Whether you lead your firm, manage a team or work on the front lines, “rainmaking”—the art of bringing in business—is core to building a practice. In his book “Rainmaking,” Ford Harding writes: “There is no one right way to develop business. Whatever your particular skills and interests, you can make a contribution.” Yet, for designers it often feels like successful business developers were just born that way. Most of us work with churches through passion and opportunity, but after weathering a few turns in the market, we learn that business development skill is 100% necessary to be able to practice our craft.
Here are four strategies to improve rainmaking—for both ourselves and in coaching our teams:
1. Document your network. The heart of churches is relationships, and—in fact—churches don’t work with companies, they work with people. Why document? Because it is the only way to maintain the discipline of consistent connection. Whether we use a CRM solution (client relationship management software), are proactive with LinkedIn or go old school with index cards, having a list of all the people we know, setting a rhythm for connecting with them and documenting conversations forces us to focus outwardly rather than inwardly. Training our teams in the value of their own networks (or beginning the discipline ourselves) can be transformational in caring for relationships that lead to work. And you are never too young to start documenting your relationships so that you begin to see them as the network that they are.
Training our teams in the value of their own networks (or beginning the discipline ourselves) can be transformational in caring for relationships that lead to work.
2. Create a rhythm of connection practices. Remember that person you knew from school that you didn’t hear from for years then he suddenly called out of the blue to pitch his new multi-level-marketing company? Yeah. We don’t want to be that guy. Once our network is documented, we can determine how frequently we want to connect. For some contacts, it may be as sparse as once or twice a year. For others, it may be monthly. Connection isn’t about selling, it is about caring. Taking the time to check in with people and finding out what is going on in their world when there is no project opportunity is a great way to maintain a relationship.
3. Develop content. Our digital world thrives on content. What is content? Simply anything you write, photograph, draw or speak about that others find valuable. Content creates opportunities for people to connect with us around ideas before they connect with us about a business opportunity. The challenge is that it is difficult to prioritize content creation when we are busy serving the clients we already have. Just as it takes setting a rhythm for connection, content creation needs consistent time set aside to produce it. (Otherwise you wind up as the Twitter account with one tweet.)
4. Networking. The first networking event I went to was awkward. That is until a woman noticed the glazed look in my eyes and pulled me out of a conversation I neither understood nor could contribute to and asked me the very friendly question: “So, what have you gotten to do since you got to Seattle?” She threw me a lifeline and I took it, and now I try to do that for others in similar events. While a few people are natural networkers, most use a series of strategies to navigate a room, and one of my favorites is: “So, have you met Ted?” (Why yes, that is a HIMYM reference.) Introducing people to each other who might have common interests is far easier than introducing yourself and trying to carry a conversation. It works like this: “Have you met Ted? He’s an architect that specializes in churches and I know you guys just completed an expansion.” You’ve just given two people who don’t know each other something to talk about (saving them from networking boredom) and in starting the conversation, you also get to join in.
Taking the time to develop these skills and teach them to our teams ensures we get to do the things we are most gifted in, and more importantly creates the healthy relationships that result in healthy companies.
