I am excited to be heading to Hartford Connecticut today to speak at SMPS CT on the topic of “Building a Culture of Rainmakers“. As is my custom I have attached a copy of the power point presentation under the resources tab on this site.
Networking: The Universal Tool
The term “rainmaking” encompasses many aspects of work capture (as perfectly described in the book Rain Making by Ford Harding). These include speaking, writing, public relations, networking, and marketing.
When dealing with changing a corporate culture it is vital to focus on aspects of rainmaking that all of your employees can embrace. Networking is the universal tool that everyone in your company can leverage to bring work in the door. This does not negate other aspects of rainmaking, but rather it focuses the efforts of everyone on relationship development, the foundational key to a successful business.
cofebuz 
Tim:
But networking to what end? Isn’t it important for everyone to buy into a vision of the firm and its culture and their role in both for networking to be effective?
Ford Harding
Ford-
Always good to hear your thoughts here, thanks for the great question. During the “Educate and Encourage” step in Changing Corporate Culture everyone in the firm needs to be taught about the new culture and vision. (You can see the power point or my previous blogs on the topic for more information on this step).
The one thing I do question is the idea that “everyone needs to buy into a vision of the firm.” I have found that it is virtually impossible to build 100% buy-in until the culture transformation is in place. Even after a cultural shift has been embraced by a company we still see that it is very rare that ‘everyone’ is on board. The goal then is to permeate networking into the core of the company even as early as the Educate and Encourage step so that the success of the cultural shift is self-evident.
On a side note, we are greatly looking forward to your lunch program at SMPS DC in February! I look forward to gaining more insight into this topic in addition to others.
Tim
Hi Tim,
Thank you so much for bringing “Building a Culture of Rainmakers” to Hartford, and thank you too to William H. Gordon Associates,Inc. for sharing you with us.
It was a great program and you are an engaging presenter. The response has been wonderful. By generously sharing your valuable step-by-step approach, you are extending the value of the program and giving marketers a great tool for training within their own companies. I highly recommend that other SMPS’ invite you to present to their chapters.
Regards,
Geryl Rose
President, SMPS Connecticut Chapter