“Making Rain” the Right Way is the Path to Success

One of the most powerful quotes in movie history came from the movie Jerry Maguire. Cuba Gooding, Jr. played a free agent football player and Tom Cruise his agent, a provider of professional services. Mr. Gooding’s character expressed the essence of success in all professional service businesses chanting “Show Me the Money” as Jerry Maguire and his nemesis battled on the phones to convert or maintain clients before Maguire left the firm.

It is about clients. It is about money. It is about revenues, first and foremost, and then profits. Every attorney, accountant, architect, engineer, appraiser, broker, agent, expert, and every professional practicing in the dizzying array of business and life consulting, knows that success, prestige, the corner office, the fancy titles and the $2000 suits go to the rainmaker, that person who brings in the money to the firm.

The Natural

Many of those who become the biggest rainmakers, the drivers of huge amounts of business for the firms in which they work, are born to sell anything to anyone anywhere, or so the excuse goes. Perhaps this is true. What I have found, however, is that rainmakers follow these steps. It is from them that they were derived.

The reality is that they know these secrets, have followed them for years, worked their butts off on them, and as Sam Walton said about Wal-Mart, they are overnight successes that were 20-plus years in the making.

The Rest of Us

For the rest of us, however, bringing in business does not come naturally. “Selling” is a dirty word. So we do none of the things required to become rainmakers. We have no idea what those things are. No one teaches professionals how to sell. It is not within the curricula in any professional program.

Great rainmakers know the secrets to driving business. I can teach them to you and help you become a great rainmaker. Here are the ten steps.

1. Think Like a Business
2. Find Your Passion
3. Become a World Class Expert
4. Focus Your Business
5. Define Your World
6. Tell Your World
7. Do Not Sell - Solve
8. Be Strategic
9. Execute
10. Exploit

As Jim Collins pointed out in his book Good to Great, good is the antithesis of great. It is easier to move from poor to great, because no one wants to remain poor. The motivation is high. The risks are low. By far the biggest leap is from a good, talented and capable service provider to a passionate, great rainmaking expert.

“I make a decent living. My family is comfortable. My kids are getting a good education. Sure I am bored, or worse, downright unhappy. Sure I have achieved the most I can in my current situation, but I make a decent living. What if I change? What if I follow my passion, become an expert, and it does not work? How can I risk all of that?”

The marginal difference between good and great is still huge in terms of pay, prestige and even happiness, but the risks also seem high, but that is because you do not know the path.

Each week I will post an article on each of these, and some subsets. Not necessarily in this order, as there are issues more important than others. If you do not want to wait, give me a call and we can begin the process together.