CRAFTING A RAINMAKING FIRM: A WINDOW INTO SALES PERFORMANCE

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. A hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.
- Harry Belafonte

The 1,000 mile journey to developing a culture of rainmaking starts with the first step. My advice to firms looking to create a culture of business development: make sure the bucket doesn't have any holes or it won't hold water.

Time and again we see firms doing a certain percent of what they need to do to help the professionals in their firm develop business – but rarely 100%. If you're only doing 70% of what you need to do, you don't get 70% results; you get much less. Like patching a leak in the bottom of a boat, if you don't patch it 100%, it still takes on water.

So if your firm is looking to create a team of rainmakers, make sure you address the gamut of management topics you need to address in order to give yourself a fighting chance of success. If you don't, you may find yourself expending 90% of the effort – almost there – but still falling short of your business development goals.

Here are six areas – three controlled by the organization, three brought to the table by the individual rainmaker (but can be influenced by the firm) – you should address in order to build a rainmaking firm.

Organizational Influences:

1. Expectations and Coaching
2. Tools and Resources
3. Consequences and Incentives

Individual Influences:

4. Skills and Knowledge
5. Fit and Assignment
6. Motivation and Preferences

Window into Sales Performance

(Adapted from Binder-Riha Associates The Six Boxes™ with language used with permission)

1. Expectations and Coaching: The Gallup Organization – fond of polling – has asked thousands of people across companies to answer this question, “Do I know what is expected of me at work?”  On average, 40% of those polled don't. If you think that's high, you should see how many would-be rainmakers know (or rather don't know) what's expected of them by their firms regarding business development.
   
   In our experience, not many know what to do. Sometimes they might know their revenue goal, but not what they need to do everyday to achieve it. Some know they are ‘expected to network', ‘expected to make calls' or ‘expected to spend 15% of their time on business development', but rarely do they know what they need to do at 9am…11am…or all day Tuesday.
   
   What happens without clear expectations and coaching: Inconsistency.
   -  Inconsistent business development activities across all professionals with business development responsibilities
   -  Inconsistent business development effort levels
   -  Inconsistent persistence
   -  Inconsistent improvement (due to lack of coaching)
   -  Inconsistent results
   
   
   
2. Tools and Resources: When it comes to business development, rainmakers need the right resources to be able to find and win new clients. Sometimes they need more time to do it, sometimes an expense account. Maybe they know they're supposed to develop business, but nobody's built them a list of appropriate businesses and managers to target.
   
   It is possible they do not have the right marketing or sales collateral materials to help them sell. One rainmaker may need to bring a technical guru along to represent a specific expertise of the firm…but that technical guru can't afford to lose the billable time.
   
   Whatever the need, rainmakers need the right level of resources in order to find and win new clients.
   
   What happens without the right resource levels: Frustration.
   -  Ready to call but don't have the names
   -  Ready to present but don't have materials
   -  Ready to visit the client, but don't have the budget or time to go
   
   
   
3. Consequences and Incentives: It's strange; some service firm leaders rush to add incentive compensation to inspire professionals to sell while others vehemently resist compensation adjustments. Incentive compensation, built correctly, can significantly influence rainmakers to find more new clients.
   
   On the other hand, incentive compensation, while necessary, is not sufficient. Even those service firm leaders that do institute incentive compensation plans rarely state (or if they do state, act on) any negative consequences of not hitting client development goals.
   
   What happens without the right consequences and incentives: Status quo
   -  No incentive compensation…why should I sell? I need to bill anyway.
   -  No consequences for not selling…well, I guess I'll try but what's the worst that will happen if I don't succeed? They are not going to do anything about it.
   
   
   
4. Skills and Knowledge: Have you ever been on a business development meeting with a newbie running the show and with you just sitting back along for the ride? How does the newbie seem? Confident in her abilities? Comfortable that she'll win the new client?
   
   And how does she fare running that first meeting? Does she talk the right amount? Ask the right questions? Follow the well-worn protocols of first-time business discussions? How's her body language…confident and relaxed?
   
   Rainmakers need skills and knowledge in order to find and win clients. With the right skills, they can walk the client through the new business development process with savvy, ease, and confidence. With the right knowledge, they can ask the right questions and craft the right service set for the client.
   
   What happens without skills and knowledge: Anxiety.
   -  Do I really have to pick up that phone and say something to someone I don't know?
   -  I'm not going in there…you can't make me go in there…
   -  There's no way I know what to do or say to actually bring in a new client like you do.
   
   (Unfortunately, many professionals won't admit any of these feelings and so they never deal with their anxieties and move their careers forward.)
   
   
   
5. Fit and Assignment: Ever see someone fail in a business development role when almost anyone (but the hiring manager) could have predicted that this person was not the right fit for the job? Sometimes there are different business development roles that people have to play: one person is the technical expert, one is the lead developer, and one is the big-time closer. Whatever the case, you need the right people in the right business development roles.
   
   For example, you may have selected someone in your firm who is going to be a great rainmaker: ready for strong relationships, ready to bring the solid new clients into the firm. But don't assign them to the cold calling: they simply shouldn't (and often won't) succeed at it…it's not the right fit.
   
   What happens without the right fit and assignment: Chronic underachievement.
   -  How do they expect me to sell to engineers? I'm not an engineer?
   -  20 years in the business and now they expect me to make cold calls? I don't think so.
   -  All ready for my first day in business development! What do you mean my territory is Aroostook County, Maine?
   
   
   
6. Motivation and Preferences: Let's say you take care of the other five influences noted in this article. Expectations clear. Resources available. Compensation set. Skills in place. Right people – right jobs. All of this is great, and necessary, but you still need rainmakers with the fire in the belly. You need people with focus and drive to be successful in business development. If they're not motivated to build a practice, there's little a firm can do to light the fire of focus and drive.
   
   What happens without motivation and preferences: Mediocrity.
   -  9 AM already…time to start working. 5 PM already…time to go home!
   -  Look at all the money I can make! Too bad I don't care about money.
   -  They've trained me…they're paying me…they told me what to do. Unfortunately, I just don't want to. It's not for me.

If you're looking to build a culture of rainmaking, make sure you attend to all of the factors that affect business development performance. Miss one of these factors for any reason: inattention, lack of time, unwillingness to invest, political difficulties, and you'll severely limit your success.

Fortunately for you, it's the rare services firm that does focus on the entire Window into Sales Performance. If you are the one that goes the extra mile – and does indeed plug all the holes that will eventually sink the boat – better get ready to hire more billable professionals. The tide's going to come in, you'll be in ship-shape, and you'll need more people to get all the new client work done.