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How to be the rainmaker in your organisation

Rainmakers in organisations have a special role: to help the business grow and prosper by attracting and introducing new business through personal contacts, professional networks, and personal reputation, and by adding value for existing clients. They’re supersalespersons and project initiators. But rainmakers can never succeed in isolation - they need to be team players, confident that the new business generated will be supported by everyone involved. Successful rainmaking requires specific actions such as these…

1. Work where rainmakers are appreciated.

Accept that some companies will never be able to make the best use of a rainmaker. Although they may appreciate the added business a rainmaker can encourage, they may not be able to appreciate the energy and expense required to produce that outcome. As a result, you will be spending an inordinate amount of your time dealing with in-house issues instead of focusing your attention on rainmaking activities. Successful rainmaking, for example, requires a budget sufficient to target the people you (and the company) want to attract. You can’t ‘make rain’ for free.

2. Sell your services in-house.

Work colleagues need to know what you actually do, including the sorts of services you provide. In fact, the majority of client-contacts and referrals are likely to come from - or at least emanate from - within the organisation. This will mean that you will need to spend plenty of one-on-one time with people helping them to identify possible referrals. Discuss also how, and to whom, your services will be billed. Remember, it is considerably easier to sell to existing clients than to find new ones. Ensure also that your plans and activities dovetail with those of your marketing group.

3. Identify what you have for offer.

Continuing success for a rainmaker demands that the company being promoted has products or services that customers will want, and be prepared to pay for. A rainmaker without credibility and saleable products or services soon experiences drought conditions. Offerings should also include value-adds to make products or services even more attractive. Your one-on-one meetings with key people within your company will have helped to identify possible value-adds.

4. Establish ground rules with your own people.

Even when people within an organisation acknowledge the importance and role of a rainmaker, the rainmaker’s contributions can often be undervalued as part of the entire, completed project. A rainmaker’s contribution to a complete project can be as high as forty-five per cent - without a rainmaker’s involvement, there may never have been a project in the first place. Issues that need to be resolved from the outset include:

  • role description
  • the nature of the rainmaker’s involvement in the entire project
  • the way that billings will occur, including the rainmaker’s contribution to the project
  • responsibilities for debt collecting
  • the level and form of recognition and reward
  • the support required in-house
  • the training required for those supporters.

5. Build networks.

Establishing and maintaining networks is hard work, and there’s a financial cost to many of the activities. As well as the seemingly endless lists of break-fasts, lunches, and dinners, there are the other need-to-be-seen-at events from ballet to football. Any spare time in between is spent on the telephone staying in touch. Active membership of professional and business associations is important. Don’t neglect media exposure - a regular column in the local daily is worth considering. Ensure also that you get maximum exposure from involvement in project-related activities.

6. Work on your communication skills.

Your oral, written, and nonverbal skills all need continuing development. Given that most meaning will be communicated non-verbally, make sure that you pay attention to image, appearance, and the quality of those with whom you associate. Successful rainmakers can be expected to have their own dress consultant who advises them on all aspects of wardrobe. Oral communication can be improved by private tuition and involvement in groups such as Toastmasters International and others established specifically for the purpose of individual improvement. The Dale Carnegie program ‘How to win friends and influence people’, continues to cater for this need. Written communication, too, is a skill that can be developed with professional assistance. Remember the saying that ‘all good writers need an editor’. Professional editors will help you to say what you want to say more clearly and precisely while retaining the individuality of your written communication style.

7. Ensure back up.

You must be able to confidently guarantee deliverables. So you will need to ensure that those in-house who will take control of the project will deliver the client exactly what you have promised. It’s your credibility that is on the line: the client will attribute to you the success or otherwise of the project. Ensure also that agreement exists regarding billings and debt collecting - the job is never complete until all of the bills have been paid.