I was working with a Senior Associate in a law firm a few months ago who needed some help defining their style and approach to the market in order to underpin their path to promotion. We talked about her aspirations for her career and she self-diagnosed that she needed to define a style that felt ‘comfortable’ and would be successful….and then the inevitable happened. The spectre of the ‘rainmaker’ emerged.
Every firm has them – the senior practitioner that everyone knows is the biggest fee earner in the business. The senior person who creates hushed tones in the corridors as they pass by. The rainmaker that everyone wants to emulate. Most firms, even the luckiest ones, have only a handful. And when I asked my coaching candidate why they thought their rainmaker was successful, it came down to ‘I don’t know’, and ‘they just have a thing’ and ‘it’s just the way she is’. And this is true! In all the interactions with, and observations of, rainmakers I have had – there is one truth….they are all different.
The fact that you might be able to observe your rainmaker up close and define the talent they bring to their business development can be a blessing, but more often it can be a curse. I see people measuring themselves against the rainmaker and feeling less confident in their own abilities. I see people trying to emulate the style of the rainmaker and not feeling comfortable with that style and failing as a result. I see and hear rainmakers trying to be helpful by providing counsel as to their ‘secret’ – ask for the business, get out more, be more confident, improve your network. Essentially, be more like them.
It’s true (and some very good books have been written on this subject), there are some traits rainmakers have in common – hard work, experience, confidence drawn from that experience, and strong, deep relationships. None of these are the sole preserve of rainmakers though. All good professionals have the ability to acquire these skills.They are not difficult to change like going from being right handed to being left-handed.They are attributes anyone can get better at with focus and practice. The challenge is to make these attributes identifiable by the market as unique to you.
This is why rainmakers rarely make good role models. Finding your audience is never about replication. It can’t ever be about being more like them. It has to be about being more like you. What are the best things you bring to the table that truly differentiate you – not just your expertise, but:
how you go physically go about delivering it (your process),
how you make people feel when you deliver it (your style),
how you make them feel after you deliver it (like advocates, satisfied that they made the right choice), or
the depth of your empathy with your client’s needs.
So ignore the ‘pull’ to role model your business development activities on someone else and work on identifying and articulating the best things you have to bring to the market. You can build a client base on that. That’s what I worked on with my coaching candidate and I'm pleased to say as of 1 July, she is now a Partner.