3 Really Bad Reasons to Hire a Rainmaker7 min read

So before I get everyone all fired up, especially all of you rainmakers, I’ll quietly admit that there is a place in this world for very skilled practitioners in professional services firms that do nothing but sell and close a lot of deals, i.e. rainmakers. A small number of firms do quite well with their rainmakers. But you probably don’t have that person, and you think you’d be better off hiring someone to do that. Well, I’ve got 3 really bad reasons to hire a rainmaker.

Picking on Rainmakers

So why would I, a person that works in sales, want to call out rainmakers? Many are lovely people who are really good at what they do. Heck, I’m good friends with some of these people!

I do this because I see firm after firm, organization after organization go searching for a silver-bullet solution to sales, growth, and client development. And unfortunately, almost all of them fall short of their goals. Leads aren’t created soon enough, proposals aren’t sent out fast enough, and deals aren’t closed often enough. Whatever the issue, it doesn’t end well, and many times it’s not the rainmaker’s fault. Maybe it was due to one of these reasons.

Bad Reason #1: You don’t know how to sell.

It’s not as easy as pie. It’s not as simple as ABC. And it’s not something that you were born — or not born — to do. But it’s not rocket science, either. Sales is a skill that you learn, just like any other. You’ve likely spent years learning and then practicing your craft, whether its engineering or law or architecture or accounting. You’ve developed some intuition — some muscle memory — around your profession. Sales, on the other hand, is like eating soup with your non-dominant hand — confusing, messy, and uncomfortable.

Your brain tells you that you need a sales mentor or guide or maybe some training, but your gut tells you that you need to hire somebody else to do sales so you can put that damn spoon back where it belongs before you spill more soup on your shirt.

But your brain is right — you need to learn about sales. You don’t need to master selling, you just need to understand it more. The great thing is that selling is a process with steps and milestones and procedure, just like your profession. And there are many parts or roles that you can play. You can participate in the early steps or the later ones, the big ones or the little ones, all with clear objectives, and all important parts contributing to a great team effort.

That rainmaker you’re thinking of hiring is kind of a lone wolf — not a great team player. That rainmaker has kind of a squishy sales process. And that rainmaker might not be a very good teacher.

Bad Reason #2: You need a real deal closer.

Honestly, you really don’t want this. You really don’t want that Glengarry Glen Ross Alec Baldwin “Always Be Closing” person. You kinda hate that guy.

But somebody told you at some point that this is an important person to have. So secretly you’ve been on the lookout for that clutch salesperson who could reel in the big fish, so to speak, and now you’re in that brain/gut battle once again. You don’t think that person would fit well into your firm culture and you don’t want to spend the big bucks on that salary, but your gut keeps pulling you in that direction.

Here’s the thing — your client doesn’t want some other person in the mix, especially in a lengthy, complex sales process. Your client — your client — wants to work with you. They want you close the deal. They want to know that you are putting your head and heart into the deal. Your client wants you to not only be accountable and responsible for the work, but proud of it.

You need to tend to your client relationships with as much energy and enthusiasm as you show with your craft. You need to get support from your internal teams — marketing, sales, technical, and administrative — to assure your client receives the highest level of care. Maybe, you might need a coach to help in the rough spots. The buzzwords are “customer experience” or “customer journey” and you need to own it.

Bad Reason #3: You want to grow your business faster.

Faster is better, and easy and fast is much better. Your business is successful, but you’d like to make the jump to the next level — a bigger office, more billable employees, some actual support staff, and a little pressure off of you. Sounds great!

You’re willing to swallow your pride a bit and hire that rainmaker. What you really want, to be honest, is the rainmaker’s contacts, not the warm body that comes with it. You want all of their relationships to instantly become your relationships. And some of those relationships might just come with contracts waiting to be signed.

As you slowly awaken from your dream state, you realize that there may have been some big misunderstanding. Rainmakers often assume they are being hired more for their sales acumen and less for their connections, as they plan to work with and develop your leads and your relationships. The hiring firm likely has those two things reversed, creating a huge collision in priorities and expectations during the early stages of the relationship.

Beyond this, there is no easy way to “hack” the growth of your firm, particularly in the world of professional services. There are better ways to build your firm over time, and I can think of a few excellent firms that do this, most of whom understand the importance of excellent marketing. Remember, marketing comes before sales, and the best rainmaker in the world won’t be successful — at least in the long run — without excellent marketing that is well integrated with your sales process.

Dear rainmaker, I really do love you.

I’ve been harsh. I’ve been unfair. And, I’ve made brash generalizations that might be off the mark. I’m terribly sorry about all of it. Rainmaker, I really do love you to pieces.

If you’ve really paid attention to what I’ve written, I haven’t set out to throw any shade on rainmakers. Maybe your company has someone you think is a rainmaker and is a fabulous part of your team. Maybe a long time partner or senior leader who has evolved to be quite the sales professional. Maybe…

Even if I do love my dear rainmaker friends, I won’t walk any of this back, as many of them have seen these same things happen time and time again. I’ve presented three reasons here… I have many more, and if you’re a rainmaker, you might have a few as well.

Smart firms learn how selling works, and not just a few of the top people, but a lot of people. Successful firms steward their client relationships as a team and don’t outsource them to a single rainmaker. Determined firms know that growing a business takes time and effort and dedication and focus. Your organization can be all of this, even without a rainmaker.