Are you a rainmaker or are you a rain barrel?
Too many salespeople are really nothing more than rain barrels. They have good business, but it is all business that just comes to them. I want you to be a rainmaker; that is where it happens.
Rainmakers make it happen 365 days a year, regardless of what is happening around them.
I talk about this subject at length in my book, A Mind for Sales. Pick it up; it’s going to help you become a rainmaker.
Head on over to The Sales Hunter University, too, where I have a great set of tools to help you on your journey to being a rainmaker.
For now, let’s walk through the 10 ways you can become a rainmaker.
Video – How to be a Rainmaker
1. Land and Expand
Rainmakers are never content with the business they get from a customer. They always believe there is more business to be had from every customer.
Rainmakers will go in and nurture and develop a new customer. The customer may only be a small piece of business, but that is okay.
They know the customer is in the door so they will come back and work to upsell or cross-sell them.
The key is in creating more sales opportunities and never letting go of those existing customers.
Rainmakers are landing, but then they are expanding.
This strategy is one of the easiest ways to be seen as a rainmaker, because the more you expand the business, the more the customer becomes a raving fan of yours.
As the customer becomes a raving fan, not only do they give you more business, but they are also going to refer you to other people.
2. Nurture Your Network
I am not saying use your network. I am saying to nurture your network.
A rising tide lifts all boats – this means you are helping your network be more successful.
I have a great network of fellow sales speakers, sales trainers, peers and sales consultants that I love spending time with. I help them out whenever I can, wherever I can. Why?
I do it because I know it lifts me, too. There is something magical about this ability to be stepping out, stepping up, contributing and helping your network.
The more valuable you are seen within your network, the more your network will be able to help you.
Read more about your three greatest assets: Time, money and your network.
3. Serve Others
Serving others builds on the point I just made in number two. This time, I mean to serve everybody you come in contact with.
True rainmakers know that business comes at them from all different directions.
People will look at rainmakers and say, “They are just lucky.” No, they’re not lucky; they put themselves in a position to be lucky.
It’s all about serving others, because success and luck do go hand-in-hand. That said, it is not just luck that gets rainmakers to where they are.
You have to be there, and you have to show up and play the game. Serve others.
4. Reach Higher
Do not be satisfied contacting a low-level salesperson’s company. Go further up and contact the CEO or contact other people in the organization.
Never allow yourself to think that you do not have value and merit in reaching out, picking up the phone and calling somebody way up the food chain.
I love doing this. I will pick up the phone and call CEOs I don’t know. Sometimes they take the call, sometimes they don’t.
Nevertheless, I do not stop because you know what’s interesting? It is amazing the level of business I have been able to create because I am continuously reaching higher.
You only get that way when you have the mindset of knowing you can make a difference with them. I have this mindset and I want to have a conversation with them.
Need a confidence boost on your telephone prospecting strategies? Here are my latest 10 strategies.
5. Think Big / Big Goals
This is not the same thing as reaching higher. I want you to think big.
When I say to think big, I’m asking what your 25-year goals are. What are the big goals you are going to help your customers achieve?
Do not ever set your sights low. I look back at some of the goals I set two or three years ago, and I have blown way past them. I never dreamed I would be at this level.
You have to be willing to think big, set big goals and be goal oriented. Yes, it is about serving others and being available for others, but it is also about knowing what your mission is.
6. Solution Focused
Rainmakers are solution-focused with not only themselves, but also with their customers.
I look at the biggest rainmakers out there and notice certain things they are actively involved in. On the other hand, I notice things they are never involved in because they know those activities are just a waste of their time.
Rainmakers are completely solution-focused because they know what the solutions are that they have to accomplish to be successful and to help their customers be successful.
They are zeroed in on these solutions. How do you get to this point? Number seven…
7. Ask More Questions
I routinely will pick up the phone and call people who I may have a distant relationship with. I love having a conversation with them and I just ask questions.
It may even be conversations with customers I am dealing with; I ask them questions they cannot answer, and I cannot answer, but it fosters a deeper conversation.
In my mastermind group, I love asking questions that I know are going to generate a lot of conversation. It is how we learn.
8. Never Stop Learning
Rainmakers know they have to be continuously learning in order to stay ahead of everyone else.
They know that as a rainmaker, it is their obligation to bring insights to their customers that their customers do not know. Rainmakers know it is their obligation to bring insights to their network, too.
I just recently shared with my mastermind group 20 questions I was pondering. They all chimed in and said, “That was outstanding,” and it created conversation we are all learning from, digging into and sharing insights on.
You have to continuously be doing this because it then changes how you interact with other people.
9. Increase Your Resources
Rainmakers do not do everything themselves. In fact, they do very little themselves.
They are rainmakers because they connect with other people and outsource every single activity they can.
I caught myself doing this just yesterday when I was doing an activity and said, “Wait a minute. Why am I doing this?” I knew I could find somebody who could do this for me much better, and I did. I outsourced the activity.
I increase my resources when I have a question and I do not try to explore the answer. I call somebody who might know the answer.
I have been able to speed my way through the decision-making process in a number of different areas by simply turning to other experts in my network who know far more than I do.
Use your resources to be able to leverage and multiply who you are.
10. Give Referrals
You knew I would talk about this one. Rainmakers give referrals.
Rainmakers are not just content with themselves being a rainmaker; they want everyone around them to be one, too.
When you are a rainmaker, sales are raining and pouring on you, but when you can give referrals and help others be rainmakers, then it is raining all over the place.
This creates an even greater level of success.
I want you to be a rainmaker because I love being a rainmaker. It is how I see myself every day. Grab my book, A Mind for Sales, because it is going to show you exactly how you can be the rainmaker.
You do have a mind for sales. You are a rainmaker.
Great selling.
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When challenges arise we don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of our training.
Are you ready? Watch the video above, and come be a part of the continued conversation as we all become masters in our fields and passions. My new program, The Sales Hunter University, is where you’ll find it all – unlimited personal growth, hands-on learning, quick tips, abundant resources, and an amazing community.
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Copyright 2021, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
this has been very helpful to me .