How to Become a Rainmaker (Book Digest)

How to Become a Rainmaker by Jeffrey Fox is the best single book I've seen for learning sales fundamentals. Most sales books present a new framework that's helpful for addressing a specific sales problem. How to Become a Rainmaker ties together old-school sales wisdom across the entire customer lifecycle to help reps prioritize their time, prepare for sales conversations, diagnose problems, prove value, and grow accounts.

It's a simple book and that's its virtue: You can read it in an afternoon and, by the end, you'll get what sales is all about. With that knowledge in hand, you can move on to other resources that cover the latest ideas addressing the specific challenges you face.

How to Manage Your Time

Fox argues that the biggest mistake salespeople make is poor time management: calling on too many accounts, calling on the wrong accounts, or spending their time on activities that don't actually lead to revenue. Reps who spread their effort across too many prospects under-serve each of them and run out of gas before they close anything.

The right approach is "to fish where the big fish are," by which he means that reps need to rigorously ensure that they spend their time on prospects with the highest propensity to buy and the highest potential deal size. It doesn't matter how good your boat is or how skilled you are with the tackle; if you're on a lake with no fish, you'll go home empty-handed.

This insight is emblematic of Fox's book: It won't win a Nobel Prize, but it has tremendous practical value. If you look at real sales teams, you'll see lots of sellers spending too much time doing high-quality sales work for prospects who are unlikely to buy instead of seeking out prospects that fit their ideal customer profile.

Fox also believes that sellers need to do a better job focusing on activities that actually lead to revenue instead of activities that make them feel busy. He introduces a point system to help sellers set priorities: Getting a referral or introduction to a decision maker is worth one point. Getting an appointment with a decision maker is worth two. A face-to-face meeting with a decision maker is worth three. And getting a commitment to close is worth four. The goal is to earn four points every day, in any combination.

The specific point system he advocates might not fit your situation, but it's a good reminder to define the activities that actually lead to revenue and focus on those.

Managing Deals and Accounts

Opportunities start with effective outreach to prospects. Fox lays out his preferred outreach elements: specify a referral from someone the prospect knows, state a dollarized benefit, reference customers who've achieved similar results, and tell the prospect what the meeting will cover and how long it will take. Look for ways to stand out: Fox is a big advocate of physical letters, which cut through the clutter when everyone else is calling or emailing.

Once in the door, Fox advises sellers to spell out the entire sales process for the prospect during the first conversation. He calls this "showing the chain and selling the first link." When the prospect agrees to the first step in the process, they're making a soft commitment to the entire process.

Managing deals requires focusing on the principle of give and get: Every time you do something for the prospect, you should receive progress in the sales process in return. If you give a sample, get an agreement to test. If you give a demonstration, first get an agreement to buy if the demo proves the product works. If you give a discount, get more volume.

Fox also pushes sellers to expand existing accounts through what he calls the "mid-job, next-job" recommendation. Midway through delivering on one project, the Rainmaker proposes another way to help the customer. The lawyer working on an estate plan asks about an upcoming house closing. The consultant finishing one engagement suggests the next. This habit of always having a follow-on recommendation keeps the relationship growing and revenue flowing.

Finally, Fox emphasizes that account management doesn't end when the deal closes. Rainmakers remind customers of the dollarized value they've received over the life of the engagement. Thanking customers sincerely and often, and continuously reinforcing the value they're getting, is what turns one-time buyers into long-term accounts.

Sales Conversations

Fox's approach to sales conversations starts with a firm rule: Never make a sales call unless you can answer the question "Why should this customer do business with us?" There must be a clear business benefit to the company and often a personal benefit for the person you're talking to.

Fox believes that sales success comes down to good pre-call planning. His preparation checklist includes:

• A written sales call objective

• Needs-analysis questions to ask

• Something to show

• Anticipated objections

• Strategies to handle objections

• Points of difference versus competitors

• A dollarization approach

• Closing strategies

Fox advises sellers to focus on understanding customer problems. Customers feel more secure with a salesperson who asks questions, listens, and takes notes. He advises sellers to "onionize" customer problems: keep peeling back layers by asking "why" again and again until you reach the core of the problem.

When a customer mentions a competitor, Fox advises that the you acknowledge the competitor and ask if the customer would like to hear about your points of difference. The point of difference doesn't have to be better—just different. It's new information or a new angle that gives the customer a reason to reconsider their options.

The centerpiece of Fox's approach to sales conversations is dollarization—turning your product's benefits into dollars. He lays out six steps:

1. Determine the competition: What is the customer using today?

2. State your benefit: What do you do better or differently?

3. Quantify the benefit: Put a number on the improvement (e.g., eight fewer warranty claims per thousand units sold).

4. Dollarize the benefit: Convert that number to dollars (e.g., eight fewer claims at $250 each = $2,000 saved per thousand units).

5. Express the benefit in per-unit terms: Divide the total savings by the number of units to show the true net cost (e.g., if your product costs $1.00 per unit but saves $0.20 in warranty costs, the real price is $0.80).

6. Show the cost of inaction: Calculate what it costs the customer per day to go without the solution.

   
   

Sales Mindset

Rainmakers have to accept a simple truth: The customer doesn't care about you. They care about themselves and their problem.

Serving customers means being fully available to them. Rainmakers return all calls every day—to customers, prospects, suppliers, even job-seekers. They never take a call from the office while sitting with a customer. The customer should feel like the highest priority during every interaction.

Fox also insists on honesty about the nature of the relationship. The customer knows you're a salesperson. They agreed to see you because they believe you might solve their problem. So get to the point—don't waste time on small talk trying to "break the ice." You'll connect personally by asking sincere, diagnostic questions and listening to the answers. Save the casual conversation for after the customer has made a commitment.

Fox advises that Rainmakers be meticulous: double-check every element of a presentation, be the best-dressed person they meet today, and remember that meals with customers are meetings, not a chance to eat.

Finally, Fox has advice for managers: Rainmakers are precious. They are among the highest-paid employees in any company for a reason. As long as a Rainmaker stays legal, ethical, and within budget, let them do their thing. It doesn't matter if they're a prima donna or an independent loner. Your job is to let them make rain.

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If you liked this post, check out P.S.I. Selling's take on how to run an effective sales process in our article on Sales Fundamentals. You can also have a look at our other book digests in our series Required Reading for Salespeople.

Want to build a sales process that proves value and a team that can execute? Get in touch. For more about the author, check out Mike's bio.