If you plan your approach to the market well and then execute on that plan, you will almost certainly get business.  If you skip the planning, but do get out in the market and work hard at developing business, you still have a good chance of succeeding.  But if you plan without executing, you will fail.  Rain making depends on actions more than on plans.

This seems so obvious; I would be embarrassed to mention it, except I have seen so many examples of failures due to planning at the expense of doing that I feel obliged to say something. 

It takes many forms:

Bit of Brilliance – There is the bit-of-brilliance version to which high-end attorneys and management consultants are particularly susceptible.  The professional suffers from the delusion that he must demonstrate his brilliance in all encounters with clients and prospective clients.  No contact can be made with the market without a bit of brilliance at the ready.  This is a hard standard to meet and chokes off most activity. 

The rainmakers in their firms don’t share this standard, recognizing that attentive listening, common sense, and genuine caring for the client are quite acceptable substitutes for brilliance much of the time.  Pointing this out to bit-of-brilliance proponents has little impact, because sitting in their offices thinking deep thoughts helps them avoid the hard work of developing business.
 
Account Team Game - There is also a group version of endless planning without action.  I call it the account team game.  The representatives from each practice who are supposed to develop a specific account meet monthly to plan the next month’s activities.  Each month, the members all report that they were too busy to execute last month’s plans, they plan the coming month, and repeat the process thirty days later. This may be a slight exaggeration, but not much of one. 

It can be hard to get out of mental traps like these, if you are in one.  Try the following:

• Force yourself to talk with at least one person from a client or prospective client organization a day beyond those you must talk to as a part of paid work. This can be a phone call or a face-to-face meeting.
• Make an easy call first.  If you plan to call several people, calling someone who will welcome your call gets you in motion the way jogging a few steps before running does.
• If you have planned for half an hour, force yourself to make one phone call before planning any more.
• Combine planning with doing.  Ask clients for their reaction to the elements of your plan.  This will make your plan better and increase your activity level.  Many clients like having their advice sought. 

Rainmakers feel discomfort when they haven’t been able to make calls, just as you do when you have postponed some client work too often because of other urgent matters.  You know that if you don’t get to the client work, there will be a high price to pay later in the form of an unhappy client.  The rainmakers know that if they keep putting off their activities in the market, there will be insufficient work to keep everyone employed.  They know they must call and meet with enough people in the market today to avoid that pain tomorrow.

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