In this episode, Kate Hall, Business Development Principal at Embark, joins Neil and breaks down her unconventional path from a Big 4 accountant to a high-volume recruiter, and finally to a top-tier business development leader helping drive Embark’s massive 12x growth over five years.

They discuss the gritty reality of building a network from scratch, why "doing the work" is the only networking hack that matters, and the critical difference between being a "hunter" and a "farmer" in professional services. Kate also shares her "Fire Extinguisher" philosophy: how to position yourself as the first call clients make when things go wrong, even if you aren't the one fixing the problem.

Outline:

• 00:00 From Big 4 to recruiting

• 05:12 Running away from accounting roles

• 10:45 The reality of 100 daily calls

• 16:20 Realizing recruiting is actually sales

• 22:15 Winning a massive deal

• 28:30 Transitioning to Embark before COVID

• 32:10 Pivoting strategy during the pandemic

• 36:45 Delivering value to your firm

• 40:15 Managing different sales performance buckets

• 43:50 The Fire Extinguisher business philosophy

• 46:30 Scaling 12x through strategic farming

  
  

About the Guest:

Kate Hall is a Business Development Principal at Embark, a new kind of business advisory firm. Starting her career in audit at KPMG, she pivoted to recruiting where she honed her sales skills before joining Embark as employee #100. She has since helped the firm expand across multiple markets by combining deep industry knowledge with a relentless "high motor" work ethic.