that prevent the relationship from always running smoothly. These bumps can slow or even temporarily stop progress:

• Existing ties with other suppliers can be strong, like an old familiar route that is difficult to abandon. If a customer has been working happily with another company for years, it can be difficult to convince them to switch to your offering. This requires patience and the ability to communicate new benefits.
• Risks can make customers hesitant, just like sharp turns on the road. Customers do not want to take big risks, especially if they doubt the reliability of your offer or are afraid of negative consequences of a collaboration. It is up to you to remove these risks by building trust and providing clarity about what they can expect from you.
• Image also plays a big role in how smoothly the trip goes. A positive image can open doors and help customers overcome obstacles; people want to work with companies that have a good reputation. But negative stories about your business can cause customers to hesitate or even drop out entirely — as if they suddenly decide to take a different route.

Moore Audit: developing customer relationships ‘beyond compliance’

A company that has mastered this journey extremely well is Moore Audit, led by Johan Van Mieghem. Moore Audit has positioned itself as a leader in its market, not only responding reactively to existing customer needs, but also proactively creating new opportunities by identifying future needs early.

Moore Audit is all about constantly improving their approach to developing and maintaining customer relationships. They understand that success is not just about meeting rules or standards; it’s about offering real value to customers and helping them grow at every stage of their development. An important tool for this is their innovative contact plate, which has been developed to identify, highlight and take action on both reactive and proactive contact moments with customers.

This tool helps Moore Audit look beyond traditional transactional services and find moments where they can add extra value — times when customers may not even realize they need help.

This enables Moore Audit to create targeted contact moments that go beyond simply responding to customer questions or problems. It helps them to actively think along with their customers and share valuable insights before the customer even realizes that a need exists.

Just as with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, where Pirsig emphasizes that maintenance is more than just technical actions – it is about attention to detail and commitment – ​​this also applies to customer relationships. It is about consciously looking for moments when you can add value, even when the customer has not yet explicitly requested it.

Maintaining relationships: it remains hard work.

Initiating a relationship is one thing; maintaining it is just as important — and often even more challenging. Just like with the maintenance of a motorcycle, you must regularly check whether everything is still running smoothly.

A relationship once established requires constant attention and care to remain strong. Customers change, just as their needs change. What works today may be outdated tomorrow.

That’s why Moore Audit continues to invest to ensure that they are always there for their clients — not only when problems arise, but also when new opportunities arise that clients have not yet seen.

Maintaining relationships also means keeping in regular contact without always trying to sell something. Sometimes it is simply about listening to what is going on with the customer or informing them about new developments that may be relevant to them.

Ready for Growth?

Developing and maintaining strong customer relationships therefore requires more than just offering good products or services; it requires an understanding of timing, trust and the ability to remove obstacles such as existing ties or risks.

Are you ready to take your business to the next level? Break through fixed patterns and discover what innovative strategies like those at Moore Audit can mean for your growing company.

References

1. Pirsig, R.M., (1974). Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. HarperTorch.
2. Edvardsson, B., Gustafsson, A., Johnson M.D., & Sandén B., (2000). New Service Development and Innovation in the New Economy. Lund: Studentlitteratur
3. Edvardsson, B., & Enquist B., (2009). Values-Based Service for Sustainable Business: Lessons from IKEA. London: Routledge.
4. Christensen, C.M., Hall T., Dillon K., & Duncan D.S., (2016). Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice. Harper Business.
5. Grönroos, C., (2011). Service Management and Marketing: Managing the Service Profit Logic. Wiley.
6. Levitt, T., (1983). The Marketing Imagination. Free Press.
7. Kotler, P., & Keller K.L., (2016). Marketing Management (15th ed.). Pearson Education.