Alison Morley, Director of Sales, Capsticks LLP explains how the Rainmaker programme is critical to the ambitions of the firm.
After a successful tenure as Managing Partner, you would think there were no other burning desires for experienced leader Alison Morley. But she deliberately carved a new role out to fulfil her passion for developing talent through an ambitious organisational culture programme.
She said: “Capsticks was continuing its successful growth but our core business was not growing at the pace we would like. The market has been changing and we were keen to respond to those changes. Our aim has been to extend our reach into new markets and build on our strong client retention.”
Alison’s mission is for every individual in Capsticks from paralegal to partner to be involved and engaged in the business development process – a change in mindset for many lawyers to think about the selling process. It helped that she could work with former lawyer and KWC trainer Michael Fleming.
“My experience on the RainMaker programme which Michael has been delivering has helped position this change across the organisation. My favourite phrase is to ‘proceed until apprehended’. My role is motivating our younger staff to feel empowered to do just that.” Her message is clear: “Be bold!”
It is a role that Alison feels privileged doing, and where she feels happiest – leading people, developing talent, retaining talent, and making an impact on the ‘top line’ of the firm. Participation in Rainmaker is through an application process, and the second cohort is almost complete. Some key successes are already evident with more confident and proactive behaviours being shown. The transformation has begun.
So, what does the future hold? In five years’ time, Alison is confident she will see Capsticks grow into a more dynamic firm with a focus on sales targets, thanks to the ongoing application of the Rainmaker philosophy. Already evidence has shown that the programme has positively impacted on significant additional sales to date. This can be greatly helped by Rainmaker graduates. As for her own future, Alison is very clear that “I want to be judged by their success”. The programme feedback to date has already confirmed that Alison’s role as mentor and motivator to the Capsticks Rainmakers is already making a big difference.
The Capsticks video of their latest cohort can be seen here.
The Capsticks case study can be read here.
If you want to explore how you can change your organisational mindset and be more focused on sales, contact our Client Relationship Manager Matt Wardrop.