(This is part of my series on Rainmaker Problems. I hope you will leave a comment with your thoughts on a solution to this problem.)

At any one time a professional in a mature practice is usually pursuing several opportunities. That not only diversifies risk, but also reduces pressure to win any one of them. To get to this state a professional building a practice almost always passes through a period when there is only one big lead. The pressure the professional feels to win it can be counterproductive.

Lenore is the primary salary earner in her family, juggling the demands of being a mother and a professional. She joined a new firm eighteen months ago. At the level at which she was hired, she is expected to bring in about $1 million in fees a year. The year is not off to a promising start, and she feels tremendous pressure to generate business quickly. Her client base from her former firm is largely irrelevant to her current situation.

Lenore's most immediate problem is lead flow. Two weeks ago she had
leads for two assignments, each worth about $250,000 in fees, and having potential for significant add-on work. She lost one two a small competitor, and so is down to one. That one she generated at a meeting with the CEO of a client company to discuss a current assignment. She introduced a subject not on the agenda and found he was looking for help in that area. She will be making a competitive presentation on her firm's approach to this problem and its capabilities in a couple of weeks. Afterwards, win or lose, her lead count will drop to zero, unless she can turn up some more in the interim. That fact intensifies her need to win this client to a degree that does not help her.

What can she do to reduce the pressure or to deal with it effectively?

(Got a problem selling professional services? Feel free to email me your problem and it may become a future "Rainmaking Problem of the Week.")