Oh Well.

Chapter Sixteen

Making Rain

Harvey Mackay’s book, Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, is right on. The book is about networking and building relationships before you need them. That’s exactly why the notion of hiring a new business person is a little off strategy. You really need someone who can see the future. The top dog should be the primary business development contact, but so many agency presidents and managing directors get wrapped up in managing existing business they feel they don’t have time or energy to prospect for new accounts. They never get a chance to focus on longer-term goals until it becomes panic time. (Like just after loosing your biggest account. The same account you devoted all your energy to save.) Nevertheless, I am pleased to report that I’ve had some success as a “rainmaker.” I was able to leverage Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s reputation in Miami to lead an effort and win the South Florida Mercedes Benz Dealer Group account. Later at TBWA Chiat/Day, a similar set of circumstances resulting in my becoming a “rainmaker” again resulted in the agency win of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Newspaper as a new account. Both The Mercedes Benz and St. Louis Post-Dispatch are satisfying wins for me professionally but neither was the kind of thunderstorms the respective agencies needed at the time.