How Clients Buy Receives Rave Reviews From Professional Services Practitioners And Experts Alike

How Clients Buy is an important work, and should be seen by every professional. It helps to understand a great deal. The survey is intensive, meticulous, and useful – well worth the asking price…there is no question that even the best professionals can find in the study's results a foundation for a measure of self examination – of fine-tuning the business relationship methodology.

Bruce W. Marcus, Editor, The Marcus Letter on Professional Service, and author of Client At The Core

Understanding how clients buy services can make or break a professional services business, and RainToday's researchers have cracked the code on this essential issue. How Clients Buy won't sit on your shelf. It will become a key ingredient to your business development strategy.

Michael W. McLaughlin, Principal, Deloitte Consulting, and author of Guerilla Marketing for Consultants

Based on my experience as a former professional services professional myself and as a connector of professional service providers to entrepreneurs during the past 17 years, it is painfully clear that while professionals service providers typically know their “stuff”, they often don't know how to get clients to pay for their services. How Clients Buy provides not only hard data about client buying preferences, processes and patterns, but also outstanding analysis and insight. It will be a powerful reference and guide for any and all professional service providers.

Mark P. Rice, Dean, F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, Babson College

Surprisingly [How Clients Buy] found that some of the worst offenders are not sellers new to the profession who haven't mastered client-relations skills, but seasoned executives who head engineering, information technology, accounting, and other professional-services firms.

“Listening For Deals”, Sales & Marketing Management, August 2005

A new study from RainToday.com indicates that many professional services companies may be fooling themselves into believing they are creating long-term, loyal relationships when in fact their success is quite tenuous, reflecting a gap in communication and one-to-one skills.

“Service Firms Need Customer Tune-Up”, Inside 1to1, August 22, 2005

If you sell complex services or technology solutions I encourage you investigate [this report]…I gained a ton of insight about the mindset of various decision makers for professional services such as accounting & financial consulting; architecture, engineering, & construction; legal services; information technology consulting & services; human resources consulting; training; management consulting; and marketing, advertising, & public relations.

Brian Carroll, B2B Lead Generation blog, August 10, 2005


Are you saying you know other businesses, other than professional services, that lose money and sleep just because they fail to work on their listening skills every day?  That may be true, but there's a wowser of a report …called How Clients Buy. For a price that is less than a morning of hours -- billable or wasted, you can buy and download this report at RainToday.com. That might be a great idea if you have had these questions in your head or on your back for some time: 
  • How open are buyers to switching to a new provider in your service area? 

  • How important are brand...referrals...industry expertise...and other factors in the decision making process? 

  • Do buyers attend seminars, conferences, and webinars (and, if so, how do they find out about these events)? 

  • Do purchasers of professional services visit service provider websites? How influential are those websites in the purchasing process? 

  • How important are your fees in the services purchasing process?

Georgia Patrick, President, The Communicators, and author of Duct Tape Marketing blog, August 21, 2005

Get your copy of How Clients Buy: The Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing and Selling from the Client Perspective