The Activator Advantage

Sue hosts Matthew Dixon, a Founding Partner of DCM Insights and one of the world’s leading experts on sales, customer service, and customer experience. Matthew is the author of three Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including the #1 bestseller The Challenger Sale with nearly a million copies sold globally. He has been a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review since 2010, with more than 20 articles to his credit, and his latest book The Activator Advantage: What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently.

Sue and Matthew discuss several key topics in this conversation:

• The dramatic shift in client loyalty within professional services (from 75% to 50% automatic client return rates)
• The five business development profiles identified in Matt’s research of nearly 3,000 partners: Experts, Confidants, Debaters, Realists, and Activators
• The three pillars of the Activator approach: Commit, Connect, and Create
• The importance of personal value beyond business and trust value
• Practical strategies for building networks and maintaining client relationships
• The role of AI in modern business development and client preparation

Key takeaways from the conversation include the critical importance of being proactive rather than reactive in business development, the need to create “zippered relationships” within client organizations rather than relying on single points of contact, and the power of delivering personal value that helps clients succeed in their individual careers—not just their business objectives. Matthew emphasizes that while expertise remains essential, activating that expertise in the market through consistent networking, collaboration, and value creation is what separates top performers from those who simply wait for the phone to ring.