No Extra Points for Managing Relationships the Hard Way
Many aspiring rainmakers are surprised how easy rain making can be.
The logic of it, as I have stated many times, is deceptively simple: If you meet the right people, stay in front of them by being helpful, and remind them from time to time of what you do, you will get new business.
The challenge of rain making derives from trying to keep many parts moving all at once. If you have a networking relationship with several hundred people, each at a different stage of development and requiring customized treatment, managing the complexity tests one’s ability.
So, it’s wise to take advantage of easy ways to maintain and advance relationships. There are, after all, no extra points for doing it the hard way. A professional grasping that there are many easy, little things she can do to advance relationships signals a major advance along her track to rainmakerhood.
Here are some easy things rainmakers do:
Arrive early - A rainmaker named John, like many others, would arrive at client meetings early, so he could drop by the offices of people he was not scheduled to see that day in order to spend five to ten minutes catching up with them. These visits kept him top of mind with these people, keeping relationships warm and keeping him up to date with happenings at the client.
Some of what he learned he put to immediate use. A young professional who went with him on one of these series of brief visits came back in awe. “By the time John got to the third of his drop-in meetings, he was passing on information he hadn’t known half an hour earlier!”
Listen carefully and share - Wilcox realized that communications are imperfect in all companies. He had learned to listen carefully in all his meetings for bits of information that he could legitimately pass on to others, the winning of a new account, the departure of an employee and other little things. He would use them to provide something of value to the rest of the people he met that day. Once he got the hang of it, it was easy.
Introduce yourself - A litigation support consultant went to a bar association meeting. During the reception, he noticed a man standing alone, so he crossed the room and introduced himself. Six weeks later this man, a litigator, introduced the consultant to a client who hired him to help on a case. “I really didn’t do anything. I just went over and talked to him.” But, crossing over the room and talking to the man was doing something, something that no one else had done. The win wouldn’t have been any more important, if he had had to do something hard to get it.
Keep an eye out for news you can forward - One of the most successful rainmakers in Europe clips articles from the newspaper that mentioned a company or industry and uses them as the reason to call or send a note to his clients. A young professional, whom he was encouraging to do the same, said, “What’s the point? This is so easy. Anybody can do it.” The rainmaker responded, “Yes, but no one does.”
Young professionals are always concerned about the time needed to plan and execute large business development efforts. Rainmakers do many small, easy things, sometimes in preference to the larger effort. They know that though many others could easily do the same, few, in fact, do. They know that there are no extra points for doing something hard.
(What are some easy things you do to help manage your relationships?)
