There’s Always More
Competition is fierce in today’s marketplace, especially if your firm is in a competitive niche. I’ve been preaching for a long time about how new business can often come from existing clients. So I often challenge my clients by asking them, “Can you build a broader marketplace by offering something more?” Sometimes I receive a resounding affirmative followed by a laundry list of services; but, more often than not, I hear silence followed by the distant sound of crickets chirping.
You may think you are doing a stellar job servicing your client already, and you probably are. But remember, the competition will always offer something more, and so should you. Rainmaking need not start outside. It begins under your own roof.
An example of “something more” could mean providing your clients with information about new legislation that can impact their business, or hosting once-a-year training sessions to your client’s employees, and the list goes on.
Remember, even if you think you’re giving your best, there’s always more.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:53 am
You make a good point, and the additional service need not be hard to do, expensive or time consuming. When an associate at a large firm went to a client site with a partner, the partner and rainmaker insisted on arriving early, so that he could walk the halls and say a quick hello to other people he knew in the client organization, whom he wwas not scheduled to see. The associate noted with astonishment that the rainmaker would give bits of useful information to the people they saw and that “by the time he was stopping by the third person on his list, he was passing on information he hadn’t known when he walked in the door.” Rainmakers recognize ways–even small ways–to help their clients when they hear them. The rest of us often don’t
Ford Harding