Rainmaker (business)

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title: "Rainmaker (business)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["business-terms", "fundraising"] description: "Person who brings in new business" topic_path: "general/business-terms" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainmaker_(business)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Person who brings in new business ::

In business, a rainmaker is a person who brings in new business and wins new accounts almost by magic, since it is often not readily apparent how this new business activity is caused. It means generating substantial new business or additional cash flow{{cite news |author= Shana Lynch |title= Cinequest's rainmaker is one to know |newspaper= Silicon Valley BizBlog |date= March 1, 2011 |url= http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/2011/03/cinequests-rainmaker-is-one-to-know.html |accessdate= June 2, 2012 |author= David Benoit |title= UBS's New Co-Head of Investment Banking A Big Rainmaker |newspaper= Wall Street Journal |quote= Why is Orcel so highly valued? Because he is a rainmaker who has made big deals, and a lot of fees. |date= March 22, 2012 |url= https://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/03/22/ubss-new-co-head-of-investment-banking-a-big-rainmaker/ |accessdate= June 2, 2012 |author= Lucia Moses |title= Meredith Loses Rainmaker, Axes 80: Martin Reidy led integrated marketing unit |newspaper= Adweek |quote= Martin Reidy, who led the hot B-to-B unit Meredith Integrated Marketing (recently renamed Meredith Xcelerated Marketing), .... |date= April 25, 2012 |url= http://www.adweek.com/news/press/meredith-loses-rainmaker-axes-80-139836 |accessdate= June 2, 2012

The origin of the business sense of rainmaker may be an allusion to the Native American practice of dancing to encourage deities to bring forth the rain necessary for crops. In summertime during a drought, for instance, the rainmaker would dance and sing songs on the plains, and the activity was believed by others in the tribe to magically cause clouds to come and bring the life-giving rain. By analogy, a business rainmaker would magically bring new business and clients to a firm or generate more revenue from existing customers and donors, and rain is a metaphor for money.

The term rainmaking is also applied to political fund-raising.{{cite news |author= LESLIE WAYNE |title= A Fund-Raising Rainmaker Arises Online |newspaper= The New York Times |date= November 29, 2007 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/us/politics/29actblue.html |accessdate= June 2, 2012

References

References

1. "Rain Dance". American Indian Heritage Foundation.
2. Jeffrey J. Fox. How to Become a Rainmaker. Hyperion (May 17, 2000) {{ISBN. 0-7868-6595-4

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