How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules For Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients

This book is, for some, common sense. For others, this book is a quick refresher course of the basic principals of selling and finally, it might be a completely new experience for many and it may have you thinking about the art of selling. The reality is that the value of this book, to you, probably depends on how much training and common sense you already have. In general, I really enjoyed the book and thought there were many interesting sales concepts, which I am looking forward to employing to see how effective they are in real life. Fox continually emphasized the concept of dollarization throughout the book and gave examples of different sales techniques throughout the book

The idea behind the book lies in the American Indian tradition of employing a Rainmaker to use magical powers to nourish the crops to feed the people . . . updating this, a Rainmaker today is a person who brings revenue into an organization (be it profit or not-for-profit).

Even though this premise might sound so basic, it is amazing
how many companies tend to forget it . . . Fox says you
mustn't, and he presents a series of simple-to-follow principles
that can be applied to a wide variety of situations.

There were many memorable passages, but so as to not
overwhelm you with all of them, I'll just present the his series of six "killer" sales questions:

1. When you have the customer on the phone, suggest a meeting
and then ask, "Do you have your appointment calendar handy?"

2. The Rainmaker asks the customer, "Will you look at the facts
and decide for yourself if they make sense?"

3. [when a competitor is mentioned] You answer exactly as
follows: "Yes, that is a good company. Would you like to know
our points of difference?"

4. When a customer asks for a product demonstration, the
Rainmaker responds as follows: "We would be happy to give
you a demonstration. If the demo is successful, is there
anything else prohibiting you from going ahead?"

5. To close the sale, to get the final customer 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?"

6. [always conclude an interview with a customer by asking
one killer sales question] The killer sales question is: "What
question should I be asking that I am not asking." Variants
or follow-up questions, are: "Is there anything I have missed?"
"Have I covered everything?" "Have I asked about every
details that is important to you?"

It is the first book on selling that I actually read from start to finish. Not another thick book on theory. Lots of action. And the ideas make good business sense. Enjoy.

I'm guessing that to the seasoned, experienced seller this book would be waste of money and time, but for beginner who needs some fast, to the point information, it will be very helpful.

this is what you find in this book,
** customers don't care about you, but about themselves and their problems.
** Always plan your sales call, like a sports team plans their strategy. (He tells you how)
** Help them see money. Don't sell the product, sell dollorized value. People would select the product that yield lowest total cost. (I can't explain this, it'll take too much space, read the book, but this is one of the gems from the book.)
** He tells you few "killer" sales questions and explains them, very helpful.
** Don't make cold calls, don't go for "break the ice" introduction (he explains why)