How to Make Rainmaking Part of a Company Culture

Mike Schultz

"In the old days, professional service firms could survive without much marketing effort. Put together a team of good people, deliver strong service to clients, and you might get by just fine on repeat business and client referrals. For many, those days are gone. While repeat business and referrals are still necessary to grow, they're no longer enough to succeed. You need smart, effective marketing and a culture of business development success to bring in a steady stream of clients to grow your business." Mike Schultz

Are you working as an independent consultant? Are you currently in career transition, trying to decide what your next move should be? Do you work in the professional services industry? Are you sitting in a cubicle farm trying to figure out how you can get out? Are you in marketing or sales? (Okay, that was a trick question. Your answer to that one is "yes"). My advice to you -- once you’ve listened to our podcast with the Mike Schultz, visit RainToday.com and check out some of their articles on marketing strategy, lead generation, CRM, branding, and thought leadership.

Welcome to a Success Strategies Channel podcast on TotalPicture Radio, with Peter Clayton reporting. Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday.com, is world-renowned as a consultant and expert in services marketing and rainmaking. Mike is also President of the Wellesley Hills Group, a management consulting and marketing firm to professional services firms. His practice focuses on strategy for professional service and technology businesses in the areas of branding, marketing, lead generation, and sales performance. Mike is co-author of Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success (Amazon affiliate link).

Although this is a membership site, RainToday.com offers a tremendous amount of their content for free… a couple of recent interviews here on TotalPicture Radio we’re sourced from Raintoday.com -- specifically, podcasts with Mike McLaughlin, and Charlie Green.

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Questions Peter Clayton asked Mike Schultz

Let’s begin with RainToday. Give us a little of the back story.
What is your background?
What kind of clients and projects does the Wellesley Hills Group engage in?
Mike, How do you manage your time and responsibilities? Is seems to me being publisher of RainToday is a full time commitment.
Quoting from your book “firms need to create conversations with customers before they can make a sale.” With social networking sites like Twitter, the way we create these conversations has fundamentally changed, has it not?
One statistic I’ve seen many times -- a CMO has the shortest time of employment -- I think it’s around 15 months of any executive level job. Why do you think there’s such a high failure rate in this position?
Based on your research at RainToday, have professional services firms been able to maintain they’re fee levels -- even in face of the recession?
Is strategy at professional service firms different from strategy at other types of companies?
There was a lot of buzz, especially online, about Pepsi’s decision not to sponsor the Super Bowl this year. Do you think more companies will be using social media to reach potential customers, and less mass marketing like TV and radio?
In reading the chapter 7 Levers of Lead Generation and Market Planning, this same strategy could be the blueprint for a job search.
A lot of executives tossed out on their behinds in the recent recession are thinking about consulting. What do they need to consider?

Mike Schultz is a graduate of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA with a B.A. in American Studies, and holds an M.B.A. from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College (where he often returns to deliver specialized classes to graduate students). Mike also enjoys fly fishing and golf, and actively studies and teaches the traditional martial arts of Seirenkai Karate and Jujitsu, holding the ranks of third degree black belt and Sensei.

Over 80 publications and news outlets such as Business Week, Inc. Magazine, BNN, Boston Business Journal, and others have featured Mike's original articles and white papers, and frequently quote him as an expert. Mike is a lead author in many RainToday.com research reports.

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