Ep. 12 Matt Dixon - Be a rainmaker in professional services

OUTBOUND

In this episode, Joseph Lewin interviews Matt Dixon, co-author of "The Challenger Sale" and founding partner at DCM Insights, about business development strategies for professional services firms. They discuss Matt's recent research on what today's rainmakers in professional services do differently to drive business.

Guest Bio: Matt Dixon is a bestselling author and expert on B2B sales effectiveness. He co-wrote the book "The Challenger Sale" and co-founded DCM Insights.

Main Discussion Points:

- Overview of Matt's recent research on 1800 professional services partners to uncover what drives BD effectiveness (00:10:00)

- The 5 distinct partner profiles Matt uncovered: Expert, Confidant, Activator, Debater, Realist (00:12:15)

- Key traits of the Activator profile that correlates most strongly with BD performance (00:30:40)

- Why today's buyers are less loyal and partners can't rely solely on doing good work (00:04:26)

- How a partner's firm culture and incentives shape the path they choose (00:28:38)

Key Quotes:

"If you took an average performer...and they went from not very good to very good on activator skill demonstration, they could lift their personal revenue generation by up to 32%" (00:24:29)

"When a client changes jobs, the research shows very clearly that that client...spends 70% of their budget in the first 100 days" (00:35:17) on choosing vendors