Famous advertising man Claude Hopkins wrote in his book My Life in Advertising that his desire to go into sales was an effort to graduate from the debit class.
In his administrative position, Hopkins recognized that he could only make so much money if he drew a company salary. To graduate from the debit class, Hopkins had to produce income for his employer.
Hopkins became a very successful rainmaker, bringing in the magical rain —money— that allows a company to grow.
Not all sales people are rainmakers… but they could be. You could be.
Jeffrey J Fox’s book How to Become a Rainmaker details the rules to becoming this high-selling rainmaker in your company.
Being a Rainmaker requires that you have happy, willing customers. You can’t make repeated sales if you’re sloppy, or if you’re seen as a “slimy salesman.”
Fox provides numerous examples on your appearance, what to say, how to treat your clients, and more.
Your Appearance: You want to impress your client with your attention to detail. As the saying goes, how you do one thing is how you do everything.
How you dress reflects the amount of detail you put into solving your client’s problems.
Fox suggests not wearing shirts with pockets, to prevent a leaking pen from ruining a sales presentation.
You should never park where your car is visible to your customer. Instead park around the corner, giving yourself a minute to organize before entering the building.
Because your appearance is so important, Fox suggests not drinking coffee before or during a meeting — a spill could be disastrous to your clothing and to your limited time with the client.
What to say: Fox gives us many examples of useful phrases and questions to make a customer comfortable and to help move a sale forward.
Even if you know the answers, it’s good to ask many questions about the client’s processes or goods. It shows you’re interested in their products and that you’re looking for a way to help them.
Fox provides a number of “Killer Sales Questions,” such as—
“Will you look at the numbers and decide for yourself if they make sense?”
Of course I will decide for myself. Hand ’em over!
“If this demonstration meets your needs, is there anything more preventing us from going ahead?”
Yes I still have unanswered questions around X, Y, and Z.
A rainmaker sees questions and obstacles as opportunities to address a client’s concerns. The client is sharing with you what he or she values: you must address those values to gain the customer’s buy-in (just as Harry Browne suggests).
To learn more about those values, Fox says to repeat the customer’s words back to your customer, phrased as a question to get more information about that particular pain point (similar to Chris Voss).
You shouldn’t ask a question that you’re not interested to know the answer, however. Don’t ask questions to be polite until you’re done with your business.
How to treat your clients: With respect for their time.
Decision makers are busy.
You’re not at a golf game to endlessly discuss the putt on the 4th hole.
You’re not at a sales call to discuss the owner’s high school football trophies.
You don’t want a coffee, thank you. Time is ticking.
You’re not at lunch to eat lunch. In fact, Fox suggests you always take the best seat at a restaurant, forcing the customer to look at a wall. You don’t want him distracted during the meeting.
You are at a sales meeting to discuss how your product can help your client.
You are always on time and on topic.
And to stand out, you leave voicemails after hours to show the client that you’re thinking about their problems at all hours of the day.
Jeffrey J Fox has much more in How to Become a Rainmaker including
- How Fox’s 4-Points System ensures an ongoing flow of client opportunity… completely replacing cold-calling
- The best time to start making a new sale to an existing client
- Why it’s good to invite comparison with your competitors
- How to meet your monthly sales quota… with fewer customers!
- The best times of the day to meet with a customer to increase their willingness to hear your proposal
- The steps you need to take to pre-plan your sales call… which most people completely neglect!
I found Jeffrey J Fox’s How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Clients to be filled with persuasive concepts, put into concrete terms and backed by examples. It’s a quick read with most chapters being about two or three pages. You can open it anywhere to begin reading. It is a great reference to return to while you’re honing your sales skills.
If you would like to make more sales, or if you dream to “graduate from the debit class,” How to Become a Rainmaker is just what you’re looking for. You can find it here on Amazon.