Adoption & change management

How leading firms make cross-selling a daily habit.

Buying Propense is easy. Driving adoption is the harder problem - the one that actually moves growth numbers. Here's how the firms with the strongest cross-sell results turn the platform into a rhythm that compounds at every level of the firm.

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Hatfield Brief · Partner: T. Reno
Monday morning · 6 items
DAILY
Six things worth 8 minutes today
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Client news event
Brooks Manufacturing announced Series C funding - Transaction Advisory opportunity opening.
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Thought leadership pairing
"2026 R&D Tax Credit Updates" article paired with 4 clients with active recommendations.
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New cross-serve alert
Helios Capital · CAS Advisory recommendation, 92% confidence.
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Client research report
Updated brief on Meridian Holdings ready ahead of Thursday's meeting.
F
Client referral
CFO at Avalon Logistics just joined the board at a peer firm. Warm intro available.
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Client anniversary
Stellar Foods Co. · 10-year client relationship this week.

Most cross-selling efforts fail. Adoption is the reason why.

The data is the easy part. Every firm has time and billing, a CRM, a client list. The hard part is getting partners to actually change their behavior - to bring up the next service, on the right client, at the right time, every week.

This page lays out the rollout patterns we see at the firms with the highest adoption. Top-down sponsorship. Role-based motions. A platform that learns from your firm and grows with you. Done right, cross-selling becomes a habit instead of a quarterly initiative that fades.

The Propense adoption method

Four principles that actually drive change.

Adoption isn't about training sessions. It's about giving every role at the firm a clear, repeatable motion that fits into their week.

1

Top-down sponsorship

The Managing Partner is visibly part of the rollout. Partners see the firm is committed before anyone is asked to change behavior.

2

Role-based motions

Partners, Service Line Leaders, Industry Teams, and BD all have their own motion - not a generic "use the platform" mandate.

3

Make it part of the rhythm

Pre-meeting prep, daily digests, monthly team meetings, BD planning. The platform shows up where work already happens.

4

Let it learn from you

Every thumbs up, thumbs down, and partner note refines the model. Propense adapts to your firm's services and your firm's voice.

It starts at the top

Managing partners set the tone for everything that follows.

The firms with the strongest adoption have the Managing Partner involved in the rollout from week one. They communicate the why, name the goal, and make it clear that cross-serving the existing client base is now how the firm grows - not a side project.

Once that signal is set from the top, partner behavior follows. The platform becomes the easiest way to live up to the new expectation, not a tool that competes with how things have always been done.

"
When the Managing Partner is the one showing up in the first session, the whole firm leans in. That single move changes everything.
- Common pattern across our highest-adopting firms
Role-based playbooks

Every role at the firm gets its own motion.

The four motions below are the ones we see drive the strongest results. Each one is repeatable, fits into the existing rhythm of work, and is backed by your firm's data.

Partners

For partners: be the trusted advisor every meeting.

Two motions that take a few minutes a day and change the way every client meeting goes.

1 Before every client meeting
  • Pull up the client in Propense - see what services fit them next, ranked by propensity
  • Check real-time news and context: what's happening at their business right now
  • Generate the BD Plan: three leading questions to open the conversation
  • Walk in with the angle ready. Worst case, you've shown them you're thinking like their trusted advisor
Win-Win: if they take the service, you've grown the relationship. If they don't, you've reinforced the relationship.
2 Daily or weekly Hatfield digest
  • Client news events worth acting on this week
  • Thought leadership pieces paired with clients who have a relevant recommendation
  • New cross-serve alerts as they appear in the model
  • Generated client research reports for upcoming meetings
  • Client referrals and warm intro signals across your network
  • Client anniversary notifications so no relationship milestone gets missed
Keep up with a growing book of business in 10 minutes a day, not 10 hours a week.
Service Line Leaders

For service line leaders: the monthly 10.

A structured, ranked view of the top opportunities for your service line across the entire client base.

1 Monthly service line meeting
  • Open the ranked view of top recommendations for your service line
  • As a team, select 10 of the highest-confidence opportunities to action that day
  • Each recommendation already comes with the BD angle and a draft outreach
  • Track which ones land - and feed those signals back into the model
A small motion that compounds. Even a few cross-sells per month pays for Propense.
Industry Teams

For industry teams: align the SME and the partner.

Vertical-specific motion built around the way your industry teams already meet.

1 Industry team meeting
  • View the top clients in your industry group, ranked by total whitespace
  • Identify services that can be introduced based on the patterns in the data
  • Align the SME and the relationship partner on a cross-sell motion for the month
  • Back the conversation up with your firm's client data and the typical journey through services
The SME brings the expertise. The partner brings the relationship. Propense brings the data that makes them both confident.
BD Teams

For BD teams: support partners with ready-to-send angles.

Make BD the partner enablement function, not the cold-outreach function. Every brief is data-backed and partner-ready.

1 Partner book review
  • Filter the platform by partner to see their entire book of business
  • Identify 3-5 services that support that partner's growth goals for the quarter
  • Check the real-time news and context analysis on each top client
  • Send the partner a BD plan that explains why now, the BD angle, and a suggested email template ready to send
BD goes from "we need to follow up" to "here's the plan, the angle, and the draft - you just hit send."
The platform learns from your firm

Adoption gets easier every week.

Most software gets worse the longer you use it. Propense gets better. The model learns from every action, every piece of feedback, and every new client you bring on - which means partners trust the recommendations more over time, not less.

i.

Time and billing stays in sync

We read your time and billing data continuously so recommendations always reflect what each client has actually bought and what's coming up next.

ii.

New clients get recommendations automatically

The moment a new client is brought on, they receive a tailored set of cross-sell recommendations at the next refresh. No onboarding work required.

iii.

Thumbs up, thumbs down learning loop

One click on a recommendation tells the model whether it landed. Reinforcement happens in seconds, in the flow of work, without any extra steps.

iv.

Hundreds of service rules, customized to your firm

We start with hundreds of service rules already built in. As your partners give feedback, your firm's specific patterns get layered on top - so Propense never recommends a service the way your firm wouldn't.

Feedback that shapes the model
Trade Secrets Litigation
Meridian Holdings · Similar to 6 of your clients
88%
Was this a useful recommendation?
If thumbs down, choose a reason
Client isn't ready for this service
› This service is handled by a referral partner, not us
Conflict of interest on this matter type
Custom note...
Every signal gets added to your firm's service rule set. The model adjusts within the next refresh - no support ticket required.
How leading firms rolled out Propense

Two adoption stories worth borrowing from.

Sensiba

A phased, adoption-focused rollout that builds confidence early.

Sensiba rolled out Propense firmwide using a phased approach designed to build confidence and encourage consistent use from week one. Guided practice sessions and real client use cases helped teams quickly apply insights in their day-to-day work and collaborate more effectively across the firm.

Read the Sensiba case study
LBMC

Scaling cross-service insights across hundreds of partners.

LBMC introduced a data-driven approach that helps surface high-value opportunities at scale and encourages the right professionals to collaborate around each client's evolving needs. The result is a more proactive, firm-wide process for expanding relationships and delivering comprehensive client service.

Read the LBMC case study
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Blog · Tim Keith

Making Cross-Selling Stick: How Propense Drives Change Management

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B
Blog · Tim Keith

The 3 Pillars of Successful Cross-Selling Culture & Change Management

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Build the adoption plan

Roll out Propense the way the best firms do it.

Book an adoption consultation and we'll map your firm's structure, identify the roles and rhythms that matter most, and put together the rollout plan that turns Propense into your growth engine.