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You have probably heard the term “rainmaker” thrown around before when discussing sales or growth with other advisory firms, but what is a “rainmaker?”
Often, a rainmaker is an advisor who is brought into a firm to secure more clients and/or increase the company’s overall revenue. Looking around at your current team, you probably already have a rainmaker or two in your office, so how do you know when it is time to hire another?
Below, we outlined three signs it’s time to hire your next rainmaker.
1. YOUR WORKLOAD IS AT CAPACITY
Every advisor will eventually hit the point where they no longer have the capacity to take on more clients. When this happens, you will need to make a decision about what goals you want to achieve and what type of financial service business you ultimately want to run.
Most advisors who want to scale their business can be categorized into three pillars: solo practitioners, boutique firms, and enterprise businesses. Depending on which business you are looking to run, your next steps for scaling could look like the following:
SOLO PRACTICE ADVISORY FIRM
For advisors who run solo practices, you will act as the lead advisor for your clients and focus on scaling both your personal productivity and client experience. This business model does have a cap based on your individual capacity. Many advisors start here and decide they want to continue to scale their business leading them to hire additional staff or another rainmaker.
BOUTIQUE ADVISORY FIRM
Advisors who run a boutique firm will still act as the lead advisor for some clients but will also spend more time focused on running the business, too. Scaling these types of boutique firms takes a little more forethought. Questions like “When to hire staff” or “When is it time to hire an employee” are important to ask yourself early on.
ENTERPRISE ADVISORY FIRM
If you are an advisor who has created an enterprise firm, you may benefit the most from a rainmaker business development model. Since you are now completely focused on running the business and making it successful, you will need stellar agents who can deliver on the value you are selling to potential clients.
2. YOU NEED TO GENERATE MORE LEADS
The biggest challenge that is facing advisors today is finding new ways to continually attract new clients. Most successful advisors often have multiple lead-generating streams that they rely on to obtain clients. Typically, this includes some combination of marketing, referrals, cold calling, networking, and conducting events. In addition to this, there is one other tactic that many advisors don’t consider: hiring a rainmaker.
By bringing in a new advisor who has an established book of business, you instantly open your firm up to a new source of leads. With more people on the team, you can begin to explore new niches or offer additional services to existing and potential clients.
3. YOU ARE STARTING TO THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE
Business self-sustainability is a goal for many business owners. As you start to think about the future, this goal becomes more imperative. Even if you love working, eventually there comes a time when you’ll need to slow down, enjoy the life you’ve built, and enter retirement.
One thing that successful financial advisors have in common is that they have found a way to create a self-sustaining business model. If, for example, your goal is to turn your firm into an annuity for when you retire, you’ll need to think about hiring a rainmaker you can begin to train to take over your business and continue to generate revenue for the firm after you’re gone.
Along the same lines, if your goal is to one day sell your firm at top dollar, you’ll want to consider hiring a rainmaker for many of the same reasons. Consider the fact that a potential buyer will be buying your company, not because they want you, but because they want cash flow.
A rainmaker can not only help you increase your firm’s revenue and thus increase your asking price but can also make the transition at the point of sale more seamless for the buyer. If your business survives only with you being in it, buying your company would require more effort on their part to find somebody to replace you and take over operations from day one. That’s where hiring a rainmaker can alleviate this obstacle and help make your firm more “move-in ready” when the time comes.
JOIN THE RAINMAKER MULTIPLIER DIVISION
Clarity 2 Prosperity has taken the guesswork out of knowing when to hire staff with the help of our Rainmaker Multiplier Division. This exclusive organization is built from the collective wisdom of high-performing advisors who share the same goals of learning and growing their businesses.
Most advisors who join the Rainmaker Multiplier Division do so because they are trying to either scale their business upward, create self-sustaining businesses, or establish multiple lead-generation streams. Regardless of which one you fall into, the truth is, you are going to need the help of a rainmaker to achieve your goal.
Learn how top advisors are using The Rainmaker Multiplier Division and its proven processes to improve their work-life balance and grow their financial practice. For pricing on this division or to find out how you can get access for no cost, schedule a free consultation with our Business Development team.