Making Rain: The Secrets of Building Lifelong Client Loyalty - Hardcover

Sobel, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471264598 ISBN 13: 9780471264590

Publisher: Wiley, 2003

Synopsis

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.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Praise for Making Rain

"An entertaining and practical guide to building lifelong client loyalty, Making Rain is profoundly insightful as well as motivating. A must-read for all professionals who aspire to distance themselves from their competitors by growing client relationships that are stronger, deeper, and more valuable-for them and for their clients."
-Dale Gifford, Chief Executive, Hewitt Associates

"Few understand the advice business like Andrew Sobel, and his well-written book, Making Rain, is overflowing with insight and sage advice on how to create value for clients and earn their enduring loyalty."
-Jim Robbins, Chief Executive, Cox Communications

"This is a book that is both fascinating and fun. Brilliantly written, meticulous in detail, and penetrating in analysis-anyone who wants to master the art of being a professional advisor will benefit from it."
-Sir Brian Pitman, Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley and former chairman, Lloyds TSB Group

"In a world where managers seem to churn over more frequently than inventories, Andrew Sobel's new book, Making Rain, is a welcome respite, a savvy guide to lasting client and customer relationships."
-Stan Davis, author, It's Alive and Blur

"Making Rain appeals to everyone in business, not just in professional services. Andrew Sobel highlights how the interaction of relationships, longevity of trust, innovative ideas, and expertise combine to produce results and long-term loyalty. An excellent read that is full of insights."
-Sir Win Bischoff, Chairman, Citigroup Europe

"In Making Rain, Andrew Sobel demonstrates a deep understanding of how resilient client relationships are formed and why some professionals are pulled in closer and closer by their clients while others, just as skilled technically, do not establish such relationships. His description of the attributes of extraordinary advisors is a must-read for leaders of professional services firms."
-Steven B. Pfeiffer, Chairman, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP

From the Inside Flap

Learn to build client loyalty that lasts a lifetime

In this provocative and insightful book, client relationship authority Andrew Sobel sets out a series of innovative, practical strategies that any service professional, sales executive, or marketer can use to develop lifelong client loyalty. Based on groundbreaking client research, Making Rain contains the secrets that will allow you to develop a steady stream of new business with your existing clients on a day-in, day-out basis.

Clients are loyal to professionals who add value, build personal trust, and go the extra mile. Making Rain shows readers, step by step, how to deliver on these three ingredients of client loyalty at every major stage of the relationship. First, it illustrates how to break out of the expert-for-hire label and consistently win repeat business. You'll learn about the essential attributes of extraordinary client advisors; the six factors that create immediate personal rapport with a new client; and the nine breakthrough strategies that can distinguish you and your organization at the very start of a relationship.

Sobel then illustrates the growth strategies you'll need to break out of "steady supplier" relationships and truly become part of your client's inner circle. You'll understand, for example, why a singular focus on meeting client expectations is actually dangerous, and how to identify the next set of client needs. In the final section of Making Rain, you'll learn how to sustain your relationships over time and develop a true partnership with your clients; how to manage client relationships through turbulent times; and how to build an entire firm that consistently makes rain. Throughout, Sobel uses over 100 engaging and often humorous case histories and examples, and he offers fascinating profiles of leading historical figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, the Rothschild bankers, and Benjamin Franklin, who exemplified the ability to create a lifelong network of loyal clients and colleagues.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0471264598
• ISBN 13: 9780471264590
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240