Staying the Course
I met with Andy today. Barely hidden beneath his usual cheeriness, stress crackled like static electricity. A lateral hire at the partner level, he got his job on the expectation that he would bring in enough work to revive a failing practice. He has been at it a year and has yet to deliver … anything.
The rainmaker at one firm who can’t even raise a dust devil at another is seen fairly often in the professions. Why? When a client buys a professional service, she is buying the ability of a team to solve a serious problem. She bases her perception of that ability on the reputation of the seller’s firm, on any past experience she has with the firm and on the trust she has in the word of the rainmaker.
When the rainmaker moves to a new firm, a lot changes. If not better or worse than the old firm’s, the reputation of the new one is at least different. The rainmaker may praise the abilities of his new one, but the client knows he was singing a different melody just yesterday, and, rightly is skeptical. Many will prefer to wait and see, before taking a chance on the new arrangement.
Rainmakers tend to be optimists who overrate their own importance in the buyers’ weighting of factors in their hiring decisions. The inability to sell to their old clients comes as a devastating surprise. When that occurs, the rainmaker often loses focus and seeks to sell a broader array of services or recommends the latest miracle marketing service that will get him better meetings or jumps to another firm in hopes that it will go better there.
I don’t want Andy to fall into any of these traps. In his case I think he should stay the course. That’s because the input measures are favorable. He is having more meetings with the right people on the right subjects. Selling is a numbers game. Get the inputs right and the probability that someone will buy grows. I think he is near a breaking point on several pursuits. I feel his success coming in my aging bones, as sure as spring follows winter.
It will take courage for Andy to stay the course. I hope he does. And I hope I am right and that luck starts to run his way.
