Human resource managers and owners of competitive companies all around the world are consistently on the lookout for an individual who can change the climate of the company by attracting huge sums of money to the business in record shattering deals that help change company fortunes overtime. The prodigy who performs this task is known as the Rainmaker!
In climatology, a rainmaker is a person who attempts to cause rain to fall, either by rituals, magic or by a scientific technique such as seeding clouds with crystals. Such personalities could be in demand in climates that have drought and reduced rainfall. But we are more concerned with business. In business, a rainmaker is a person who brings in new business and wins new accounts .A rainmaker is usually a key figure in the business or organization, not merely a salesperson, but a principal operative who has the ability to make fundamental changes occur. According to one view, the role of the rainmaker is to find a dormant business problem and then create a vision of what can be done to resolve that problem and possibly change it to advantage for the organization.
So one key question here: Do you have what it takes to be a rainmaker for your organization? Before you answer the question, I am going draw up an outline of qualities that a rainmaker should have for his job function. You may realize that I mentioned qualities and not necessarily qualifications. Qualifications are important for people who work in organizations but in many cases we find that even though qualifications assist us in getting the appoint in the organization, it is qualities that help us sustain our work and move to higher heights within the workplace.
So what are these qualities? A likable personality is one. If you are going to be at the helm of the big deals in the organization, people whom you work with both within and outside of the organization must take a liking to you. People rarely do business with personalities that they do not like, unless they have no option. So a rainmaker must bend over backwards to get along with people. It’s really a matter of studying those around him and understanding them so that he knows how to get along with them. Rainmakers are knowledgeable people they know their sectors and major players in their sectors inside out. They work with a network of informants and canvassers who feed them back on major activity going on in the sector. If a big deal is going down, they know about it and they know who is involved in it. A Rainmaker may not net every deal that goes through the sector but he would definitely get a share of what is passing and be able to understand those deals and transactions that he missed and why he missed them.
Most Rainmakers are smooth talkers. They have charm and charisma. They can launch into a pitch for the sale or purchase of goods or services without the person who they are addressing being aware of it. Their smooth talk is a pitch that has been perfected over time with practice. The strength and essence of it comes from the ability to assess the customer or client and understand his desires with a quick assessment accomplished with a flourish of questions that expose the weaknesses and desires of the client. Rainmakers are well connected. They often know people in key positions who are consistently of use to them in business situations. Some of them have a machinery in place in form of a large network of people. The machinery is consistently oiled with favors exchanged in form of gifts flowing through the hands of those involved. Some of these networks are very expensive to maintain, but their value is inestimable for the player who wishes to ensure that a win-win situation is encouraged in this network. Everyone must be happy. Technically that is the way the machinery is oiled.
There is a danger of a having a Rainmaker on your team. Such individuals are known to be the restless kind of individual. Upwardly mobile, they are known to up and leave a job at very short notice. They fall into the group of people that Human Resource Managers categorize as valuable employees whom the organization does not wish to lose. HR managers are therefore often burdened with the task of evolving creative benefits packages that would keep such employees with the organization over long periods of time. When he is on good terms with the company, the Rainmaker is a delight to have in your corner.
The digital world has created what is known as the Rainmaker Platform.
A Rainmaker Platform is a complete digital marketing and sales solution. It combines powerful website features with email, marketing automation, which all combine to help encourage and improve sales on digital platforms. A company that adopts a Rainmaker Platform would invest in Customer Relationship Management software that would enable it reach a wide range of customers online and keep tabs on them continuously.
