rain·mak·er
/ˈrānˌmākər/
noun
INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
a person who generates income for a business or organization by
brokering deals or attracting clients or funds.
There is a notion – especially prevalent among business owners with professional degrees – that “selling” is not something that they need to do. After all, they’ve graduated from university, often after many hard years of study and hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment. All that should be needed is to hang up a sign announcing their tenancy in an office and people should “just beat a path to their door”.
It's a defendable position.
Except it’s utterly false.
I have an MBA. Do I feel entitled to a certain amount of business just because I have a post-graduate degree? Certainly. But the reality is that I can sit waiting in my office, day after day, but unless I make things happen, nothing is going to make my business a success.
As business owners, we must be the rainmakers.
Now that does NOT mean you have to close every sale and talk to every prospect. Can you imagine Elon Musk having to talk to every Tesla prospect or SpaceX customer? It couldn’t be done.
Instead, Elon Musk surrounds himself with other men and women that share his vision. He needs to issue – and monitor - the marching orders he to his lieutenants.
But the reality is, the success or failure of his many businesses starts – and ends – with him. He is the Rainmaker.
Musk is not an isolated case – think about Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Alfred Sloan, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Dwight Eisenhower, and scores of others. These were all rainmakers. They didn’t rely on others to make their endeavours a success – they relied on themselves and their ability to get others buy into their vision.
As a business owner, you have exactly the same responsibility as the leader – especially in the beginning.
YOU need to be the face of the business. YOU need to inspire trust in your prospects. YOU need to be the head cheerleader that rallies the troops and drives them into action.
You may not like that role. I understand. When I first started in business, I didn’t either. Imagine me, from India with a heavy East Indian accent, having to meet AND SELL local business owners on my products and services.
If I had stayed in my office and waited for the phone to ring, the business never would have survived. Instead, I made a conscious effort to reach beyond the safety of my office walls and grow my business. I went door-to-door. I cold-called. I learned how to speak from the stage (and tone down the accent enough that my audience could understand me).
NONE OF THIS WAS COMFORTABLE.
But it was crucial.
And that’s why YOU must be the rainmaker for your business. Your reality is this – no one has the same passion for your business as you. And passion is infectious. It drives employees to excel. If drives clients to buy.
Push through your comfort zone.
Dare to set the bar higher.
Be the rainmaker.
Would you like ideas on how to make it rain in your business?