RAIN SELLING HOW RAINMAKERS LEAD SALES CONVERSATIONS
RAIN SELLING HOW RAINMAKERS LEAD SALES CONVERSATIONS
Sales Conversations for Services
To advance in their careers and become Rainmakers (those people at services companies that bring in the new clients and revenue), professionals such as accountants, lawyers, management consultants, and technology consultants eventually need to excel at selling professional services. Rarely, however, are these poor souls given a primer on rainmaking, especially when it comes to leading sales conversations and sales meetings. As a result, they often just 'wing it' and learn by doing, making many avoidable mistakes and losing opportunities to win new clients.
There is a better way to learn to become a rainmaker, especially when it comes to leading sales conversations and sales meetings. To help guide professionals through the process of learning to become a rainmaker, we'd like to introduce the concept of RAIN™ Selling. Geared 100% as a consultative sales process and conversation methodology for selling services, RAIN™ Selling helps professionals win new clients using sales techniques that work.
RAIN™ Basics
Trial and error are the norm when it comes to learning how to be a rainmaker. Thus, the learning curve is long and often filled with anxiety and pain. This leads us to ask the questions, "Is it possible to shorten the learning curve when it comes to selling professional services? Is it possible to make selling itself feel less 'salesly'? Can we increase the level of success of the seller all at the same time?" The answers (as you may have guessed) are yes, yes and yes. We've worked to embody much of how to improve the learning process in the RAIN™ Selling methodology.
So how does it work?
RAIN™ Selling is an acronym that stands for Rapport, Aspirations, Impact, and New Reality. The word 'RAIN', of course, is also a nod to the fact that this process is geared towards rainmakers—the traditional name for those people who bring the clients and the revenue into services firms.
R - Rapport: The ability to build rapport in sales conversations is an old concept that is more relevant and important that ever. At the same time, it's talked about less and less in sales training circles and dismissed as a ploy to make a surface-level connection to a potential client. Why is true rapport so important? Rapport sets the foundation of comfort for the rest of the conversation and for any future relationship. The word rapport also implies a real connection between people, not just a surface-level commonality.
Having a true connection to a potential client is so important in rainmaking because, all things being equal, buyers tend to buy from service providers that they like as much as they buy from those who can meet their needs the best. Yes, there should be a strong focus on creating and presenting a compelling value proposition, but rapport is an often overlooked factor that can tip the scale in favor of one service provider over another.
A - Aspirations: The 'A' in RAIN™ Selling stands for Aspirations. Many sales discussion methodologies suggest that—to sell products and services as 'solutions' to needs—you must first uncover the 'problems' and/or 'pain' of the potential client. We suggest that uncovering problems and pain are only half the story.
When clients buy professional services, they are typically thinking as much about Aspirations (where they want to go) as they are about Afflictions (problems or pain). If you think about asking questions in the negative context, you will find yourself always positing "What's not happening for you," or the trite "What keeps you up at night?"
And you might get good answers. But if you also think of questions in the positive context, you will find yourself asking "Where do you want to go," and "What are the possibilities?" By asking questions in a positive light, you will find that, instead of just negating problems or filling a need, you can paint a vision of a new reality for the client that takes them past problem solving and into new possibilities and innovation.
I - Impact: After you uncover the potential client's aspirations and afflictions, the question then becomes, 'so what?' If your afflictions don't get solved, what won't happen? Will they get worse? How does it affect the bottom line of your company, division, or department?
If your aspirations don't become reality, 'so what?' In a business-to-business scenario, these questions might sound like, 'Will your competition get ahead of you if you don't innovate? Will you lose market share if you aren't aggressive in your strategy?'
The exact 'so what' questions will vary depending on the situation, but your ability to quantify and paint the 'so what' picture is the foundation for just how important engaging your services are to the prospective buyer. This is of tantamount importance to you because when it comes to selling professional services, your competition is often the indifference of your client, not another organization or service provider. So creating urgency for buying your services hinges on how well you help your client answer the 'so what' questions.
N - New Reality: One of the greatest difficulties in rainmaking is helping potential clients to understand exactly what they get when they work with you, and then communicating this benefit to other people involved in the buying decision. Thus, you have to paint a clear picture of a New Reality to help them understand, as tangibly as you can depict it, how their world will be different if they engage your services.
As much as possible, you should present this New Reality in both qualitative (descriptive) terms as well as quantitative (financial or other numerically-based measurement) terms.
Applying RAIN™
Like any good conceptual model, RAIN™ Selling goes a lot deeper than what can be described in a short article. Applying any new process such that it will make a difference in your sales results takes training, practice, and coaching. The power of RAIN™ Selling is that you can apply it right away and have it make a difference. Good models, while having deep intrinsic value, are also easy to understand and apply.
Thus, the best way to get you started is to simply remember what the acronym RAIN stands for. Selling professional services (i.e. rainmaking) requires that you connect with a potential client (Rapport) because professional service buyers often choose who they like the best; get a sense of where you can make a difference, either by solving their problems (Afflictions) or helping them innovate and grow (Aspirations); help everyone involved in the buying process to understand the 'so what' (Impact) of moving forward; and tangibilize how the world will be different by painting a picture of a better future (New Reality).
RAIN SELLING HOW RAINMAKERS LEAD SALES CONVERSATIONS - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Stafinski's Website.
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By Mike Schultz and John Doerr
Sales Conversations for Services
To advance in their careers and become Rainmakers (those people at services companies that bring in the new clients and revenue), professionals such as accountants, lawyers, management consultants, and technology consultants eventually need to excel at selling professional services. Rarely, however, are these poor souls given a primer on rainmaking, especially when it comes to leading sales conversations and sales meetings. As a result, they often just 'wing it' and learn by doing, making many avoidable mistakes and losing opportunities to win new clients.
There is a better way to learn to become a rainmaker, especially when it comes to leading sales conversations and sales meetings. To help guide professionals through the process of learning to become a rainmaker, we'd like to introduce the concept of RAIN™ Selling. Geared 100% as a consultative sales process and conversation methodology for selling services, RAIN™ Selling helps professionals win new clients using sales techniques that work.
RAIN™ Basics
Trial and error are the norm when it comes to learning how to be a rainmaker. Thus, the learning curve is long and often filled with anxiety and pain. This leads us to ask the questions, "Is it possible to shorten the learning curve when it comes to selling professional services? Is it possible to make selling itself feel less 'salesly'? Can we increase the level of success of the seller all at the same time?" The answers (as you may have guessed) are yes, yes and yes. We've worked to embody much of how to improve the learning process in the RAIN™ Selling methodology.
So how does it work?
RAIN™ Selling is an acronym that stands for Rapport, Aspirations, Impact, and New Reality. The word 'RAIN', of course, is also a nod to the fact that this process is geared towards rainmakers—the traditional name for those people who bring the clients and the revenue into services firms.
R - Rapport: The ability to build rapport in sales conversations is an old concept that is more relevant and important that ever. At the same time, it's talked about less and less in sales training circles and dismissed as a ploy to make a surface-level connection to a potential client. Why is true rapport so important? Rapport sets the foundation of comfort for the rest of the conversation and for any future relationship. The word rapport also implies a real connection between people, not just a surface-level commonality.
Having a true connection to a potential client is so important in rainmaking because, all things being equal, buyers tend to buy from service providers that they like as much as they buy from those who can meet their needs the best. Yes, there should be a strong focus on creating and presenting a compelling value proposition, but rapport is an often overlooked factor that can tip the scale in favor of one service provider over another.
A - Aspirations: The 'A' in RAIN™ Selling stands for Aspirations. Many sales discussion methodologies suggest that—to sell products and services as 'solutions' to needs—you must first uncover the 'problems' and/or 'pain' of the potential client. We suggest that uncovering problems and pain are only half the story.
When clients buy professional services, they are typically thinking as much about Aspirations (where they want to go) as they are about Afflictions (problems or pain). If you think about asking questions in the negative context, you will find yourself always positing "What's not happening for you," or the trite "What keeps you up at night?"
And you might get good answers. But if you also think of questions in the positive context, you will find yourself asking "Where do you want to go," and "What are the possibilities?" By asking questions in a positive light, you will find that, instead of just negating problems or filling a need, you can paint a vision of a new reality for the client that takes them past problem solving and into new possibilities and innovation.
I - Impact: After you uncover the potential client's aspirations and afflictions, the question then becomes, 'so what?' If your afflictions don't get solved, what won't happen? Will they get worse? How does it affect the bottom line of your company, division, or department?
If your aspirations don't become reality, 'so what?' In a business-to-business scenario, these questions might sound like, 'Will your competition get ahead of you if you don't innovate? Will you lose market share if you aren't aggressive in your strategy?'
The exact 'so what' questions will vary depending on the situation, but your ability to quantify and paint the 'so what' picture is the foundation for just how important engaging your services are to the prospective buyer. This is of tantamount importance to you because when it comes to selling professional services, your competition is often the indifference of your client, not another organization or service provider. So creating urgency for buying your services hinges on how well you help your client answer the 'so what' questions.
N - New Reality: One of the greatest difficulties in rainmaking is helping potential clients to understand exactly what they get when they work with you, and then communicating this benefit to other people involved in the buying decision. Thus, you have to paint a clear picture of a New Reality to help them understand, as tangibly as you can depict it, how their world will be different if they engage your services.
As much as possible, you should present this New Reality in both qualitative (descriptive) terms as well as quantitative (financial or other numerically-based measurement) terms.
Applying RAIN™
Like any good conceptual model, RAIN™ Selling goes a lot deeper than what can be described in a short article. Applying any new process such that it will make a difference in your sales results takes training, practice, and coaching. The power of RAIN™ Selling is that you can apply it right away and have it make a difference. Good models, while having deep intrinsic value, are also easy to understand and apply.
Thus, the best way to get you started is to simply remember what the acronym RAIN stands for. Selling professional services (i.e. rainmaking) requires that you connect with a potential client (Rapport) because professional service buyers often choose who they like the best; get a sense of where you can make a difference, either by solving their problems (Afflictions) or helping them innovate and grow (Aspirations); help everyone involved in the buying process to understand the 'so what' (Impact) of moving forward; and tangibilize how the world will be different by painting a picture of a better future (New Reality).
RAIN SELLING HOW RAINMAKERS LEAD SALES CONVERSATIONS - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Stafinski's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Michel NerayMichel Neray has over 25 years of experience as an award-winning copywriter, an Internet pioneer, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. An online pioneer, he was one of the first marketing professionals to embrace the Internet by building websites as early as 1993. In 1994, Michel co-authored a book entitled "The Great Crossover: Personal Confidence in the Age of the Microchip", which made it to Jack Canfield's Achiever's Recommended Reading List. Michel founded Portfolios.com in 1995, the world's first online source directory for creative professionals and one of the first websites based on community generated content. Since creating The Essential Message in 2003, Michel has helped thousands of independent professionals and entrepreneurs as well as growing corporations find a better way to differentiate, position and brand themselves. In 2005, his chapter "Everything Starts With A Conversation" was selected as the lead for the book, "Sales Gurus Speak Out" and re-published in 2008 for 'Awakening The Workplace Volume 3'. He is also a co-author of "In the Company of Leaders" (2008) with 40 top North American leadership experts. - Visit Michel Neray's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dr. John OdaJohn Oda Ph.D NLP is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States. He is an expert in coaching sales and business professionals in overcoming the behaviors and obstacles that may impede their sales results and affect their bottom line. Since 1995, John has created a speaking bureau such topics, which include: time management, sales training, human diversity, leadership programs and etc. He provides companies with a strategic plan to increase their bottom line by over 25 percent yearly. - Visit Dr. John Oda's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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 Laurie Stafinski (Visit Laurie's Website) These articles are provided by the experts at RainToday. com, the premier online source for insight, advice, and tools for growing your service business. RainToday.com’s offerings include: articles; interviews; research; premium content, interviews, and tools; webinars, seminars, and conferences; and Rainmak er Report, our free weekly e-newsletter read by over 37,000 professional services marketers, business developers, leaders, and practitioners.
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