Read more
SCALE YOUR GROWTH FUNCTION TO A WORLD-CLASS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MACHINE There comes a point where firms must move beyond the immediate connections of the founding partners to build a predictable and scalable growth function-
The Growth Engine: A Guide to Building a World-Class Business Development Function in Professional Services illustrates how to do just that. This book reveals a clear business development maturation path over time, outlining best practices for what to do first and how to make the "jump" from a one-person shop operating out of a guest bedroom, to a 700,000-person business development machine like Accenture. Readers will learn about every step in the process, from identifying buyers and niching services, to creating brand awareness and strengthening market position, to developing new services and aligning sales with marketing. This book is founded on extensive interviews with rainmakers in professional services firms including marketing, law, consulting, financial advisory, and IT advisory. Interviewees include senior executives at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Accenture, IBM, AWS, KPMG, Deloitte, ZS, and Omnicom, as well as a number of Am Law 100 firms.
The Growth Engine earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all professional services founders and executives ready to grow their practice or their firm. "
The Growth Engine looks beyond
The Trusted Advisor to offer a powerful, organization-wide perspective where trust-based principles don't just survive-they thrive. It brings fresh, practical insights to building client development capability in professional services firms, without losing sight of what matters most to clients-trust, credibility, and human connection. I couldn't be more excited to see this next chapter unfold."
-CHARLIE GREEN, Author of
The Trusted Advisor
List of contents
Preface ix
Part I the Problem and the Promise 1 1 The Problem - Why Professional Services Firms Fail to Scale Business Development 3
2 The Promise - You Can Build an Engine 15
Part II Services 23 3 Knowing What You Do - Service Definition and Discipline 25
4 Service Development and Expansion 43
Part III Clients 61 5 Knowing Whom You Serve 63
6 Double Down on Current Accounts 81
7 Winning New Clients 105
Part IV Talent and Performance Management 123 8 Hiring and Harnessing Talent 125
9 Talent Development - Building Your BD Capability 141
10 Motivating the Team - Incentives and Rewards 159
Part V Operating Model 175 11 Structure for Scale - Supporting Growth Leaders 177
12 Aligning Marketing and Business Development 199
Part VI Data and Measurement 221 13 Measuring What Matters 223
Part VII Putting It All Together 253 14 Managing Change 255
15 Going for Growth - Where to Go from Here 265
Appendix: Business Development Maturity - Reader Assessment 271
Bibliography 281
Acknowledgments 283
About the Authors 287
Index 289
About the author
WALT SHILL had an illustrious career as a partner and growth leader in professional services, including McKinsey, Accenture, and ERM. He is a member of PIE's advisory board and the author of
Friday Thoughts, a business blog focused on professional services.
ANDI BALDWIN is the CEO of PIE. She is responsible for setting the firm's growth strategy and ensuring PIE is delivering exceptional work to its premier client base.
ERIKA FLOWERS is PIE's Chief Client Officer, where she leads a team of consultants who deliver business development and client engagement programs for PIE's accounts including AWS, KPMG, IBM, Capgemini, BCG, and other large professional services firms.
JACOB PARKS is the President of PIE. He headed the research team on
How Clients Buy, co-authored
Never Say Sell, and has facilitated executive roundtable discussions on behalf of CFOs and COOs representing the largest companies across the globe.
