Rainmaking, Personality Traits & 5 Marketing Principles

I was sending an email to an attorney I met at my recent college alumnae meeting. Being that we went to school on the west coast it was great to see some of the people in NYC. After he spoke about the struggle between getting the work and doing the work, I emailed him about coaching I did with a client who wanted to make partner.

I thought it might be useful reading by others.

Mike.

It was a pleasure to meet you at the alumnae party last week; and it was great to re-connect with the school - being on the other side of the country.

I thought of some of the things you mentioned about feeling you could spend more time marketing your practice, and wondering what you might do. You certainly are not alone when you find yourself more happily doing the work of the practice rather than going out to find new business.

The book I mentioned that I worked thru with a client who was eager to make partner and wanted to be generating his own clients is by Ford Harding. He has a number of “rainmaker” books. The one I know is “Creating Rainmakers.” Harding’s premise is that there is no one way to be a rainmaker, but all rainmakers have a number of personality traits.

They are:

Optimistic. Seeing opportunity in every situation
Driven to make things happen and build their business
Have a system for finding new business
Are good listeners and synthesizers
Never lose track of a client

They are also generally poor mentors, meaning trying to saddle up to a rainmaker to learn how he or she does it doesn’t usually work.

Harding goes on to describe a number of principals:

The Investment Principle. Like compound interest in the bank, the more you have the more you get. The more people you know the more opportunities you get.

The Affinity Principle. A network with people who share business concerns will produce higher returns that a less focused one.

The Numbers Game Principle. You have to pursue many to win a few. If you pursue enough the chance of winning becomes higher.

The Time Allocation Principle. Selling won’ happen unless you make time for it. When my client realized that there were potential clients on his son’s soccer team all prospects went up, thereby combining personal and client development time.

The Accumulation Principle. If you hang onto your current clients while you add more, your business will grow faster than if you do one or the other.

These are just a few of the great ideas in Harding’s book. If I can help in anyway let me know. I am happy to share with you what I can, and if ever want to talk about hiring a coach we can talk about what you want to accomplish with a coach. I teach in the coach training program at NYU, and can help you sort through what type of coach would be best for you. If we seem to work well together that is great, and if I can refer to another you that is good to. If you are learn what you need and are not ready for a coach at this time, that’s okay too.

As a footnote, my client made partner and went on to become the highest biller in his firm later on.