Making Rain

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

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.

Publishers Weekly

Whether business leaders want a steady drizzle or an out-and-out monsoon, they can use Sobel's formula for landing and keeping customers-what he calls "making rain." Based on building relationships, it starts with the key components of knowledge, service and demonstrable value; these are the building blocks that attract clients, says business adviser Sobel (Clients for Life). In this straightforward manual, he gives practical strategies to help leaders of service firms and large corporations alike become indispensable advisers to their clients, thus cementing a long-term connection. The principles behind his tactics are simple: get to know your client, gain respect for your knowledge and win personal respect. Then, drive it home by delivering above and beyond, again and again. These ideas are old as dirt. Sobel reaches across centuries to dig up examples of their success, from Aristotle to Ben Franklin. He buffs up these ageless notions and places them within engaging anecdotes. Although the lessons aren't strokes of genius, they should help professionals through most dry spells. Agent, Helen Rees. (Feb. 14) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

ANDREW SOBEL is a leading authority on the skills and strategies required to build enduring client relationships. A noted business strategist and popular speaker, his clients have included such prominent companies as Citigroup, Cox Communications, Fulbright & Jaworski, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Hewitt Associates. He is coauthor of the acclaimed book Clients for Life, as well as dozens of articles on relationship building and loyalty. Formerly a senior vice president of one of the world's largest management consulting firms, he is now President of Andrew Sobel Advisors, a strategy consulting and professional development firm. He earned his BA at Middlebury College and holds an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.