If you missed Part-1, then here is the link.

Showing the customer what it costs per month, week, or day to go without the solution shortens the sales cycle.
 
The Rainmaker doesn’t sell the product. The Rainmaker sells what the customer will get from the product.

In addition to never being in a meeting, you are also never sick. You are traveling. You are never on vacation. You are traveling, or out of the country, and will return calls as soon as possible. Meanwhile, so-and-so is available to work with the customer. You have never “left for the day.” You are out of the office or meeting with customers. You are never “out to lunch.” You are meeting with a client.

You are never “not in the office yet.” You are at a breakfast meeting with a client.

If the Rainmaker is temporarily unavailable, the customer knows where she is. The Rainmaker is not “in a meeting,” she is in court, on a job site, traveling to a customer, on a photo shoot, giving a talk at a convention, doing research …

The mother gave the girl two tips: “One, no matter how bad the kids are, no matter how much trouble they cause, when the parents come home and ask if there were any problems, you tell the parents ‘no problems, everything was fine.’ And, two, leave the house a little cleaner than you found it.” The teenage girl is now a Baby-sitter Rainmaker. She sells a relaxed evening and a neat house. She is always in demand.


This is great advice for the Rainmaker. Once a customer hires you to do a job, they don’t want to know your problems doing the job. They don’t care. Do a wonderful job, do it on time, do it on budget, don’t complain, and give the customer a little extra. This is the blueprint for customer satisfaction and for continued sales success.

Customers need to be convinced that your product or service will work as claimed. The greater the investment, the greater the need for the customer to be sure. The newer the technology, the greater the need to test. Anything new— product, supplier, salesperson—usually triggers the need for some kind of proof.

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?” This is a killer sales question.

By asking “Is there anything else prohibiting you…,” the salesperson is either going to hear some unresolved customer issues, or get an agreement to an action that leads to a close.

Rainmakers never leave product samples if the samples must somehow be tested. The Rainmaker knows that 95 percent of all samples left to be tested are still in a drawer or were tested incorrectly. The Rainmaker is always present when the customer tests the product.

David Ogilvy was the greatest copy writer in the history of advertising. Ogilvy was also an awesome Rainmaker: He brought in wonderful clients to his advertising agency. He was a master at giving and getting. One of David Ogilvy’s memorable advertising campaigns was a series of ads he wrote to promote his agency, Ogilvy & Mather, in New York City. 
Unlike the typical, predictable, and egotistical advertising that most agencies produce to promote themselves, Ogilvy “gave” his genius away. Instead of telling potential clients how great O&M was, instead of writing about himself, Ogilvy gave away how to do what his agency did. One ad, headlined “How to Write a Corporate Ad,” gave an accurate, detailed road map on copy points, layout, typeface, mistakes to avoid. Another, headlined “How to Make a Television Commercial,” revealed Ogilvy’s approaches and secrets.

One can imagine the internal debate at O&M: “If we tell them how we do it, they won’t need us!” But the sage and savvy Rainmaker knew coffee companies made coffee not ads, and that automakers made cars not commercials.

He figured potential clients would not go to his competitors and say, “Make me ads the way Ogilvy does it.”

He knew that there is a huge difference between being shown how something is done, and then doing it at all, let alone well. If simply showing how to do something well were the answer, then simply watching Picasso paint or Andre Agassi play tennis or Julia Child make a soufflé would make everyone experts on everything.

Ogilvy’s ads “gave away” this special knowledge and expertise, and got clients. The Rainmaker gives to get.

Anytime is a good time to make a sales call on a decision maker. Excellent selling times are before eight o’clock any morning and after three on Friday afternoons. Early-morning sales calls are good for two reasons: (1) there are less, or limited, interruptions, and (2) the customer’s agreement to the unusual hour is a big buy signal.

Friday afternoon is a wonderful time to see customers. There are several compelling reasons for this. The customer is often more relaxed, more forthcoming, less harried, and less defensive.

The customer is already thinking about a weekend at the beach or planting a garden. Some customers feel that if they make a decision on Friday, they can “sleep on it” over the weekend.

To some customers, deciding to go ahead with your project provides a sense of accomplishment, gets something off the “to do” list.

If the customer agrees to see you on a Friday afternoon, particularly if she is leaving on vacation, be assured she thinks you can solve her problem, or she has already decided to buy. This is a high-probability sales call. But don’t be overconfident. Be exceptionally prepared in order to close the order.

And the competition is not seeing customers on Friday afternoons. The other salespeople have started their weekend early. The other salespeople have left the arena, giving the Rainmaker an edge.

Breakfast is an excellent time to do business with a prospective customer. A hugely successful Rainmaker, the late multi business owner Clayton Gengras of Connecticut, once remarked, “All the money I’ve made that stuck to my fingers, I made before eight o’clock in the morning.” Breakfast jump-starts the day.

Breakfast is usually less expensive than a business lunch or dinner. The menu is simple, requiring less time to make a selection, which means more time for discussion. You don’t have to be concerned about alcoholic beverages.

Breakfast saves your customer time. Choose a venue that is on the customer’s route to work; this eliminates one of the “from office, back to office” trips associated with other outside meetings.

Breakfast meetings are less vulnerable to cancellations. They happen before the customer’s daily problems begin. And the customer is fresh, alert, and eager.

One Rainmaker regularly schedules two breakfasts in a single morning. He jump-starts the day with two sales calls before most people even get to work.

You will connect personally with your customer if you ask sincere, diagnostic-driven questions and if you listen carefully and thoughtfully to the answers.

On a first sales call ask questions that encourage the customer to talk about her company, her goals, her expectations. Customers reward salespeople who listen.

There are four steps that are part of every sale. They are:
1. Getting a lead, a referral, an introduction to a decision maker. 
2. Getting an appointment to meet the decision maker. 
3. Meeting the decision maker face-to-face. 
4. Getting a commitment to a close (a purchase) or to an action that directly leads to a close.

Assign one point to Step 1, two points to Step 2, three points to Step 3, and four points to Step 4.

Work every day to get a total of four points, in any combination of steps: four referrals, one referral and one face-to-face meeting, one commitment, and so on. You can shoot for more points per day if doable.

At the top of your daily to do list put “Get 4 Points.” The key is to use the point system daily.

If you tally four points per day, you will never run out of prospects, your pipeline will always be full, you will never have a slow period, and you will always be making rain.

The Rainmaker knows one reality: If he doesn’t make the selling attempt, there will be no sale.

The lowest price was not the same thing as the lowest cost, and that the highest-priced product could, in fact, represent the lowest cost of ownership to a customer.

The Rainmaker shows the chain, makes it clear how the phases in the sale are linked—from first agreement to purchase order—and then sells the first link. The first link is attached to the last link. Sell the first link and you sell the chain.

“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?” “Why don’t you give it a try?” is a killer sales question.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” is not the same as “Why don’t you try it?” or “Try it for a few days.” To try a product for a few days is a trial. Getting a trial is a good selling strategy, but it is an interim step, not the final step, to getting a sale.

To be able to leave a good message the salesperson must accurately answer the question “Why should this customer do business with me?” You must answer the questions “Why should the customer call me back?” and “Why should the customer listen to me the next time I call?”

Good afternoon, Mr. Smith. A mutual friend, Jim Murphy, suggested I contact you. This message will take less than thirty seconds of your time. My name is Jeffrey Fox. The purpose of this call is to let you know of an opportunity that seems just perfect for you and your company. Based on analysis, you can reduce the manufacturing cost of the golf carts you sell by 12 percent, or approximately £900,000 a year. To see how you would save £900,000 a year will take about fifteen minutes. My number is area code 2-1-1, 9-8-7, 7-zero-zero-zero. Let me repeat that number: area code 2-1-1-, 9-8-7, 7-zero-zero-zero.

If you can’t reach me, I will follow up. Thank you very much. When next you speak with your target customer, be prepared to say “Do you have your appointment calendar handy?”

Never show vulnerability. Always be confident. Plan for the unexpected. Expect a curve ball. Stay calm. Remember the old poker-playing axiom: Never let them see you sweat. Never reveal a weakness, such as not feeling well.

Customers don’t care about your illness. If a customer asks how you are feeling, simply answer “Splendidly, thank you.”

Friday is dress-down day,” but not for the Rainmaker. The Rainmaker does not dress down, nor does he necessarily dress up. He dresses better than any customer he will meet that day.

If the customer wears polo shirts and sneakers, the Rainmaker wears a blazer and loafers. If the customer wears slacks and a blouse, the Rainmaker wears a pants suit. If the customer wears polyester, the Rainmaker wears wool.

Warning: You are not trying to one-up your client; you are letting the customer know he or she is important to you.

Don’t succumb to the lure of “business casual.” When you are trying to attract new business, nothing is casual. Your customer wants you to be “buttoned up” and professional.

But don’t overdress. Don’t overwhelm the customer with flamboyant sartorial splendor. Your dress should signal confidence, success, expertise, sensitivity, professionalism, and attention to detail.

Dressing with care flatters your customer. Your respect for your customer will show, and your customer will appreciate it; your customer will reelect you, sale after sale.

A noted criminal attorney, a fantastic Rainmaker, consistently gave his card to bartenders, cabdrivers, waiters, construction workers—anyone. “Here’s my card; if you ever need help, or anyone you know needs help, give me a call. We’ll help you.”

One real estate agent, for fifteen years the number one agent in her market, is always courteous but never bashful. “Here’s my card. If you ever consider buying or selling real estate, give me a call. You will get special treatment.”

A partner in an international accounting firm became partner in part because target clients got his card. “Here’s my card. If you or your company want to reduce taxes and optimize cash flow give me a call. You will get our best people.”

The owner of an upscale antique gallery didn’t wait for customers to come to him. He often met business owners, and when he did, he handed them his business card. They were engraved, rich in tone. “Here is my card. Your elegant boardroom is a wonderful place for our elegant antiques. We would be flattered if you would ask us for a recommendation.”

Rainmakers know why business cards are called business cards.

The Rainmaker always concludes 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 covered everything?” “Have I asked about every detail that is important to you?”

“What am I not asking?” is asked by the most confident, most customer-concerned, most professional of professionals. And good customers want to be asked this fantastic leave-no-stone-unturned question.

Rainmakers ask the questions others wish they had asked.

Dollarization is the Rainmaker’s edge. It is more effective to do the math and say “This air conditioner saves £14 a month in reduced electricity bills” than to simply say “This air conditioner is energy-efficient.”

MR. K.: Will you please put ABC Wines on your wine list? 
OWNER: No. 
MR.K.: Why can’t you? 
OWNER: The wines taste terrible, and I don’t like them. 
MR.K.: Mr. Owner, I agree with you. The wines do not appeal to everyone. But if I can show you why that doesn’t matter, would you consider them? 
OWNER: I’m listening.
MR.K.: Thank you. The reason you should give these wines a try is not because you or I don’t care for the taste, but because thirty-five to forty of your regular customers do like the taste. Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith like ABC Wines. And several times your waiters have been asked if you have those wines. This is a business opportunity worth £200 a week. Mr. Owner, you should put ABC Wines in here because your customers will order and drink them. Isn’t that reasonable? 
OWNER: I will look into it and decide tomorrow. 
MR. K.: That’s fair enough. Thank you. The next day, Mr. K. received an order for ten cases of ABC Wines.

When the owner raised an objection (“I am having my lunch”), Mr. K. reversed the situation. He changed places with the owner by saying, “You meet your customers every day when they are having lunch.” Mr. K.’s message was “If it’s OK for you to interrupt your customer’s lunch, it is OK for me to do the same.”

Mr. K. asked for the order: “Will you please put ABC Wines on your wine list?” Mr. K. did what some studies indicate that 90 percent of all salespeople don’t do: Mr. K. asked for the order.

Mr. K. answered the owner’s objection (“no”) with the ingenious “why can’t you?” The use of the word can’t, as opposed to don’t, or won’t, is a subtle challenge of the owner’s authority and power. “Can’t” implies someone else has the power. This is unacceptable to many customers. If Mr. K. had asked “Why won’t you?” the owner could have comfortably answered with a number of legitimate reasons, such as “We only serve French wines.” To the question “Why don’t you?” the owner could have responded “The wine cellar is full.” But to accede to the question “Why can’t you?” is to say “I’m powerless.”

When the owner objected to the wines’ taste, Mr. K. agreed that it was OK not to like the wines. Mr. K. did not debate. He deflated the rhetoric by agreeing.

Mr. K. used an “if I…will you” close (“…if I can show you…would you consider?”).

Mr. K. said, “Give these wines a try.” Mr. K. was posing the purchase as a temporary, changeable, low-risk decision. Mr. K. asked, “Would you consider them?” This is a variation of the killer sales question “Why don’t you give it a try?”

Mr. K. used friendly words such as “consider” (twice!), “reasonable,” and “fair.” These words are noninflammatory and encourage mature discourse. The word fair is a strong selling word because it appeals to the customer’s sense of fairness. Being fair leads to more objective, less emotional decision making.

The goal of every sales call is to get a close or a commitment to an action that leads to a close.

What was Mr. K. actually selling? If he were selling wines, perhaps he might have brought a sample to taste (which would have killed the sale). But Mr. K. wasn’t selling wine. He was selling the dollarized value (£200 a week) the owner would get from featuring the wine. Mr. K. sold money.

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