How To Become A Rainmaker
Introduction: Definition: A Rainmaker is a person who brings revenue into an organization.
Chapter 1: The Rainmaker’s Credo
Cherish customers at all times.
Treat customers as you would your best friend.
Listen to customers and decipher their needs.
Give customers exactly what they need.
Price your product to its dollarized value.
Show customers the dollarized value of what they get.
Teach customers to want what they need.
Offer your product the way customers want it.
Give customers more than they expect.
Remind customers of the dollarized value they received.
Thank customers sincerely and often.
Help customers pay you, so they won’t go elsewhere.
Ask for repeat business.
Chapter 2: "Why Should This Customer Do Business With Us?"
Never make a sales call on a customer unless you can answer the question, "Why should this customer do business with our company, with me?" This answer must be a benefit to the customer. The answer must fit the customer’s agenda, not yours.
The Rainmaker answers this question by calculating what economic benefits the product will give the customer and by calculating the consequences to the customer of not going with the recommendation.
Chapter 3: Obey Marketing’s First Commandment
Always put yourself in the shoes of the good customer. Answer the question, "What would I want if I were the customer?" The answer is what you should strive to provide.
Chapter 4: Customers Don’t Care About You
The only thing the customer cares about is their problem(s). They do not care about your problems. Never lose focus on whose issues and problems are most important.
Chapter 5: Always Precall Plan Every Sales Call
Precall planning is especially important on the initial call with a new customer and when making a sales call that concludes with asking for an order.
Rainmakers never waste a sales call: They always precall plan. It is typical for a Rainmaker to spend three hours planning for a fifteen-minute sales call. Planning and practicing for two days to two weeks for a single, important sales call is not uncommon.
A Rainmaker never calls on a decision-maker without a written precall plan.
A precall planning checklist should include:
Written sales call objective.
Needs analysis questions to ask.
Something to show.
Anticipated customer concerns and objections.
Points of differentiation from competitors.
Meaningful benefits to the customer.
Dollarization approach; ROI Analysis.
Strategies to handle customer objections/concerns.
Closing strategies.
Expected Surprises.
Chapter 6: Fish Where The Big Fish Are
Rainmakers only talk to customers who are familiar with their solution, or who already use their solution, or who have a high probability of needing their solution.
Chapter 7: Show Them The Money
The solution to the customer’s problem can always be expressed in financial terms—in dollars and cents.
Rainmakers do not sell software. They sell money! They sell reduced downtime, lower inventory, and higher service levels, etc.
Chapter 8: Earthquakes Don’t Count
Rainmakers either make the sale or they don’t.
No one cares why you didn’t make the sell.
Rainmakers do not make excuses.
Chapter 9: Killer Sales Question #1
Send a four or five sentence letter to the customer detailing the dollarized benefit of the solution and promising a follow-up phone call. Good customers do not ignore a compelling dollarization. They will take your call. When you have the customer on the phone, suggest a meeting, and ask, "Do you have your appointment calendar?" (90% success rate getting appt.)
Chapter 10: Always Take The Best Seat In A Restaurant
You want the customer to focus on you; not the good view, the golf course, or the people walking outside.
Chapter 11: Don’t Drink Coffee On A Sales Call
Drinking coffee wastes time and presents too many chances to make a mess. Besides, you cannot take good notes with a coffee cup in your hand.
Chapter 12: You’re Not At Lunch To Eat Lunch
It’s not about lunch. It’s about getting the customer’s commitment, getting the bill, and getting to the next selling opportunity.
Chapter 13: Never Wear A Pen In Your Shirt Pocket
A leaky pen can kill a sale. Rainmakers do nothing that might decrease the odds of making a sale.
Chapter 14: Killer Sales Question #2
The Rainmaker asks the customer, "Based on analysis, it looks like you can save $180,000 per year with my company’s solution. Can I assume there are probably a number of things that have to be done before you can comfortably recommend this approach? OK, so before we get into this in any depth, can I get your agreement on the analysis? Will you look at the facts and decide for yourself if they make sense?"
By agreeing to "decide for himself", the customer eliminates the option of not deciding. The customer is now engaged and can’t ignore the facts. One way or another, the customer must make a decision. If the solution benefits him—and it must—he will buy.
Chapter 15: Rainmakers Turn Customer Objections Into Customer Objectives
Customers always have concerns or issues that must be satisfied before they buy your product.
These are sometimes brought to your attention; however, most of the time, they are unspoken.
A concern that is a deal breaker to one prospect is only a detail to another.
Rainmakers welcome objections because they know objections are the ways customers express their desires.
The Rainmaker always turns an objection into a mutual—customer/Rainmaker—objective. The Rainmaker, in question form, restates the objection as an objective.
Only Rainmakers understand the brilliant subtlety of turning objections into objectives.
This technique changes the tone of the language from adversarial to positive.
The customer’s "yes" is an agreement—an invitation to continue the discussion.
The Rainmaker can now ask more questions to perfectly understand the customer’s concern and to move to a mutually acceptable solution.
Rainmakers encourage objections, especially the unspoken ones.
Rainmakers know that the sale cannot be made until every customer concern, no matter how trivial, is satisfactorily addressed.
If the sale is not progressing, the Rainmaker will ask, "What else is concerning you?" Or, "What is keeping us from moving ahead?"
Rainmakers always probe for objections. Rainmakers love objections.
Chapter 16: Always Make a "Mid-Job, Next-Job" Recommendation
The Rainmaker is always alert for the next job, the next sale, the next opportunity.
The Rainmaker knows the easiest next sale is always to an existing customer.
Midway through one project with a customer, the Rainmaker proposes another way in which the Rainmaker’s company can help the customer.
This is accomplished with a "mid-job, next-job" memo or recommendation letter. Presenting a "mid-job, next-job" memo is a Rainmaker rule.
Chapter 17: Treat Everybody You Meet as a Potential Client
Rainmakers view the world, and everyone in it, as their market.
They know that anyone can become a client, refer a client, or recommend a client, or scuttle a promising relationship. Everybody has the ability to either hurt or help.
Rainmakers treat non-clients as politely as they do existing customers.
There are no "little-people" to the Rainmaker. Everyone is treated with courtesy.
The Rainmaker is as respectful and polite to the company’s receptionist as he is the company’s president. This behavior includes the Rainmaker’s own office as well as his customer’s office.
Chapter 18: Heed the Biggest Buying Signal
When you ask a group of salespeople to state the most important buy signals, they will usually list things such as "the client smiles", "the customer asks about terms", "the customer asks a technical question", "the customer says yes", and so on.
These are all important, but most important buy signal to the Rainmaker is when the customer agrees to see him. Today’s customer is too busy to see a salesperson unless he has a problem.
The Rainmaker knows that if a customer agrees to see him, it is because he needs something, wants something, or has a problem. It is the Rainmaker’s job to uncover the reason(s).
The Rainmaker finds out what the customer wants on a sales call. When the customer agrees to see you, he knows it is a sales call and you are a salesperson. The customer knows something about your product. He probably knows something about your competition. Consequently, when the customer agrees to see you, he is giving you the first, and most important buy signal.
Chapter 19: Killer Sales Question #3
The customer tells you, "we are also working with ABC Company. They are a good company, and their solution costs less than yours."
The customer already knows that ABC is a good company and their solution costs less than yours. The customer knew this before he agreed to see you. Therefore, there must be something about ABC Company that makes the customer uneasy. The Rainmaker must underscore this unease.
Because the Rainmaker always does an excellent job of precall planning, he knows how he and his company differ from ABC Company.
The Rainmaker responds to the customer’s initial question in exactly the following way: "Yes, they are an excellent company, would you like to know our points of difference?" This is a killer sales question.
You never knock the competition. In fact, you do not even repeat the competitor’s name.
The Rainmaker’s answer, the points of difference, will be what the customer thinks about every time he compares the Rainmaker’s company to the competitor’s.
Chapter 20: Always Return Every Call Every Day
Returning phone calls is a basic courtesy, but most people don’t do it.
Rainmakers return all calls every day. They return everyone’s calls—customers, prospects, suppliers, jobseekers, and parents. Rainmakers are not too big, too important, or too busy for anyone.
Rainmakers love leaving VM messages if the person is not available when they return the call. Because VM usually tells the person when the message was left, Rainmakers will often leave messages at 6:15 A.M. or at 11:45 P.M. The time associated with the VM is a notable point of difference.
Chapter 21: Learn the "Miles Per Gallon" of Selling
The gas tank is the seller’s available number of sales calls. The miles-per-gallon is the seller’s close-to-call ratio.
If a car has 25 gallons of gas and gets 20 miles per gallon, the car can travel 500 miles. If the seller has 300 available sales calls in a year (number of selling days X the average number of sales call per day), and has a close-to-call ratio of 20:1, the salesperson can make 15 sales. If the seller, in this example, cannot increase his available number of sales calls, or improve his close-to-call ratio, then the sales potential is 15 sales…not 16.
Consequently, the Rainmaker plans up to 20 calls on a target customer, and does not call on more than 15 targets.
Chapter 22: Beware the Myth of Time and Territory Management
Improving time and territory management (T&T) is an example of doing the wrong thing right. T&T management is an archaic concept relevant for both door-to-door and route salespeople.
T&T management suggests that it is wrong to not call on every good potential account in your territory. It also causes salespeople to make fewer calls on more prospects. Many times, a less than optimal number of sales calls on high-potential accounts results.
Chapter 23: Always Taste the Wine Before a Wine Tasting
Never assume something you have the ability to check or test beforehand.
Details matter to the Rainmaker. How do the handouts look? Is the projector bright enough? Do you have a replacement bulb? Did you make enough copies?
Rainmakers always test in private what they are going to sell in public.
Chapter 24: Dare to Be Dumb
The number one complaint about salespeople is that they do not ask enough questions. Preplanned, practiced questions are vital to a good salesperson’s success.
A lack of good questions suggests to the customer that the salesperson is unprepared.
Even if he thinks he knows the answers, the Rainmaker asks enough "dumb" questions and takes enough notes to convince the prospect he perfectly understands their needs and wants.
Chapter 25: Always Do an Investment Return Analysis
The investment return analysis calculates the economic benefits your customer will receive from using your solution.
The Rainmaker uses simple arithmetic to show the customer how a $2,000 investment in a lathe will reduce scrap metal by $1,200 per year. The reduced scrap metal is the benefit. The $1,200 is the dollarization of that benefit. In this scenario, the customer gets a 60% per year return on investment.
The greater the return on investment, the more compelling it is for the customer to purchase your solution.
A good investment return analysis also shows the customer how much it is costing him to go without the solution. In the lathe example, the customer gets $1,200 in savings returned. It is costing the customer $100 per month to not buy the lathe.
Showing the customer how much it is costing per day, per week, per month, per year to be without your solution is the single best way to shorten the sales cycle.
The Rainmaker uses investment return analysis to show the true cost (not price) of the product. The Rainmaker does not sell the solution. The Rainmaker sells what the customer will get from the solution.
The Rainmaker does not sell drills; he sells holes…and holes that are $.02 less expensive to drill.
Chapter 26: Never Forget: Everybody Is Somebody’s Somebody
See chapter 17.
Chapter 27: Always Be on "High Receive"
Nothing is more important to the Rainmaker’s success than "active" listening. Listen for what is being said as well as for those things that are not being said.
Ask clarifying questions, take notes, and pay attention to non-verbal clues.
In a meeting, Rainmakers give their total attention to the customer. They are the masters of capturing the level of detail necessary to set themselves apart from other salespeople.
Chapter 28: "Onionize"
Rainmakers use the term onionize to remind themselves to keep peeling away until they arrive at an understanding of the root causes of the current state of affairs.
Rainmakers keep asking "why" until they understand.
The Rainmaker’s goal is to model the investigative reporter, the psychiatrist, or the detective. They ask, probe, dig diagnose, and listen. They onionize to understand.
Chapter 29: If You Don’t Care About the Answer, Don’t Ask the Question
"Face-time" is too valuable to waste by asking the customer about the mounted large-mouth bass hanging on his office wall.
Chapter 30: Never Be in a Meeting
Never be "in a meeting" when a customer calls. Customers hate being unable to speak with you because you are in a meeting. The only exception is when you are meeting with another customer. They expect to not be able to reach you if you are speaking with another customer.
A Rainmaker is never sick; he is out of the office meeting with a customer.
A Rainmaker has never "left for the day"; he is out of the office meeting with a customer.
A Rainmaker is never "out to lunch"; he is meeting with a client.
A Rainmaker is never "not yet made it to the office"; he is at a breakfast meeting with a client.
Chapter 31: Present for Show, Close for Dough
Rainmakers do not rely on slick presentations or fancy audiovisuals to make the sale.
To an average salesperson, a slick presentation is a crutch. To a Rainmaker, it is a tool.
An average salesperson presents and hopes the customer says "yes". A Rainmaker presents and helps the customer to decide. No matter how slick the presentation, closing is what makes sales.
Chapter 32: Advice to a Baby-sitter
Once a customer hires you, they don’t care how hard the job is or what pains you took to complete it. Do a great job, be on time, and be on budget. Give the customer a little more than he expects. This is the formula for customer satisfaction and long-term sales growth. Don’t bother the customer with "how bad the kids were when they were gone."
Chapter 33: Killer Sales Question #4
Customers need to be sure that your solution will perform as well as you say it will. The greater the investment, the greater the customer’s need to be sure.
Many times a customer will ask for a demonstration before deciding whether or not to buy the solution. When asked, the Rainmaker responds as follows: "We would be happy to give you a demonstration. If the demo is successful, is there anything else preventing you from moving forward?"
By asking this killer sales question, the Rainmaker is either going to hear some unresolved customer issue, or get agreement to an action that leads to a close.
Chapter 34: Give and Get
In selling, if you give something, you should plan to get something in return from the customer.
The honest prospect knows he cannot get something for nothing.
If you give a discount, get more volume.
If you give a demonstration, get an agreement to move forward if the solution works well.
Chapter 35: Sell on Friday Afternoons
Anytime is a good time to make a sales call on a decision-maker. Excellent selling times are before 8:00 in the morning and after 3:00 on Friday afternoons.
Early mornings are good for two reasons: (1) there are limited interruptions at that time, and (2) the customer’s agreement to the unusual hour is a big buying signal.
Friday afternoons are good for many reasons. The best reason to see prospects on Friday afternoon is that your competitors are not.
Chapter 36: "Break the Ice" at the End of the Sales Call
"So, did you shoot that deer on the wall, or kill it with your car?" Ice-breakers are supposed to ease the tension between the salesperson and the prospect.
There is no "ice" between a Rainmaker and his prospect. You have an appointment, the prospect knows why you are there, and you know you have the ability to help the situation.
Rainmakers limit their questions to diagnostic-driven questions that help further his understanding of the issues. He does not waste time commenting on the pictures hanging on the walls.
Chapter 37: Use the Point System Every Day
There are four parts to every sale. They are:
Getting a lead, a referral, or an introduction to a decision-maker. (1 Point)
Getting an appointment to meet the decision-maker. (2 Points)
Meeting the decision-maker face-to-face. (3 Points)
Getting a commitment to a close or an action the leads directly to a close. (4 Points)
A Rainmaker should earn 4 points each day, not wait until Friday and try for 20.
At the top of your daily action list put "Get 4 Points".
If you tally 4 points-per-day, you will never run out of prospects, your pipeline will always be full, you will never have a slow period, and you will always be making rain.
Follow this routine for 30 business days and keep detailed records.
Chapter 38: A Shot on Goal is Never a Bad Day
Rainmakers go for it. They never negatively pre-judge a selling event.
The Rainmaker knows one reality: if he doesn’t make the selling attempt, there will be no sale.
Chapter 39: Don’t Make Cold Calls
Traditional cold calls don’t work. They indicate poor planning and suggest the salesperson is not doing a good job qualifying prospects.
Use the 4 points-per-day system and cold calling should be a thing of the past.
Chapter 40: Show the Chain, Sell the First Link
Showing the customer the step-by-step, agreement-by-agreement process, from first sales call to purchase order, is a compelling selling technique. Only Rainmakers use this technique. Most salespeople either don’t know all the steps, or don’t understand the linkage, or don’t plan strategically, or are afraid of showing their hand.
The Rainmaker shows the chain, makes it clear how the phases in the sale are linked—from first sales call to purchase order—and then sells the first link. The first link is attached to the last link. Sell the first link and you sell the chain.
Chapter 41: Don’t Talk with Food in Your Mouth
Rainmakers use good manners all the time with everyone.
Chapter 42: Killer Sales Question #5
To close the sale, to get the final commitment, the Rainmaker might say: "You’ve looked at everything. Your concerns have been answered. Time is of the essence. You’ve heard our recommendation. Why don’t you give it a try?"
"Why don’t you give it a try?" is a killer sales question. The "it" is your product/solution.
Chapter 43: Love Voice Mail
VM can be an excellent selling tool for the Rainmaker. VM gives the salesperson an uninterrupted period of time to deliver a meaningful dollarized benefit to the decision maker.
The objective of your VM message is to get the customer to call you back, or for the customer to take your next call or to want to meet you.
The key to VM selling is to leave a compelling message, something that resonates positively with your customer.
To be able to leave a good message the salesperson must accurately answer the question, "Why should this customer do business with me?"
You must answer the questions "Why should the customer call me back?" and "Why should the customer listen to me the next time I call?"
You must give the customer a dollarized value of your solution.
Prepare your VM message in writing. Practice the delivery. Keep it under 30 seconds.
Use a third-party reference for credibility if you can. "Bob Smith at ABC Supply recommended that I introduce myself to you."
Speak slowly, clearly, and distinctly.
State how long your VM message will be.
State the purpose of your call—to alert the customer to a dollarized opportunity.
State the benefit and dollarized value.
Suggest a limited time frame for your ultimate meeting.
Give your telephone number, and speak slowly. Always say "area code" before reciting your three-digit area code. When giving the seven-digit number, pause between the numbers. Then repeat the number.
Thank the customer and tell him that if he doesn’t get a chance to return the call, you will follow up in the near future.
Chapter 44: Park in the Back
First impressions are important. Don’t let the customer see you getting out of your car, putting on your jacket, straightening your tie, fumbling with your briefcase, etc.
Never show vulnerability. Always be confident.
Park in the back, prepare for the call in private, and make an excellent first impression.
Chapter 45: Be the Best-Dressed Person You Will Meet Today
Don’t necessarily dress-up or dress-down. Simply dress a little better than the person you’re meeting with that day.
Dressing with care flatters your customer. It was said that President Reagan had such respect for the Oval Office that he never entered unless dressed in a suit and tie. The American people appreciated that respect and they reelected him in a landslide.
Your respect for the customer will show, and your customer will appreciate it.
Chapter 46: Why Breakfast Meetings Bring Rain
Breakfast is an excellent time to do business with a prospective customer. Here’s why:
The prospect knows the purpose of a breakfast meeting is to talk business. Consequently, when a prospect agrees to meet for breakfast, he is making an uncommon investment of time. That investment is a positive buy signal.
Breakfast meetings are less vulnerable to cancellations than other meetings. They occur before the prospect’s daily problems begin. And the customer is alert and attentive.
Chapter 47: "Here’s My Card…"
Rainmakers make it a point to get their business card to as many people as possible. The leading producers in every field freely distribute their business card and briefly position their firm’s expertise many times each week.
Chapter 48: Killer Sales #6
A complete understanding of the customer’s needs, wants, concerns, objections, options, budget, and timetable is crucial to the Rainmaker.
The Rainmaker prepares for the prospect’s input sessions with carefully crafted needs analyses and situation-understanding questions. No question is too trivial, too obvious, or too mundane to ask. The goal is to diagnose the problem completely.
Regardless of the quality of the questions, and regardless of the willingness of the customer to share information, the Rainmaker always assumes he missed something. Therefore, the Rainmaker always concludes an interview with a customer by asking a killer sales question.
The killer sales question is: "Have we covered every issue that is important to you?"
If you have covered everything, you’re in good shape. If not, you will unearth something that is important to the customer and increase your chances of eventually closing the sale.
Average salespeople are afraid to ask this question for fear of looking stupid. The most successful, the most confident, and the most respected sales professionals in every industry ask, "Have we covered every issue that is important to you?"
Chapter 49: Ten Things to Do Today to Get Business
Send a handwritten note.
Clip and send an article of interest to your customer or prospect.
Talk to a satisfied client and ask who else you might help.
Send a thank-you gift to someone who referred you.
Give your business card to someone with influence.
Send a letter to the editor of a magazine your customers read.
Add fifteen people to your database.
Leave a compelling voice mail.
Make an appointment.
Call a client you has not done business with your firm in two years.
Chapter 50: How to Recognize a Rainmaker
There are many "good" salespeople; there are far fewer "great" salespeople. The good salesperson has a variety of success-creating habits and attributes. The good salesperson:
Is organized
Calls only on decision makers
Does detailed precall planning
Always has a written sales call objective
Asks preplanned questions
Listens
Is empathetic with customers
Encourages and appreciates objections
Always dollarizes the value of the solution
Asks the customer commitments
And a hundred other things, from being properly dressed, to composing excellent communications, to faultless follow-up.
These talents are all important. But the one thing that separates the Rainmaker from the "good" salesperson is that the Rainmaker puts more points on the board. At the end of the day, the only requirement to be a Rainmaker is to drive massive amounts of revenue into your firm.
