In this engaging conversation, Matt Dixon, the founding partner of DCM Insights and author of The Activator Advantage, shares insights on customer engagement and business growth. He discusses the five types of business developers and emphasizes the importance of nurturing relationships over traditional sales tactics. Matt explains how Activators deliver personal and business value, leverage professional networks, and foster deep connections to enhance client loyalty. His reflections on the role of storytelling in building relationships add a personal touch to his practical advice.
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insights INSIGHT
Negative Stigma of Sales
Sales has a negative stigma due to Hollywood portrayals and assumptions about underhanded behavior.
Many professionals resist calling themselves salespeople despite needing to develop business.
insights INSIGHT
Experts Wait, Activators Engage
Experts wait for clients to find them relying solely on their credentials and reputation.
Activators proactively provide ideas, build relationships first, leading to paid work naturally.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Five Developer Types & Advantage
Identify which business developer type you are to adapt a more proactive, networked approach.
Activators grow through networking, bringing colleagues in, and creating value before paid engagements.
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Matt Dixon's "The Activator Advantage" explores five distinct business development personas, highlighting the 'Activator' profile as the most successful. The book delves into the strategies and habits that define activators, emphasizing proactive value creation and relationship building. It challenges traditional sales approaches and offers a data-driven perspective on achieving top performance. The research is based on a survey of 3,000 professionals, revealing insights into how activators manage their networks and turn rejection into opportunity. The book provides actionable frameworks for readers to adopt the activator mindset and improve their business development outcomes.
The Challenger Sale
Taking Control of the Customer Conversation
Brent Adamson
Matthew Dixon
Based on an extensive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple industries, 'The Challenger Sale' argues that classic relationship building is less effective, especially in complex business-to-business sales. The authors identify five distinct sales profiles, with the 'Challenger' being the highest performer. Challengers approach customers with unique insights, tailor their message to the customer's needs, and assertively take control of the sale. The book provides a framework for identifying and training sales reps to adopt the Challenger approach, which can lead to higher customer loyalty and greater growth.
Made to Stick
Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Chip Heath
Dan Heath
In this book, Chip and Dan Heath explore the anatomy of ideas that stick and provide methods to make ideas more memorable. They introduce the SUCCESs formula, which stands for Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories. The book is filled with examples from urban legends, business stories, and personal anecdotes, demonstrating how these traits can be applied to make any idea stickier. It is particularly useful for anyone interested in influencing others, whether in business, education, or other fields.
If you want greater client engagement, better internal collaboration and more profits, you need to be an Activator! In this episode, author Matt Dixon shares his extensive research on the traits of today’s rainmakers and explains how top performers drive consistent growth in their businesses by winning, retaining and developing loyal client relationships.
YOU WILL LEARN:
· The five types of business developers.
· How Activators deliver business and personal value for clients.
· The importance of building and leveraging professional networks.
“Activators don't rest on their laurels. They activate their expertise.” – Matt Dixon
“Activators think of it very differently. The relationship happens first and then paid work is just the natural evolution of that relationship.” – Matt Dixon
“Activators bring their colleagues in.” – Matt Dixon
“Activators focus on a third dimension of value, something we call personal value.” – Matt Dixon
“Being thoughtful and helpful at a personal level creates real stickiness for activators in the client relationship.” – Matt Dixon
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