How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients
Filled with smart tips given in the Fox signature style, counter- intuitive, controversial, and practiced, this hard-hitting collection of sales advice shows readers how to woo, pursue, and finally win any customer. In witty, succinct chapters, Fox offers surprising, daring, and totally practical wisdom that will help readers rise above the competition in any company in any field. A terrific resource for CEOs, as well as anyone looking to distinguish themselves in salesbe it books, cars, or...
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A rainmaker is someone who knows how to sell—whatever the product. Jeffrey Fox is a rainmaker who knows sales from the inside out and knows how to talk about it. In his customary sharp, biting, and witty style, Fox pursues the almighty dollar and takes you, the listener, along for the ride. Filled with smart tips, this hard hitting collection of sales advice instructs listeners on how to pursue, woo, and finally, win any customer. Fox offers surprising, daring, and completely practical wisdom that will help listeners rise above the competition in any company in any field. It's what made his last book, How to Become CEO, so hugely successful. This time he applies his controversial style to sales, and sold you will be with this terrific resource for anyone looking to distinguish themselves in sales—be it books, cars, real estate, or anything else. Fox's rules for becoming a rainmaker include: Show them the money Customers don't care about you Dare to be dumb Never be "in a meeting" The six killer sales questions Park in the back Sell on Friday afternoons
Fish Where the Big Fish Are\ When asked "What is the most important thing you need when you go fishing?" most people say "bait," "pole," "hooks," and "beer." Those are important, but the most important thing needed is fish! You can have the best boat on the prettiest lake with awesome tackle, but if there are no fish, you will go home emptyhanded. If, however, you have only a raggedy old net but a little pond teeming with fish, your chances of a catch are much greater. \ Where you cast your line is crucial to catching fish. This is also true for selling. Rainmakers fish where the big fish are. Rainmakers talk to customers who are familiar with their product, or who already use the product, or who have a high probability of using the product. Don't waste your time trying to convince dairy farmers to buy horseshoes. And don't waste your time selling hospital beds to hotels.\ Big companies in an industry are generally better prospects than small companies in the same industry. Successful customers are generally better prospects than struggling customers. Customers who want your product are better targets than customers who need your product. (Customers who need your product may not know it. They must be educated, persuaded. This takes time and money. Customers who want your product are partially sold before they see you.)\ To a Rainmaker, the big sale is the trophy fish on the wall.\ Show Them the Money!\ Customers buy for only two reasons: to feel good or to solve a problem. Going out to dinner, buying scuba equipment, or getting a new puppy fall into the "feel good" category. The prevailing purchase motivation for organizations is to solve a problem. Thesolution to the problem can always be expressed in financial terms-in dollars and cents. If a company invests $100,000 in advertising, they expect that advertising to generate $500,000 in sales. When a motor manufacturer replaces a cheap $ .08 rubber o-ring with a $ .10 viton o-ring, they expect to save $ . 30 per o-ring with reduced warranty claims. A tree surgeon uses a $900 saw because it cuts five times faster than a cheaper saw, saving him $50 a day in reduced labor costs. \ Rainmakers don't sell fasteners or valves or washing machines or double-paned windows or tax audits or irrigation systems or training programs or golf clubs. Rainmakers sell money! They sell reduced downtime, fewer repairs, better gas mileage, higher deposit interest, increased output, decreased energy usage, more wheat per acre, more yardage per swing.\ Rainmakers help the customer see the money. Rainmakers turn benefits into dollars. The plumber who generates the most revenue doesn't charge $ 50 for a service call, he sells a clean, dry basement for $100, saving the customer's thousand-dollar carpet.\ The lock salesperson doesn't sell locks, he sells security for valuables. The pool salesman doesn't just sell recreation, he sells an increase in home value.\ The number one salesperson for a company that made cough medicine never sold a single bottle of cough medicine. He was by far the leading salesperson, but he never sold a cough drop.\ The company made products for people with colds, sore throats, hay fever, and sinus conditions. The company made throat lozenges, cough drops, gargles, and sprays. The company trained its sales force on how the products worked, all about the product chemistry, and why their products were the best. The company's success depended on how many cases of cough medicine and gargle it sold. That meant the company's success depended on the demand for the product; the number of people with colds.\ The company made its product available to the public by selling to pharmacies, to drugstore owners. In order to make its products more appealing to the drugstore owner than the competitors' medicine, the salesperson's company offered an incentive: For every five cases of products purchased the druggist could either get one case of product for free (to resell at retail prices) or a cash check for the equivalent purchase price of one case. (The free case or check were both worth $25.)\ The salesperson realized that his customers were not people with colds. His customers were the drugstore owners. (People with colds were the druggists' customers.) So despite all the technical product training, unlike his colleagues, the number one salesperson never talked about the products' formulas, strength, or soothing aspects.\ The number one salesperson talked to the drugstore owners about money.\ The salesperson explained the five-case purchase incentive, asking the drugstore owners if they would prefer the free product or the money (in a bank check). Almost always, the drugstore owners would opt for the money.\ The salesperson didn't sell cures for coughs, he sold a rebate check of $25 for every five cases of product purchased. After the drugstore owner agreed to take the money, the salesperson would ask, "How much money would you like?" Getting more money meant buying more product, and that's what many pharmacists did.\ The number one salesperson sold money! All the other salespeople regaled druggists with facts on cough suppressant chemicals and breathe-free passages. They were far-distant followers in the contest.\ Always show the customer the money. Always dollarize (see "A Rainmaker Extra," page 148). Quantify the customer's return on his investment in your product. Calculate the financial consequences to the customer-the cost of going without your solution.\ Rainmakers don't sell products; they sell the dollarized value the customer gets from the products.\ Rainmakers sell money...
Introduction1IThe Rainmaker's Credo5IIAlways Answer the Question, "Why Should This Customer Do Business with Us?"7IIIObey Marketing's First Commandment10IVCustomers Don't Care About You12VAlways Precall Plan Every Sales Call14VIFish Where the Big Fish Are18VIIShow Them the Money!20VIIIEarthquakes Don't Count25IXKiller Sales Question #128XAlways Take the Best Seat in a Restaurant30XIDon't Drink Coffee on a Sales Call32XIIYou're Not at Lunch to Eat Lunch35XIIINever Wear a Pen in Your Shirt Pocket37XIVKiller Sales Question #239XVRainmakers Turn Customer Objections into Customer Objectives42XVIAlways Make a "Mid-Job, Next-Job" Recommendation46XVIITreat Everybody You Meet as a Potential Client49XVIIIHeed the Biggest Buy Signal52XIXKiller Sales Question #354XXAlways Return Every Call Every Day59XXILearn the "Miles Per Gallon" of Selling61XXIIBeware the Myth of Time and Territory Management65XXIIIAlways Taste the Wine Before a Wine Tasting68XXIVDare to Be Dumb71XXVAlways Do an Investment Return Analysis75XXVINever Forget: Everybody Is Somebody's Somebody78XXVIIAlways Be on "High Receive"80XXVIII"Onionize"83XXIXIf You Don't Care About the Answer, Don't Ask the Question86XXXNever Be in a Meeting88XXXIPresent for Show, Close for Dough91XXXIIAdvice to a Baby-sitter93XXXIIIKiller Sales Question #496XXXIVGive and Get99XXXVSell on Friday Afternoons103XXXVI"Break the Ice" at the End of the Sales Call105XXXVIIUse the Point System Every Day108XXXVIIIA Shot on Goal Is Never a Bad Play110XXXIXDon't Make Cold Calls113XLShow the Chain, Sell the First Link115XLIDon't Talk with Food in Your Mouth119XLIIKiller Sales Question #5121XLIIILove Voice Mail124XLIVPark in the Back129XLVBe the Best-Dressed Person You Will Meet Today131XLVIWhy Breakfast Meetings Bring Rain133XLVII"Here's My Card..."136XLVIIIKiller Sales Question #6139XLIXTen Things to Do Today to Get Business142LHow to Recognize a Rainmaker144The Rainmaker Extra: How to Dollarize148A Case Study: Mr. K.155Epilogue167
