Marketing for Rainmakers

I recently forwarded a friend’s resume to a business acquaintance, the president of a large, nationally known ad agency. I describe her as an “acquaintance” because the casualness of our relationship is an integral element in this story. I had been a client of her firm’s several years ago, and hadn’t seen her since then. Indeed, if we passed each other on the street we’d probably do a double-take but not be quite able to place how we knew each other. Nonetheless, when I wrote to her and began my note with “I hope you remember me…,” her rainmaking response was “of course, I do.”

My emailed note went on to explain that a neighbor had relocated from the West Coast, had taken some time off to care for her children, and now wanted to rejoin the workforce. My business acquaintance explained that her firm was not hiring, however, one of her clients might be a good fit for my friend’s background. She called the marketing director of that firm, introduced my friend, and arranged for them to talk.

While it would be easy to dismiss this as “a nice thing that most anyone would do,” the reality is that people like this ad agency president are rare and something to be marveled at. She barely knew me, and the friend I referred was an absolute stranger. Nonetheless, the agency president interrupted her day and went substantially above and beyond to help someone she didn’t even know.

Why would she do that? Because she’s a natural rainmaker. She sees the big picture, she doesn’t worry about getting paid back for her efforts, and she is gracious and engaged in every interaction. And that’s a good definition of rainmaker marketing — grace under pressure, total engagement, and a selfless mindset. It’s something we should all aspire to.