The Problem
1 A Curious Problem 3
2 Finders, Minders, and Grinders 14
The Business Development Imperative
Obstacles
3 Beyond Pixels 27
Selling a Service Is Different from Selling Things (and Harder)
4 Obstacle #1—What They Didn’t Teach You in B-School 37
If I Am Supposed to Be the Expert, Why Do I Feel So Stupid about Sales?
5 Obstacle #2—But I Don’t Want to Sell 45
Moving Past Willy Loman
6 Obstacle #3—Things Aren’t What They Once Were 56
It Is Harder Than Ever to Sell Expert Services
7 Obstacle #4—A Blizzard of Bad Advice 67
Everything You Know about Sales Is Wrong
How Clients Buy
8 The Secret to Selling 83
Never Say Sell
9 Element 1—I Am Aware of You 95
What Was the Name of Your Firm Again?
10 Element 2—I Understand What You Do 112
You Do What?
11 Element 3—I Am Interested 127
These Are My Goals
12 Element 4—I Respect Your Work 138
You Have the Right Stuff to Help Me
13 Element 5—I Trust You 154
You Have My Best Interests at Heart
14 Element 6—I Am Able 168
I’ve Got Budget and Buy-In
15 Element 7—I Am Ready 181
The Timing Is Right
Putting the Seven Elements To Work
16 A Chain Is as Strong as Its Weakest Link 197
Using the Seven Elements as a Diagnostic Tool
17 Getting to Work 212
Learning to Think and Act Like a Rainmaker
18 All Business Is Local 223
From the Silk Road to the Information Superhighway
19 Our Vision of the Future 229
A Roadmap for Change
Notes and References 241
Acknowledgments 248
About the Authors 251
Index 253
TOM McMAKIN is CEO of Profitable Ideas Exchange (PIE), a leading provider of business development services for consulting and professional services firms. Previously, he held leadership positions in private equity and served as the chief operating officer of Great Harvest Bread Co, a multi-unit operator of bread stores. Tom is the author of Bread and Butter, a critically- acclaimed book that describes his work at Great Harvest and how he and his team created a nationally recognized corporate learning community and culture of best practices using collaborative networks. He has appeared on the pages of Fast Company, Inc. magazine, Newsweek, BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal and speaks widely. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and former Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.
DOUG FLETCHER currently splits his time between speaking/writing/coaching on the topic of business development in consulting and professional services and teaching at the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship at Montana State University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Beacon Group, a growth strategy consulting firm headquartered in Portland, Maine. Prior to that, he was co-founder and CEO of North Star Consulting Group, a technology-enabled consulting firm that specialized in global web-survey projects. Earlier in his professional life, Doug served as a consultant with the management consultancy, A.T. Kearney, and was trained at General Electric in its leadership development program. He is a graduate of Clemson University and has an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Administration.
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