Rory Channer works on research and training to help professional services firms develop business and client relationships. Their posts describe the Activator approach, which focuses on changing how partners collaborate with clients, colleagues and other firms.
Behavior change needs reinforcement, including software such as Activator Agents.
Check first: Confirm programme details, pricing, audience demographics and evidence for reported results.
Main ideas
Clients now expect a different kind of relationship work · Business development is hard, but the behaviors can be learned and measured · The change reaches compensation, hiring and marketing spend — not just training
Rory Channer is known for work on Activator, an approach to developing business and client relationships in professional services.
Their posts describe research, training and a co-authored book, The Activator Advantage: What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently, published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2025.
The work focuses on how partners collaborate with clients, colleagues and other firms, and what firms may need to change to support that behavior.
Their posts also point to a newer extension: software intended to reinforce behavior change.
Readers interested in partner-led growth can follow their work on connecting individual business-development habits with firm-wide systems.
Channer’s distinctive contribution is treating business development as an organizational practice, not just a skill for individual partners to learn.
They connect partner behavior to compensation, hiring, associate development, marketing priorities and training, giving firm leaders concrete areas to examine.
They say the research included work with more than 100 professional-services firms and thousands of partners; another post describes over 18 months of research and several years of partner-development work.
The Intapp partnership and Activator Agents show an interest in extending the approach into software alongside training.
The work is especially relevant to readers looking for a joined-up view of research, behavior change and firm operations.
Ask for details on the specific Activator behaviors and measured outcomes.
Rory Channer's posts argue that professional services firms are judged on how their people collaborate with clients, partner firms and internal teams, not just on what they sell.
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The behaviors behind that collaboration can be researched, taught and reinforced. Their priorities are evidence from studying firms at scale, change that reaches pay and hiring rather than stopping at a training day, and infrastructure — including software — that sustains new behaviors.
Clients now expect a different kind of relationship work
Channer argues that the standard for winning and keeping clients has changed shape.
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Firms selling complex services are judged on how well their people collaborate with clients, partner firms and internal teams.
Clients now assume that kind of collaboration rather than reward it.
Activator is presented as a change tool for how a firm's people work with clients, not a course about pitching.
In the book announcement, Channer writes that "the bar has not only been raised but moved," and says Activator helps a firm develop client relationships "in a way that clients, in today's buying market, are not only looking for but expect."
Business development is hard, but the behaviors can be learned and measured
Channer argues that research and training across more than 100 large professional services firms have established what clients need and what Activators do.
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That makes business development something a firm can teach and track, rather than leave to a few naturals. The unit of change is a single behavior, and Channer asks readers to adopt even one.
"Yes, business development is hard," Channer writes, then says the trainings have produced enough evidence to know "what clients need and what Activators do." In a post about the book's research, they thank readers in advance for acting on "even just one new Activator Behavior."
The change reaches compensation, hiring and marketing spend — not just training
Channer argues the findings have consequences beyond a development programme.
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If partners are expected to sell differently, firms must consider pay systems, lateral hiring, associate development, where business development and marketing departments spend their time, and how fee earners are trained. A firm treating Activator as a single workshop is addressing a firm-wide problem with a team-level fix.
Channer writes that the research "has already created incredible conversations at many top firm's Executive and Management Committees," and lists implications for compensation systems, lateral hiring, associate development, marketing focus and training.
The case rests on research scale, not personal authority
Channer's credibility argument rests on the scale of the research: a two-year project focused solely on professional services, featured in Harvard Business Review, drawing on over 100 global firms, more than 18 months of research and six-plus months of writing, alongside years spent running development experiences with partners and recording results.
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The method, they argue, comes from studying firms rather than from one adviser's opinion.
Channer describes the team behind the book — a research group, faculty and co-authors — and the input, cases and analysis from over 100 firms, alongside Harvard as a "tremendous sounding board" and Intapp as research sponsor.
Behavior change needs reinforcement, including software
Channer argues that training alone does not hold.
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An expanded Intapp partnership introduces Activator Agents, software intended to support the behavior change that drives firm growth.
They frame the fit as mutual vision and aligned industry focus rather than logo placement.
Firms investing in Activators, the argument goes, need infrastructure around them, not just development sessions.
Channer calls the partnership "a change in how software supports behavior change that in turn drives firm growth," and says Activator Agents "are going to be a boost to firm growth."
Earlier posts describe Intapp as the research sponsor "from the beginning"; in the most recent post, Channer presents a deeper partnership around software. The shift is from funding the research to reinforcing behavior in daily work.
Channer's posts repeatedly credit the people and organisations behind the research — co-authors, faculty, the research team, participating firms and partners, Harvard and the sponsor.
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The book is presented as the work of many contributors, with firms and partners helping spread its ideas.
Channer thanks "the thousands of partners who were part of the research" and credits Intapp for supporting it from the beginning.
This is the shortest answer to "what is Activator?"
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It names the book, the publisher and the central claim, giving newcomers a quick way to decide whether to read further.
Rory Channer announces The Activator Advantage: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently, released by Harvard Business Review Press on 20 May 2025.
The post presents Activator as a change tool for how a firm's people collaborate with clients, partner firms and internal teams.
It argues that clients in today's buying market expect this style of relationship, rather than simply preferring it.
Channer says firms that systematically build Activators and supporting infrastructure report strong top- and bottom-line results, and credits Intapp with sponsoring the research from the beginning.
The post also points to pre-orders and bulk orders for partner retreats and industry events.
For brands planning a campaign
A training programme for partner-led business development can use the book’s vocabulary and its argument that client expectations have changed, not simply risen. The bulk-order and retreat angle gives firms a concrete way to launch a programme around shared reading rather than an internal slide deck.
Here, the work moves from method to its consequences for how a firm is run.
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It answers the managing partner's question: what would this change here?
Rory Channer says a two-year research project focused solely on professional services is featured in Harvard Business Review.
The post reports that the findings have already prompted discussion at executive and management committees at large firms.
Their implications reach compensation systems, lateral hiring, associate development, how business development and marketing departments spend their time, and how fee earners are trained.
Channer credits Intapp as sponsor and Harvard Business Review for backing the research, and thanks the participating firms and partners.
For brands planning a campaign
For firms weighing a partner-led business development programme, this post positions the work as an operating-model question, not a skills course. Use it to widen the conversation from training hours to compensation, hiring and marketing spend—often the sticking points for partners.
This answers the credibility question: how much work and how many firms stand behind the recommendations.
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Readers weighing the method can start here after the two posts above.
Channer describes the effort behind the book: a team spent over 18 months on research and more than six months writing, building on several years of work with partners in development programmes and recording results.
The team included a research group, faculty and co-authors, with input, cases and analysis from over 100 global professional services firms, plus feedback from Harvard and sponsorship from Intapp.
Channer thanks the thousands of partners who took part and asks readers to act on even one new Activator behaviour.
For brands planning a campaign
The scale claim helps answer why a firm should adopt an outside method rather than build its own. The “act on one behaviour” line offers a low-commitment entry point for a pilot: start with a single behaviour and measure it before committing to a full rollout.
This is the latest development in the material, showing the method’s move from training into tooling.
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It tells readers searching the name today what’s at the top of the story.
Rory Channer says business development is hard, but research and training used by over 100 large professional services firms have established what clients need and what Activators do.
The post announces an expanded partnership with Intapp and describes Activator Agents as software intended to support behaviour change that drives firm growth.
Channer frames the partnership around mutual vision and aligned industry focus, and invites direct messages for more detail.
For brands planning a campaign
Firms that already run partner training can consider whether software reinforcement belongs in the programme: the post positions tooling as the layer that keeps behaviour change from fading. The direct-message invitation offers a practical first contact for firms seeking specifics before committing.
A software partnership with Intapp as the funding and distribution model4
Announcement-led posting tied to milestones4
Activator as a behavior system for partner-led growth2
A two-year professional-services research program published with Harvard Business Review2
The Activator Advantage book and bulk distribution to partner retreats2
Training delivered across more than 100 firms, with results asserted rather than shown2
Implications that reach compensation, hiring, marketing spend and training1
Activator as a behavior system for partner-led growth
Channer frames Activator as a change tool rather than a course.
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It targets how partners collaborate with clients, other firms and internal teams, and ties the approach to firms that invest in what they call Activator infrastructure. The recurring argument is that the buying bar has moved: clients now expect a different kind of relationship work from the professionals selling to them.
Channer describes studying partners inside their firms, running development experiences with them and recording the results.
For brands planning a campaign
A firm seeking better partner-led business development can treat Activator as an operating model to embed — roles, routines and internal support — rather than a single training day. Sponsorship or content built around a partner cohort and the infrastructure that sustains it fits the way Channer talks about the work.
A two-year professional-services research program published with Harvard Business Review
Channer presents the work as a multi-year research project focused solely on professional services, featured in Harvard Business Review and shaped with input from more than 100 global firms.
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They position the findings as a blueprint for developing business and clients in today's buying market, and say the implications have already been discussed at executive and management committee level at major firms.
For brands planning a campaign
A brand can attach to the research narrative rather than a single personality: co-publishing findings, hosting a results briefing or sponsoring the next wave of data collection. The Harvard Business Review placement is the credibility anchor for a campaign.
The Activator Advantage book and bulk distribution to partner retreats
Channer announced The Activator Advantage: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently, released by Harvard Business Review Press on May 20, 2025, with individual pre-orders and early bulk orders aimed at spring partner retreats and industry events.
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They describe the book as leading the conversation forward again and as the blueprint for the next generation of go-to-market work in professional services.
Channer says the project drew on more than 18 months of research, six-plus months of writing and several years of work with partners, plus cases and feedback from over 100 firms.
Ask for a book excerpt, contents list or review before building chapter-specific claims into a campaign.
For brands planning a campaign
Bulk orders for partner retreats, event sponsorship and author-led sessions are concrete formats the book launch already supports. A campaign can ride a publication milestone instead of building an audience from scratch.
Implications that reach compensation, hiring, marketing spend and training
Channer argues the research has consequences beyond a training module: it touches compensation systems, lateral hiring, associate development, how business development and marketing departments focus and spend their time, and how fee earners are trained.
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That breadth is part of the pitch — the change is described as firm-wide rather than confined to one team.
For brands planning a campaign
For a training brief, this is the case for scoping beyond a single workshop. Vendors selling adjacent capabilities — CRM, compensation, learning and development — have a natural hook, while a pilot limited to one module risks underdelivering against Channer's argument.
Training delivered across more than 100 firms, with results asserted rather than shown
Channer says the trainings have been used by over 100 of the largest and most prestigious professional services firms, and that firms systematically investing in Activators report strong top- and bottom-line results.
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They repeat the claim across posts as the commercial proof point for the method.
Channer's posts do not publish the underlying figures, sample sizes or measurement method, so the reported results cannot be checked from these posts. Ask for the data before repeating the numbers.
For brands planning a campaign
Performance-based framing is available here, but it needs substantiation. A campaign quoting outcomes should pair them with the firm-level evidence Channer says exists, or avoid specific numbers.
A software partnership with Intapp as the funding and distribution model
Channer describes Intapp as a sponsor of the research from the beginning and, more recently, as a deeper partnership around Activator Agents — software intended to support the behavior change that drives firm growth.
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They frame it as a rare case of mutual vision and aligned industry focus, and invite direct messages for detail.
For brands planning a campaign
This is a working example of a software vendor funding, distributing and productizing a methodology. A brand considering a similar arrangement should note how Channer frames the fit: shared vision and aligned industry focus, not logo placement.
Channer's posts follow a recognizable format: a milestone announcement — a new book, an HBR feature or a partnership expansion — followed by the argument behind it, thanks to sponsors, research participants and co-authors, and a link for more information.
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The cadence is driven by launches and publications rather than a steady stream of commentary.
For brands planning a campaign
Plan a campaign around Channer's milestones rather than expecting continuous topical posting. Launch windows, publication dates and partner events are the natural moments to attach to.
Intapp sponsored the Activator research from the outset and later partnered with Channer on Activator Agents software. Harvard Business Review Press is publishing The Activator Advantage, and Harvard Business Review receives credit for featuring and supporting the research.
Intapp
Sponsor
Channer thanks Intapp for sponsoring the Activator research from the outset, describing the firm as the sponsor behind the multi-year professional-services study featured in Harvard Business Review.
Channer announces a “new level of Partnership with Intapp” around Activator Agents, software they say supports the behavior change that drives firm growth, and invites readers to message them for details.
Rory Channer's posts focus on how professional services firms make business development part of how their people work, rather than leaving it to a few rainmakers.
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The work starts with a research-led argument that clients now expect a different kind of relationship work, then follows the Activator method into training, the book The Activator Advantage and an expanded software partnership with Intapp.
The tags mark recurring themes readers can explore: business development, the Activator method, client relationships, rainmaking, research-led practice, training and development, professional services audiences, and book publishing.
Similar creators offer adjacent routes into the same firm-level problem—founder dependency, account growth and partner-led revenue—through valuation, economic engagement or practical sales coaching.
Like Channer, Rachel Healy treats business development as a firm-wide capability rather than a founder's personal skill.
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The posts explain how a consulting firm's value falls when one person holds the key relationships, and set out the mindset, skills and systems — including account management and CRM — that reduce founder dependency.
Healy anchors the argument in valuation and equity: a founder discount of 10–25%, Shannon Pratt's valuation work, and a £3.7m or £1.5m discount on example firms. Channer instead presents a research programme and a named behavior system, Activator, backed by Harvard Business Review and a software sponsor—not a valuation case.
Bill Fotsch starts from the same boutique professional services problem: growth is capped by founder dependency, while the people doing the work have little connection to whether the firm wins or loses.
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Both writers link that diagnosis to business development and client relationships.
Fotsch's remedy is economic engagement: treating everyone as economic partners, sharing the upside and using the Adams Beasley case of doubled sales. Channer instead offers the Activator system, research across more than 100 firms and software that reinforces new behavior.
Tom McMakin works on the same practical ground: business development training, key account expansion, and moving client relationships forward.
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The story about climbing the relationship ladder and asking what the client is trying to get done describes the behavior Channer's research tries to scale.
McMakin teaches through first-person sales stories and short coaching lessons, with posts that can point readers to third-party workshops. Channer's discovery path runs through a multi-year professional-services research programme, a Harvard Business Review Press book and an Activator vocabulary—not an individual consultant's anecdote.
The audience case for Rory Channer rests on topic fit, not audience data.
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Four posts target partners and business-development leaders in professional services firms: law, accounting, consulting, investment banking and executive search appear in the posts and their hashtags.
The posts also describe research and training work with more than 100 firms.
The only published audience measure is a LinkedIn follower count of 4,770, recorded 11 October 2026.
There is no breakdown by location, seniority, industry or job function, so buyers cannot tell whether partners rather than marketing staff—or readers in one country rather than several—make up the following.
For a partner-led business-development training program, ask for LinkedIn follower demographics (location, seniority, industry), any audience survey results from the Activator research, and engagement figures for posts closest to the training topic.
The 2025 research and book-launch posts are the closest topical matches; the 2023 post on what rainmakers do differently is the closest match on the underlying business-development theme.
LinkedIn followers
4,770
LinkedIn profile record for the account · 2026-10-11
Rory Channer’s posts describe a partnership with Intapp, named as the sponsor of the Activator research from its start and, as of April 2026, as the partner behind a new software layer called Activator Agents.
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They frame the software arrangement as a deeper, aligned-industry partnership rather than a one-off sponsorship, with the software positioned to support the behaviour change that drives firm growth.
Another commercial route is the book: The Activator Advantage was published by Harvard Business Review Press on 20 May 2025 and is offered for individual pre-orders and early bulk orders for spring partner retreats and industry events.
Training and development work with professional services firms is described as already in use at more than 100 firms.
The posts do not set out sponsor fees, exclusivity, deliverables or an official partnership inquiry page; the only contact direction is to send a direct message.
Research sponsorship
Buyer requirement
Intapp is credited as the sponsor of the Activator research from the outset, across the Harvard Business Review feature and the book.
Its role is described as funding and continuing support for a multi-year study of professional services firms, not content placement.
Fees, exclusivity, naming rights and deliverables are not stated; ask Rory Channer’s team to agree those terms directly.
Software and product partnership
Buyer requirement
The April 2026 post describes a new partnership with Intapp covering Activator Agents, software intended to support behaviour change and firm growth.
It is framed as a long-term, aligned-industry relationship built on mutual vision, not a campaign sponsorship.
Ask about integration scope, pricing and timelines.
Book bulk orders for partner retreats and events
Buyer requirement
The Activator Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 20 May 2025) is available for individual pre-orders and early bulk orders for spring partner retreats and industry events.
Buyers planning a retreat, client event or partner programme can order copies through the link in the launch post.
Ask about minimum quantities, discounts and fulfilment terms.
Training and development engagement
Buyer requirement
The training is described as used by more than 100 professional services firms, with reported top- and bottom-line results.
It targets firms investing systematically in Activators and what the posts call Activator infrastructure.
Ask about programme length, delivery format, cohort size and pricing.
Rory Channer is a strong fit for the brief as written.
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The firm wants better partner-led business development, and that is the subject of everything reviewed.
The material describes a two-year research project focused solely on professional services, featured in Harvard Business Review, with findings that Channer says have already been discussed at executive and management committee level at large firms.
The book, The Activator Advantage: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently, was published by Harvard Business Review Press on 20 May 2025 and is offered for individual pre-orders and early bulk orders aimed at spring partner retreats and industry events.
Training is described as used by more than 100 professional services firms, and Channer argues the change reaches compensation systems, lateral hiring, associate development, marketing spend and fee-earner training, not just one workshop.
The April 2026 post extends the method into software through an expanded Intapp partnership, positioning Activator Agents as the layer that keeps behaviour change from fading.
For a firm that wants partners to sell differently, that combination of research, a published book and a delivery route is directly on brief.
The fit is conditional on three things the material does not settle: programme length, delivery format, cohort size and pricing are not disclosed; the reported top- and bottom-line results are asserted rather than shown, so any campaign that quotes them needs the underlying firm-level evidence; and the only measured audience figure is 4,770 LinkedIn followers, with no location, seniority or industry breakdown, so it is not yet known whether the partners who would sit in the room already read this material.
When to choose a specialist
A campaign aimed at consumers or B2C sales is a poor fit.
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Take a packaged-goods brand wanting a short-form video creator to drive broad awareness and tracked sales: Rory Channer's posts do not serve that.
The four posts are milestone announcements written for partners and business-development leaders inside law, accounting, consulting, investment banking and executive search firms.
There is no consumer-facing content, video, transcript, performance or conversion data.
The posting pattern is launch-led rather than a steady stream, so the posts do not establish continuous reach to borrow.
The only audience number is 4,770 LinkedIn followers, with no demographic breakdown to check who is following.
There is also no rate card, booking route or official partnership inquiry page; the only contact direction in the posts is a request to send a direct message.
A brand that needs measurable consumer sales lift, platform-native video or a large undifferentiated audience would be buying against the grain of what the posts show.
A worked campaign example
Worked angle for the partner-led business development brief: treat Activator as an operating-model programme, not a one-day course, and launch it around shared reading.
Step one: anchor the kick-off on The Activator Advantage.
The launch post offers bulk orders for spring partner retreats and industry events, so a partner retreat or leadership offsite can be built around the book rather than an internal slide deck, with the Harvard Business Review feature as the credibility reference.
Step two: scope a pilot with Channer's team around one or two named Activator behaviours.
Their invitation to act on even one new Activator behaviour offers a low-commitment entry point, letting a firm measure a single behaviour before committing to a full rollout.
Step three: decide whether software reinforcement belongs in the programme.
The April 2026 post positions Activator Agents as the layer that supports behaviour change and firm growth, which matters if training fades after the workshop.
Step four: agree measurement before quoting any numbers.
Channer says firms investing systematically report strong top- and bottom-line results, but the posts publish no figures, sample sizes or method.
Ask for the firm-level evidence and use it or drop the claim.
Before committing, ask Channer's team for programme length, delivery format, cohort size and pricing, the data behind the reported results, and LinkedIn follower demographics to check whether the partner audience is already reached.
One-line campaign angle: the buying bar has moved, so build a firm-wide partner capability programme around the Activator research and a shared reading of the book, and measure one behaviour at a time.
Consider Rachel Healy when a partner-led business development programme has to be justified to partners as an enterprise-value problem.
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Healy frames the issue as founder dependency: key person discounts of 10 to 25 percent, a £3m EBITDA firm carrying a £3.7m discount at the midpoint, and the point that the discount falls as business development capability spreads through the firm.
That framing is more direct than Activator's behaviour-change framing if the owner's question is what the programme does to the firm's value.
Healy also names the mechanics a partner programme usually has to install: protected business development time booked weeks ahead, a written plan per key account, a CRM partners actually use, pipeline reviews where every next step has an owner, and every major client knowing more than one person in the firm.
They address the mindset blocker directly with the managing partner who told Matt Dixon, “we are not salespeople.”
A firm that wants the valuation argument alongside a lighter growth academy or leader community should start here.
The supporting research is cited rather than owned: the valuation numbers come from Shannon Pratt's work, the mindset example from a Matt Dixon keynote, and the account-growth and coaching figures from a RAIN Group study of 397 organisations.
Healy has no research programme of their own.
Rory Channer brings a two-year professional-services research project, a Harvard Business Review feature, a Harvard Business Review Press book and a software partnership with Intapp.
A firm that needs third-party credibility and a structured, named behaviour set should prefer Channer; a firm that mainly needs to show partners the money at stake, and is comfortable with a lighter-touch academy or peer community, should prefer Healy.
Ask Healy for details on programme length, cohort and delivery before committing.
Consider Bill Fotsch when the diagnosis is that the people doing the work have no economic connection to the outcome, rather than that partners lack sales skills.
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Fotsch describes the founder dependency trap as an economic engagement problem: people cannot see how their work affects the numbers and have no stake in the results, so they wait to be told what to do.
The Adams Beasley Associates example is detailed and usable with sceptical partners: a design-build firm that made everyone economic partners, doubled sales in year one with profits growing faster, had no layoffs, and was later featured in Harvard Business Review.
Fotsch also offers a free session limited to 10 firms, giving a firm a low-commitment way to test the framework against its own drivers before committing to a wider programme.
The posts are far less specific about the selling process.
They offer no stage-by-stage treatment of pipeline judgement, diagnostics, proposals, holding price or earning referrals—the behaviours at the heart of Activator.
The material includes one case example and a free webinar.
Its Harvard Business Review reference is to the case firm, not a body of research a firm could inspect.
Choose Fotsch when the barrier is partner and deliverer incentives, economic literacy and the growth ceiling created by partners being the bottleneck; choose Channer when the barrier is the specific selling behaviours partners need to use in front of clients.
Consider Tom McMakin when account leads are already willing to engage and the gap is the client conversation itself — asking about priorities and obstacles before pitching a service.
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McMakin's post walks through a real sequence: an introduction, several calls, an attempt to climb the relationship ladder, a proposal sent and left unanswered, then a Teams call where asking about the quarter uncovered a live problem, getting practice professionals to write thought leadership, which reopened the conversation.
The buyer problem McMakin was brought in for is also stated plainly: account leads who make new friends well but struggle to expand within existing clients, addressed with business development training that emphasises building key accounts.
That makes it useful, concrete material for partner training sessions and for coaching account leads.
The approach rests on a single recounted anecdote and a forwarded recommendation for another consultant's low-cost workshop.
Ask McMakin for evidence of measured results and details of a published programme before evaluating a wider rollout.
Choose McMakin when the firm wants a coach-style practitioner and specific asks-first habits for account leads; choose Channer when it needs a research-backed programme to roll out across many partners, with a named behaviour set and a published reference that internal sponsors can point to.
Rory Channer's four LinkedIn posts describe the Activator method, a research programme focused on professional services, training delivered across firms, the book The Activator Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 20 May 2025) and an expanded partnership with Intapp.
Rory Channer's profile shows 4,770 followers as of 11 October 2026.
The posts do not display publication dates or provide the underlying study, and no book text, transcript, video or independent reporting is cited, so the underlying study, the reported firm results and audience demographics beyond the follower count cannot be checked.
Statements about research scale and firm results are reported as Channer's own.
