How the best consultants win clients and deals in an oversaturated, disrupted, and AI-accelerated market where business and public policy challenges are as great as they have ever been

The consulting landscape has dramatically shifted: supply exceeds demand, clients are more sophisticated and want results faster, and AI-powered platforms are reshaping almost everything. Rainmaker: How the Best Consultants Think, Act, and Win in an AI-Accelerated World reveals how the best consultants bring in new business when traditional approaches no longer work.

Drawing on decades of global leadership experience at major consulting firms and as client executives, Plumridge and Nason explain how the best consultants read the market differently (and earlier), architect value (not deliverables), earn a higher level of trust with senior executives, and operate with elite routines and habits that consistently set them apart from their colleagues.

Readers will also discover:

• How the proliferation of niche firms, AI platforms, and integrated service models has reshaped the consulting marketplace

• The strategies, attitudes, behaviors, and attributes that set apart the best from their peers

• Practical AI-enhanced approaches to pre-sales activities and client relationship development that deliver measurable results

• Frameworks for thriving amid disruption, technological change, and intensifying global competition in professional services

• Assessments of how big projects were won and trusted relationships established through more than 30 real stories from the field that demonstrate the difference between good and great

Rainmaker is written for professional services partners, directors, and business development managers who need to win new engagements in a transformed market. It offers a contemporary, AI-informed playbook that redefines business development in today’s world.

About the Author

NEIL PLUMRIDGE is a former senior partner at Kearney, EY, and PwC who served on both national and global leadership teams. He brings over 30 years of experience advising Fortune 500 companies, multinational corporations, and government institutions in more than 20 countries. He currently advises executives and runs professional development programs for consulting firms worldwide.

ROBERT NASON is a consulting and corporate leader whose career spans 25 years in management consulting and 16 years in senior corporate roles, including Chairman, CEO, and Board Member positions across the United States, Southeast Asia, and Australia. He held national, international, and global leadership roles at KPMG, PwC, and Kearney, and together with Neil Plumridge has reviewed the performance of more than 5,000 senior leaders.