Customer Reviews

The Rainmaker's Toolkit: Power Strategies for Finding, Keeping, and Growing Profitable Clients

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At 285 pages, this is one of the most densely-packed business books you'll ever own. Much of the information is delivered to you in the form of steps, lists, bullet points...author Harry Mills wastes no time on sweet-talking you into doing these things. There's an assumption that you're reading the book because you want to make rain, period.

Some of the things won't happen overnight. Some of them might not happen at all. Example: the sections on publishing. With focus and determination, you can start your own blog, get articles published on the Web, and approach your local newspapers.

But when you get to page 48 and read about how "it's not uncommon for a busy professional to pay skilled host writers more than $100,000 to transform their ideas into readable prose" and "A successful book can turn you into a celebrity and launch a high profit speaking career. Getting a book on the New York Times bestseller list typically allows an author to charge $15,000 to $25,000 a day as a celebrity speaker," understand this:

The odds are stacked against you, especially in the modern era of publishing, that you are going to be one of those authors or that you will be pulling down $25K per day as a "celebrity speaker." If you pour 110% of your energy and focus into that goal, 24/7, you're still facing a big "maybe."

So...as with every business book that's currently available to you...the challenge with this book will be selecting the items you can turn into action today, the ones that will move you forward today, while slowly chipping away at the bigger long-term goals.

That's where a lot of people make a fatal mistake, fail, get discouraged, and quit. There's more information in this book than most people would conceivably turn into action items. There's a winning mix for you, but you must read the book, pick the items you are willing to commit yourself to, form a plan, work the plan, and stay focused.

Otherwise you'll join the ranks of people who bought a book, read it, put it back on the shelf, and returned to all of the things they were doing before they read the book.

If you provide a service, this is a must-read --- especially if you don't have a lot of background in how to develop your business and how to get and keep the best clients.

It is, however, not just for people new to this sort of thing. It is an excellent manual for those who have been in business a long time.

Some of the material may be old hat. But there are gems in the book which make it worth the price and worth your time. It is written in a similar vain of Harry Beckworth books, which are very popular.

The book is a fast-read and well laid out.

Highly recommended.

Susanna K. Hutcheson
Executive Copy Director/Owner
Powerwriting.com LLC

Professional service firms are notoriously poor at marketing.The odd dynamics of partnerships as a business model coupled with the idiosyncracies of individuals within them make marketing hardwork. How do you get all partners to buy-in? What strategies do you use to make everyone an effective contributor? Harry Mills latest book cuts straight to the chase. Straight forward practical procedures. We are using them and they are working.As the principal of a mid-sized responsible for marketing I highly recommend this book to other lawyers and professional service firms.

Comprehensive, well-organised guide for creating better results in a business -- not just professional services. I enjoyed his clear writing style and the easy-to-follow layout. A good read that stands out in a crowded field.

I read this book hoping to pick up a few practical tips on how to win more profitable clients. As a result, The Rainmaker's Toolkit far exceeded my expectations. Within it is a revolutionary seven step marketing system on how to build a successful and profitable business. I then passed the name of the book onto several of my colleagues whom then went out, bought a copy and found it to be equally impressive. I highly recommend this for anyone wishing to find a road-map that outlines how to create profitable growth. I highly recommend this book! Harry Mills is a superb writer.

This book logically and simply explains how to trasform a practice into a performance tuned engine. The Rainmaker's Toolkit is like finding "Nirvana" in the plethora of text dedicated to growing and maintaining a professional firm. The templates and tools provide a process which we've used to build a business like no other. Top Marks!

I actually stumbled upon the Rainmaker's Toolkit from reading some comments on a business related forum. I immediately jumped onto Amazon to read the synopsis as well as the reviews. It didn't take me long in deciding to purchase the book. I have only skimmed the book and already feel this is a great purchase.

The book reminds me of the style of Dale Carnegie's books in that being participatory is required to make the book beneficial; you will only get out of it the effort place into it. Merely reading is not enough, ACTION IS REQUIRED.

Like Carnegie, Mills breaks down ideas too its smallest denomination, provides great examples and exercises, and allows each principle to build upon one another to get to the overall goal: developing strategies for finding, keeping, and growing profitable clients. Both Carnegie and Mills are affective in writing a book that is more like a guide, workbook, and manual in dealing with their respective topics.

Anyone in the professional services industry will benefit from this tenfold. The principles are just as applicable in 2004 and even more-so in 2010. I certainly look to provide a more thorough update once I complete the book and use the principles in action.

Mills' book is part text, part workbook and all value.

If you ever thought you could benefit from the services of marketing consultant, stop and read this book first.

MIlls' 8 R's model for Client Relationship Marketing is a thoughtful and systematic approach that can be applied by individual consultants or service firms as a whole. The model is practical, proven and easy to apply. You just add the effort.

The book is well laid out, with plenty of practical tools you can put to use immediately. This book won't stay on your shelf for long. It'll be on your desk ready for repeated use.

Michael McLaughlin, coauthor with Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.

One of the most difficult things in professional services is to continually reinforce the core aspects of marketing, client management and growth that deliver sustainable Firm health.

This is a good book with many practical examples of developing simple frameworks. There is an emphasis on developing 'quality' over 'quantity' initiatives, something that all professionals should revisit from time to time.

Well done to the author. A solid book.

We have used Rainmaker for our executive team for several years; this toolkit makes the process much more streamlined and probable.