Science based business development training that actually sticks.

Too often, business development training is based on opinion, it’s out of date because it hasn’t kept pace with the changing client landscape, or it's simply delivered in a forgettable way. Worst of all, most training is designed to turn your teams into process robots armed with checklist after checklist.

We take a different approach. We aim not to tell team members what to do but to help harness and hone their natural judgment by giving them a deep understanding of client buying behavior.

Choose the program that best fits your needs.

01 Firm Leaders

  • Coaching support for organizational change

  • Advisory services for firm-level growth investment decisions

02 Partners

  • Development experience includes training and group coaching

  • Our team will work with you to construct cohorts of no more than 16 partners

  • Case studies, recorded interviews, exercises, and tools tailored to reflect the unique challenges facing partners of any tenure

03 Senior Associates

  • Development experience includes weekly classroom-based training and homework activities

  • Our team will work with you to construct cohorts of no more than 24 associates

  • Guest appearances within training modules, case studies, exercises, and tools tailored to reflect the specific business development tasks associates should engage in even early in their careers

04 Early-Career Associates

  • Development experience balances key lesson material with the business development expectations of junior associates

  • Curriculum, exercises, and activities tailored to the early-stage network development junior associates can engage in to build long-term healthy client relationships

05 Business Development Team

  • Development experience offers key BD team members the opportunity to gather together and collaborate in focused activities and exercises tailored for their unique role

  • Curriculum is grounded in client buying behavior and discussion centered around how team members can better collaborate and enable partners in market

06 Train-the-Trainer

  • Our team will work with yours to identify and target program participants

  • Onsite training experience immerses participants in the full curriculum and equips them with the discussion, facilitation, and coaching skills needed to deliver world-class development experiences for partners and associates

  • Participants will also receive coaching on the path to certification


Additional services

Diagnostics to assess skills and firm-level competencies. A 10 minute diagnostic tool that evaluates mindsets, behaviors and skills against the winning Activator business developer profile.

Activator Advantage Keynote presentations at partner retreats or leadership meetings, tailored to each firm’s preferences.

Our approach

STEP 1

Programs are customized for your firm, including recorded research interviews we conduct

Development experience is designed for purpose through science and includes exercises, discussions, and breakout activities

STEP 2

Training pilots begin in a cohort-style format to maximize learning, reinforcement, and after-training support

STEP 3

STEP 4

ADS Measurement Tools are deployed at 3, 6, and 12 month intervals to benchmark learning outcomes and understand market impact

STEP 5

Opportunity to cost effectively scale the program through our best-in-class Train-the-Trainer program

What makes the Activator Development System different?

Rooted in the latest research on what the best rainmakers do and what clients value

Bite-sized tools and best practices foster habit formation

Practical experiences that don’t require participants to learn a complex sales methodology