Everyone is a salesperson. We have all sold something or ourselves at least once in our lives. For instance, when we applied for that job, position or promotion; when we wanted to start the relationship with another person; when we wanted to convince others to buy our idea or concept. All this is sales.
There are different levels in Sales. Some people are selling products or services, to make a living. There are those who get into sales because they don’t have a job and they want to feed their families. Some get into sales while waiting for something better. There are those who get into sales because they love selling and this is their career, and they have passion for this profession. Then there are those who see sales as a vehicle that they will use to reach the best things in life.
Rainmaker is the salesperson, who has the gift of selling, has the passion, sees it as a career and a profession. They want the best things in life using sales as a vehicle. Most of the time, this type of a salesperson, has talent and passion for sales. I said most of the time, and not all the time; some people can develop to be Rainmakers.
Rainmakers are not ordinary salespeople. They are self-motivated. They drive themselves. They are over-achievers on their targets. They spend an enormous amount of time identifying opportunities through prospecting, and during this exercise they separate prospects from suspects. This assists them to contact only qualified prospects, who, if they perform their sales activities well, will get the sale. Not just a sale, but a good big deal. This makes their time more fruitful.
They also set the criteria for prospecting. This could include the size of the company, the turnover, the profit margins and the size of the deal they are looking to win.
A Rainmaker makes calls to get sales, and not to get their sales manager off their back by giving the sale manager the number of calls they made a day. They get their sales managers off their back by giving them results, and good results.
A Rainmaker masters the sales activities very well.
These activities include the following:
a. Identifying opportunities, which was discussed earlier.
b. Confirming the needs. Before proposing the solution, the Rainmaker identifies the needs of the prospect using an intense technique of asking questions to understand the current situation as well as the desired goal.
c. After the needs are confirmed, the solution is presented linked to the needs. This is done in such a way that the prospect starts seeing themselves enjoying the benefits of the solution proposed, which drives the prospect closer to buying in on the benefits. They start visualising increased performance of their company, reduced costs, or increased profits; whatever the pain might be. The client starts to see value beyond price. This makes the client see that they are actually paying less for the value they are getting. This eliminates price objections.
d. A Rainmaker helps the prospect remove any doubts, any obstacles they might have, and gets them closer to owning the solution. This is done by handling any resistance, objections, confusion and misunderstanding the prospect might have, through the objection handling methodology.
e. There might be the necessity for negotiating on some issues of the deal. The Rainmaker is skilled to negotiate in good faith for a win-win outcome. When the client feels there is a win-win attitude from the Rainmaker, the relationship gets stronger between them, because the client’s trust in the Rainmaker grows.
f. The Rainmaker is able to conduct persuasive financial argumentation to make offers irresistible
A Rainmaker does not make a hit and run sale. They build a relationship with their clients. They create that impression in the mind of the client that, whenever the client has an issue, the Rainmaker and their company are first on the mind of the client. This either sweeps the Rainmaker’s competition at this client out of the door, or competition will perform non-core activities, leaving the big bulk of the client’s purse given to the Rainmaker.
Rainmaker manages competition and monitors the competition’s movements and activities with this client, and reacts or responds quickly and stops competition pulling the rug under the Rainmaker’s feet.
The Rainmaker is 100% focussed at their client’s company performance and checks all the time that the client’s company is performing at its best. If not, steps are taken to remedy the situations and takes the client back to its pick performance, through the recommendation of the Rainmaker. The Rainmaker identifies the possible landmines the client might step on way before the client get to them. The Rainmaker becomes a consultant and eventually in some cases, a partner with the client.
That is why the Rainmaker does not make a hit and run sale. They stay with the client while hunting for more opportunities.
The Rainmaker need to hunt for new opportunities, which means they need to be a hunter, as well as a farmer, to look after the clients they acquired.
In conclusion, a Rainmaker is not an ordinary salesperson who wants to make a quick few rands.
A Rainmaker puts in more effort into their work, cares for the clients they acquired, and build long lasting relationships with them.
When the Rainmaker has done their job well with clients, the clients get to the level of selling the Rainmaker’s company to other companies.
The Rainmaker’s success ratio is very impressive due to the rigorous prospecting activity. This reduces fruitless calls.
To keep the Rainmaker’s axe sharp, the sales manager needs to perform continuous refresher sessions as well as role plays with the team. Planned coaching sessions need to take place regularly, to make the Rainmakers even better.