Jerry Sears

During these years, he has counseled with and/or merged more than twenty five group practices, affected five major firm M&A transactions, interviewed more than 100,000 lawyers and placed more than one thousand. Sears is a Certified Personnel Counselor and a Certified Employment Specialist. He's assisted many clients with rainmaking counseling, firm-wide compensation programs and resolving internal partner disputes. He's also worked with Managing Partners and Executive Committees to develop long-term strategic plans.

His articles have been published in The Practical Lawyer and The Harvard Business Review. One of his prior books, Career Miracles, formed the basis of national workshops that focused on the participant's inner strength and their ability to find and use it in the workplace.

Sears graduated from Queens College in New York and became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. Later while working at Chemical Bank, he received his MBA in Finance from New York University. Twenty-five years ago he became an Executive Recruiter after spending twenty years in banking.

Today much of his time is spent working with professionals on improving their rainmaking skills, a practice area that gives him a great deal of personal satisfaction. According to Sears, the best statement of his own outlook on life, and his teachings, is summed up in a quote from the famous philosopher, Saint Bernard, circa 1100BC, who said, "Nothing can work me damage except myself. The harm that I sustain I carry about with me, and never am I a real sufferer but by my own fault."

About the Book
More than five million accountants, lawyers, consultants, engineers and architects need to "sell" their professional services. The successful ones are hired because clients personally trust them to handle their work. Many 'professional time-sellers,' however, lack the interpersonal skills needed to 'sell' themselves, or their trustworthiness, to prospective clients. As a result they can't bring in new business, or 'make rain.' In the past not being a 'rainmaker' was acceptable and 'service partners' flourished, but today's economic environment demands that more professionals 'make rain.' As a result, more than three out of four professionals are in financial and/or career trouble.

Generating Trust presents the most effective way to generate and sustain growth in any professional service practice, even in the face of stiff competition and tough market conditions. Sears has distilled the essence of generating client trust into a practical step-by-step program. In a fast-paced allegorical story, readers not only eavesdrop on four non-rainmaker-types as they learn about their rainmaking obstacles but cheer as the non-rainmakers learn to overcome these obstacles - the same ones that prevent many professionals from bringing in new engagements.

Armed with this knowledge, readers move through a step-by-step program that allows them to understand their unique and personal rainmaking strengths and obstacles. Once understood, readers can leverage strengths and modify negative behaviors to grow books of business beyond expectations.