Nearly every week, I have a conversation with a client facing the same challenge: they need more rainmakers.
Their top business developers are approaching retirement. The next generation is technically strong, well-educated, and highly capable, yet many firms struggle to identify who will step into the role of creating and winning new opportunities.
On the surface, it sounds like a talent problem, I don't believe it is.
The rainmaker gap didn't appear overnight. It has been developing for nearly twenty years.
The last major economic slowdown was the Great Recession, which began in 2007. Next year marks nearly twenty years since that downturn began. An entire generation of professionals have spent most, if not all, of their careers in an environment largely defined by growth, interrupted only by relatively short periods of uncertainty.
That matters because adversity has historically been one of the greatest developers of rainmakers.
When markets tighten and opportunities become scarce, professionals are forced to build relationships, differentiate their firms, and actively pursue work. Business development shifts from being a desirable skill to a necessary one. Many of our industry's strongest rainmakers were forged during difficult economic cycles when winning work required persistence, creativity, and a willingness to step outside their comfort zones.
Over the past two decades, however, many firms have enjoyed steady demand, growing backlogs, and expanding markets. Existing client relationships, strong reputations, and favorable economic conditions often generated enough opportunity to sustain growth.
While that's great news for business performance, it may have unintentionally slowed the development of the next generation of rainmakers.
The issue isn't that today's professionals lack ability. In fact, many are exceptional technical experts, project managers, and client service leaders. What many have not experienced is the necessity of creating demand rather than responding to it.
Selling professional services is a learned skill. It requires exposure, coaching, repetition, and experience. Like leadership, it rarely develops by accident.
As senior rainmakers retire, many firms are discovering that succession plans focused solely on technical expertise are not enough. Future leaders must also possess the confidence and capability to build relationships, earn trust, and create opportunities.
The encouraging news is that the solution already exists inside most firms, your next generation of rainmakers is probably already on your team.
They need intentional mentorship. They need meaningful client exposure. They need business development training long before they become Principals or executives. Most importantly, they need opportunities to practice relationship-building while the current generation of rainmakers is still around to coach them.
The firms that succeed over the next decade won't wait for rainmakers to emerge on their own. They will develop them intentionally through training, coaching, accountability, and real-world application.
The rainmaker gap isn't a talent problem. It's a development problem nearly twenty years in the making and firms that invest in developing seller-doers today will be in the strongest position to lead tomorrow.
