Frequently Asked Questions

It covers how your people find, approach and win the right clients, and how they grow the relationships they already have. Typical topics include choosing target clients, building a message that stands out, networking, first meetings, pitching, referrals, cross-selling and client service. Every programme is written around your firm and the experience of your team.

Business development is the strategy: which clients to target, what to say to them and where to spend your time. Sales training is the conversations themselves: meetings, questioning, handling objections and agreeing the work. Professionals need both, so most programmes combine them, weighted towards whatever your team needs most.

Yes. Most professionals feel exactly that way, and it’s who Super Soft Selling™ was written for. The approach is consultative and soft: understanding clients and building trust, not pressure or scripts.

Yes. Leadership programmes run from Introduction to Management for newly promoted managers through to Advanced Management and Leadership, and one-to-one coaching and mentoring is available for partners and business leaders.

Clients include Irwin Mitchell, Knights, Boyes Turner, Taylor Vinters, Price Slater Gawne, Steptoe & Johnson, Field Seymour Parkes, Atoz Tax Advisers, MoneyGram, KBC and Sky Discovery, along with consultancies and other relationship-led businesses.

Both. In-person training is usually run at your offices. Online training is rewritten for the format and delivered live in shorter modules, usually a day or two apart, with a maximum of 8 people. That keeps energy high and lets the office run normally between sessions.

Programmes can be anything from a half day to several days, depending on what you need. Online training is always delivered in short modules, which work better over video. We agree the shape once we know your goals.

Interactive workshops work best with groups of up to 12 in person, or up to 8 online, so everyone gets involved. If your team is bigger, we can run the same workshop for more than one group. Keynotes and conference sessions can be any size.

Yes. I regularly train at clients’ offices across the UK, and I’ve worked with clients outside the UK both in person and online. Travel costs are agreed upfront, so there are no surprises.

By treating the workshop as the start, not the finish. Programmes are built around your people’s real clients, skills are practised in the room, and leaders are involved so they can keep the standard up afterwards, with coaching where it helps.

That depends on where you’re starting from, so we agree the measures before training begins: things like new client meetings, pitches won, referrals received or work cross-sold. Clients have told us their people came away with practical skills they could apply straight away.

Always. Before any programme I speak to you, and usually to some of the team, about your firm, your clients and where people are getting stuck. The content, examples and practice are then written around that. There is no off-the-shelf version.

It depends on the number of days, the delivery format and how much follow-up you want. You’ll always get a clear, fixed quote before anything is agreed.

Yes. One-to-one training, coaching and mentoring is available for individuals, from fee earners building their first client base to partners and business leaders.

Usually within a few weeks of our first conversation, depending on diaries and how much tailoring is needed.

James Nathan is a UK business development trainer, speaker and coach with over 25 years’ experience advising professional firms, consultancies and specialist businesses. He is the author of Referral Revolution® and Recruiting to Win®.

The James Nathan Experience is James Nathan’s training, coaching and speaking business for professional firms and other relationship-led businesses. The company behind it is James Nathan Limited.

Referral Revolution® is James’s system for growing referrals from clients, colleagues and your community. It’s available as a workshop, a keynote and a book. Find out more.

Yes. James speaks at conferences, kick-off meetings and client events, usually on referrals and service excellence. Every keynote is tailored to the audience and can be paired with a workshop. Event organisers can find practical details on the speaker FAQs.