// The Business Development Accelerator Programme

Break through business development blocks.

This programme equips your firm to attract the right work consistently and achieve stronger, more predictable results.

// Clarifying, specifying and upskilling

Attract the right clients and generate the results your firm deserves.

Many professional services firms make some effort with business development, but it often lacks the structure, consistency, and key elements needed to drive sustainable growth or reduce reliance on a small group of individuals to bring in work. There isn’t a Business Development Culture in place.

Business development isn’t optional. It’s essential, not just for individual performance, but for the long-term stability, confidence, and growth of your whole firm.

The Business Development Accelerator Programme brings clarity, defines practical next steps and builds the skills your people need, so your firm can grow with clarity, confidence, and consistency.

// Stronger Foundations

A smarter approach to business development.

The Business Development Accelerator Programme helps you to move forward in the areas where you know you have gaps within the five key foundations of effective business development:

Have clarity on the Business Development Strategy – services they offer, why they matter, and which clients they serve best.

Understand their Involvement in helping the firm grow—and what contribution is realistic and meaningful at their level.

Develop a focused plan of Activities to engage the prospective clients, referrers, and existing clients that matter most.

Develop the Skills to consistently implement the activity plan and the skills that support my proven framework.

Build business development into their day-to-day work, so there is full Integration and it becomes part of how the firm operates.

See if this programme could be just what your firm needs.

// About ClientWise

Business development backed by experience.

I’m Joanna Gaudoin, Founder of ClientWise. I help professional services firms take a structured, people-focused approach to winning and retaining work from clients, prospects, and introducers.

With over 14 years of experience working closely with professional services firms and individuals, as well as a decade prior in marketing and consultancy, I understand what truly drives business development success.

I’ve seen firsthand the transformative impact when professionals grasp why their contribution matters and gain the confidence and skills to support their firm’s growth.

// Proven Results

Client Testimonials

We asked Joanna to help our 'pitch' team develop their presenting skills within a bid environment by raising the awareness of their communication style and suggested tools to improve their personal impact. This was followed by several workshops on: The Importance of Personal Impact, Rapport Building & Core Skills for those likely to be on a bid team.

Joanna helped our team build confidence when presenting, better understand their communication style and form new techniques to leave a positive impression when delivering pitch presentations as well as in general meetings both internally and externally. Joanna grasped our requirements and delivered a clear and simple programme for all levels across our business. I really enjoyed working with Joanna and highly recommend if your organisation needs support in this area.

Joanna designed an engaging and practical workshop for our second-year trainees on Business Development Skills. We were keen for this workshop to be practical-focused, as our trainees are very keen on having clear takeaway actions following a training session. We also wanted the workshop to place emphasis on building up an internal network within the firm, which Joanna did a fantastic job at incorporating.

This meant that although the trainees aren’t necessarily engaging in client development themselves yet, they now appreciate the importance of building their internal network and maintaining their existing relationships so that when they become more senior they have a built-in network. Joanna also led a section on how to effectively network at events, which the trainees found especially useful given the practical advice she shared in this segment.

Joanna came to our office to run a seminar entitled the Skills and Confidence to Get More Out of Networking. The seminar was excellent and very well received. Several members of the team mentioned what a great public speaker Joanna was and everyone from junior to senior team members learnt something new.

Joanna managed to effectively mix up the session so that there were periods of her speaking, chats and role play which meant no one got bored. It was a most enjoyable and useful session and I would heartily recommend it to anyone who needs help networking (which is, let's face it, all of us)!

We recently collaborated with Joanna on the development and implementation of our firm’s Business Development Competency Framework. Joanna was engaging, perceptive, and highly knowledgeable. She imparted valuable skills and strategies to our lawyers, enabling them to enhance their business development approach. These insights will be utilised across the firm moving forward. It was a pleasure working with her, and I highly recommend her services to other firms.

// Who I Work With

Is The Business Development Accelerator Programme right for you?

The Business Development Accelerator Programme is designed for firms or departments of up to 250 people across the professional services sector, including law firms, accountancy practices, actuarial and consultancy firms, financial advisers, and private banks.

It’s ideal for firms that recognise the importance of business development and are already taking some action, but also know that certain elements aren’t working as they should. If you’re aware of gaps in your current approach and want to build a more joined-up, effective strategy to get better results, this programme will help you move forward with clarity and focus.

Other services may be a better fit if:

You need to identify your business development gaps and want recommendations on how to move forward.

Consider The Business Development Compass, designed to help you have clarity and move forward productively.

Your firm has minimal business development activity, no clear structure, and limited involvement.

The Business Development Culture Programme helps build strong foundations from the ground up.

You want to upskill a specific group on a targeted topic.

Explore The Business Development Spotlight Training, which offers practical, topic-focused development with a specific group of individuals in your firm.

// Find Out More

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do many firms struggle to get results from their business development efforts?

Many firms are already investing time and energy into business development, but the activity often lacks structure, focus, or consistency. Different people may be approaching it in different ways, and key elements may be missing or underdeveloped.

As a result, effort doesn’t translate into results as effectively as it could. Progress can feel slow or unpredictable, and firms may still find themselves relying on a small number of individuals to bring in work.

How do you identify what isn’t working in our current approach?

The starting point is understanding where your current approach is strong and where there are gaps.

This typically involves looking across the key areas that underpin effective business development, your strategy, the level of involvement across the team, the activities you’re focusing on, the skills in place, and how well this is integrated into day-to-day work.

From there, it becomes much clearer what needs attention and where changes will have the greatest impact.

What’s involved in your Business Development Accelerator approach?

The focus is on helping you move forward in the areas that will make the biggest difference.

That means bringing clarity to your overall approach, defining practical next steps, and strengthening the skills needed to deliver them. Rather than starting from scratch, the emphasis is on refining and building on what already exists.

The aim is to create a more joined-up, consistent approach so that your efforts lead to more predictable and sustainable results.

My work with you involves a combination of facilitation, consultancy and training. To close the current gaps.

How is this different from building a full business development culture?

This approach is designed for firms that already have some level of business development activity in place but know it isn’t working as effectively as it should.

Rather than establishing everything from the ground up, the focus is on identifying gaps and strengthening specific areas. It achieves the same objective of establishing a business development culture. It’s a targeted approach to improve performance and accelerate progress, without overhauling everything unnecessarily.

For firms looking to establish a more comprehensive, firm-wide approach, a broader piece of work may be more appropriate. Alternatively, where the need is to develop specific skills within a group, a more focused training programme can be a better fit.

How quickly can we expect to see improvements in results?

Because the focus is on refining and strengthening what’s already in place, firms often begin to see changes relatively quickly.

As clarity improves and activity becomes more focused and consistent, it becomes easier to generate opportunities and build momentum. Longer-term impact comes from embedding these improvements so that results are more predictable and less dependent on individual effort.

Let’s talk about your firm and whether The Business Development Accelerator Programme is right for you.

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