Comments on: Rainmaking Problem #20: What are the Signs that a Client May Be About to Hire a Professional? http://www.hardingco.com/blog/2009/07/13/rainmaking-problem-20-what-are-the-signs-that-a-client-may-be-about-to-hire-a-professional/ Ford Harding's Blog on Rainmaking and Business Development Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:30:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Ford Harding http://www.hardingco.com/blog/2009/07/13/rainmaking-problem-20-what-are-the-signs-that-a-client-may-be-about-to-hire-a-professional/comment-page-1/#comment-36673 Ford Harding Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:51:40 +0000 http://www.hardingco.com/blog/?p=385#comment-36673 Ian: Good examples and an excellent suggestion. Ford Harding Ian:

Good examples and an excellent suggestion.

Ford Harding

]]> By: Ian Brodie http://www.hardingco.com/blog/2009/07/13/rainmaking-problem-20-what-are-the-signs-that-a-client-may-be-about-to-hire-a-professional/comment-page-1/#comment-36663 Ian Brodie Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:53:06 +0000 http://www.hardingco.com/blog/?p=385#comment-36663 My experience is that this is very specific to the profession. There are some obvious ones: R&D breakthroughs can lead to downstream work for product launch & marketing consultants. Takeovers & mergers can lead to much downsteam HR related legal and consulting work. Accountants seem to get most of their new work triggered by startups, changes in management, dissatisfaction with the current provider, or new niche requirements. But rather than try to figure out these triggers generically, I find it's much easier for a firm to identify its own trigger events by listing its top 10 recent wins, then listing the "why were we hired" - and then going a bit further and trying to identify "what event caused the need we were hired for". Cheers, Ian My experience is that this is very specific to the profession.

There are some obvious ones: R&D breakthroughs can lead to downstream work for product launch & marketing consultants. Takeovers & mergers can lead to much downsteam HR related legal and consulting work. Accountants seem to get most of their new work triggered by startups, changes in management, dissatisfaction with the current provider, or new niche requirements.

But rather than try to figure out these triggers generically, I find it’s much easier for a firm to identify its own trigger events by listing its top 10 recent wins, then listing the “why were we hired” - and then going a bit further and trying to identify “what event caused the need we were hired for”.

Cheers,

Ian

]]>