Hi there, Danilo here.

A consultant recently asked me, “What separates top rainmakers from the rest of us?”

The answer might surprise you. It’s not talent. It’s not charisma. And it’s definitely not some innate gift for sales.

Reaching the top 5% in business development isn’t about being extraordinary. It’s about mastering the fundamentals, avoiding common mistakes, and showing up consistently.

Estimated read time: 5 minutes.

Why do so many consultants struggle to generate more opportunities and bring money in? Some reasons we might expect this to happen are:

1. They don’t care enough: Many prioritize client delivery and assume referrals will handle the rest. They don’t realize the importance of business development until it’s too late.
2. ‍They think they tack talent: Too many believe they’re not “salespeople” and use that as an excuse to avoid learning.‍
3. They don’t put in the time: Building relationships and a pipeline takes consistent effort. Sporadic activity isn’t enough.‍
4. They don’t know how to spot mistakes: Without feedback, it’s easy to repeat the same errors over and over.

Let's start with the first one. When you speak with first-time founders who just launched or consultants who see their business as a "side-gig", you may find people who simply don’t seem to care much about improving their BD skills. They might lean on referrals or assume work will come naturally without effort. But once you're in the game for real and for a while, it's difficult not to see founders expressing frustration over deals falling through. They might blame external factors, like "clients are ghosting me," or vent about others' lack of professionalism. It’s clear these individuals want to succeed; they’re just not achieving the results they crave.

Reason 2 is one many people believe: the myth of natural talent. Some consultants convince themselves, “I’m just not made for selling,” or, “Others are just better at this than I am.” While it’s true that not everyone is born to lead billion-dollar sales teams, it doesn’t take extraordinary talent to reach the top 5%. Research shows that any complex skill can be learned through deliberate practice. This limiting belief may definitely hold you back at the beginning, but once you've adopted a healthy mindset it won't hold your progress back anymore.

Reason 3 is about time. You might think a lack of time spent practicing and refining their business development skills explains why many consultants plateau. At lower levels, that’s true - but by the time someone is in the top 50%, they’ve likely dedicated hundreds, if not thousands, of hours trying to market and sell their services. By this point, a lack of effort or time investment is rarely the key factor holding them back.

Reason 4, however, is where most consultants stumble: they don’t know how to spot or fix their mistakes. This is the single biggest barrier to progress for the majority. Many consultants, frustrated that they’re not landing enough clients, fail to reflect on their process or ask for feedback. They’re stuck repeating the same errors without even realizing it.

Let’s take CRMs as an example. A CRM is the single most important tool for early-stage consultancies. Yet, most consultants either don’t use one or barely use the one they have. This leads to forgotten follow-ups, missed opportunities, and wasted time.

Simply logging every interaction, tracking follow-ups, and reviewing your pipeline weekly can put you ahead of 95% of your peers.

It’s not about complexity. It’s about consistency.

This principle applies across all business development activities:

• Prospecting: Most consultants avoid outreach or do it inconsistently. Reaching out to just 10 well-targeted prospects daily can generate more leads in a month than most consultants see in a year.
• Discovery Conversations: Many consultants wing it, failing to research or prepare. A bit of homework - pre-qualifying the prospect and crafting thoughtful questions - can transform these conversations.
• Follow-Up: Neglecting to follow up - or sending generic, uninspired messages - is one of the easiest ways to hurt your pipeline. A clear, thoughtful follow-up with next steps sets you apart.

Rainmakers don’t succeed because they’re perfect. They succeed because they reflect on what they’re doing, find mistakes, and make small changes over time.

Feedback is the secret ingredient. Whether it’s looking at your CRM, listening to recorded calls, or getting advice from a mentor, this is how progress happens.

What’s surprising is how simple this process can be. You have plenty of ways to see what’s working and what’s not - like watching a game replay to figure out where things went wrong. It’s easy to spot areas for improvement if you’re willing to look. The real challenge is taking the time to do the work and track your progress.

You don’t need to be extraordinary to reach the top 5%. Consistency and professional feedback will get you there.

Source: Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living

Only 19% of consultancy founders use their CRM daily, but those who do are 62% more likely to hit their marketing and sales targets.

This is the result of a small internal survey we conducted with partners. I suspect the effect would be even more pronounced in a larger sample.

Are you consistently tracking, following up, and improving your business development process?

This is one of the core activities we help consultancy founders with in our go-to-market advisory service.