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

Rating:
Summary: ¿Read This Book If Your Organization Needs Revenues"
Review: "You Should Read This Book If Your Organization Needs Revenues," or so begins How to Become a Rainmaker, by Jeffrey J. Fox. He explains the book's title:
"American Indian tradition exalts the Rainmaker. The Rainmaker used magical powers to bring the rain to nourish the crops to feed the people. . . .Today, a Rainmaker is a person who brings revenue into an organization, be it profit or not-for-profit."

Rainmakers are the folks on the front line, the ones we may call 'sales people', 'account executives' or 'regional account managers.' But as Fox points out, "the paramount job of every single employee in an organization is to, directly or indirectly, get and keep customers." Fox encourages the reader to "Dare to Be Dumb" by asking questions until getting to the heart of the matter----to pull back the layers and onionize the clients needs.

Like most powerful ideas, Rainmaker's core concepts are easier to write about than to put into practice. Fox holds the mirror up, showing us how everyday habits accumulate and work against our ability to 'make rain.' A short read of only 165 pages, it's almost certain to ask that you relinquish a few habits and gain some new ones ----requiring discipline. This book reminded me of the best advice I've received over the years, like Fox's "Do a wonderful job, do it on time, do it on budget, don't complain, and give a customer a little extra." A worthy business goal, and a sure formula for making rain.

Rating:
Summary: A Decent Basic Refresher Course on Sales
Review: As a lawyer and as an MBA that is currently running his own consulting business, I picked up this book as a way of giving myself a refresher course on sales. I was not disappointed by the book, nor was I amazed by the advice given. The book is easy to read and contains 160 odd pages of large font, widely spaced text. I read this entire book during the course of a brief flight from Los Angeles to San Jose(about an hour).

Others have commented that the book contains a lot of simple, obvious and straight forward advice and I tend to agree with this assessment. However, advice does not always need to be complex or particularly insightful in order to be useful. For example, it is always good to remember the value of embracing your client's objections and to develop a client-centric view of the sales process. While this is obvious to most sales people, many of us tend to overlook this principle from time to time.

The book has other fundamental weaknesses. For one thing, most of the examples contained in the book are non-specific and often feel like made up clichés. For example, the truly predictable tale of the sales person who was able to land a huge account by being nice to a secretary that later became an executive VP...

From my perspective the book also has another serious deficiency - most of the examples given in the book deal with tangible products. The author almost completely ignores the often much more challenging and complex process of selling services.

The bottom line is this: this is a decent book if you need a quick refresher or if you are completely unfamiliar with the world of sales. If that is not the case, look for a different book.

Rating:
Summary: Simple minded and trite
Review: I am sure that this book is handed out at many a company meeting. Too bad it does not have any substance to it. This book is merely a collection of stale and cliche ridden sales tips (though they have been changed enough to prevent any copyright lawsuits!). If you are looking for real sales tips, dont' buy this book. Rather, go to Google and search for sales tips. If you are a manager looking for a way to make your boss think you are motivating the troops, order this book. It might help your next review. This book is basically this year's "Who Moved my Cheese" or the fish throwing book.

Rating:
Summary: Read once -- and then refer to it frequently
Review: I was disappointed at first when I received this book. It was too small and slim to be useful, I thought. Wrong! It's full of good ideas and timely reminders for anyone who makes their living from causing and fulfilling other people's buying decisions.

As a consultant (rather than a product salesperson), some of the product-oriented advice wasn't applicable to my practice. The advice to "dollarize" customers' benefits are easier with "hard products" than they are with "soft services," but Fox does not address this challenge.

Those issues aside, I like the short but intense style, with each of the chapters taking little more than 2-3 pages (500-750 words). I remember watching a friend of mine, an antiques dealer, work with a customer. I thought, "He forgot to ask killer sales question number...," letting the customer leave the store even after expressing specific interest in purchaing an item. The book's style allows one to easily remember snippets like the six "killer sales questions" (each with its own chapter).

This is not a huckster's book, either. There's a heavy message of respect for the customer, fair dealing, not wasting time (yours OR your customer's), and attentiveness to the customer's wishes. Rainmakers thrive on relationships, not "quick kill" sales.

Fox also discusses this when addressing prospecting. He recommends prospecting a reasonably small number of targeted customers and investing time and effort in each one. PLan repeat contacts progressing toward a sale. Don't scatter your time and talents all over the board, mistaking effort for accomplishment.

"Rainmaker" is a valuable addition to my consulting library, and its compact size will make it easy to carry along with me for inspiration and recollection.

Rating:
Summary: just what I needed
Review: I'm new to sales, so this book was great for me. I got a lot of help from it. I needed to sell my car among few other things, so i decided to go for this book because it didn't look like some sales bible filled with tons of information. I needed some fast information I could use right away, and this is exactly what I got from this book.

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)

Rating:
Summary: Tightly Focused Book
Review: Jeffrey J. Fox defines a rainmaker as "a person who brings revenue to an organization, be it for profit or not-for-profit." He says, "Customers' money is the rain." The book consists of chapters containing 2-3 pages each, with each chapter focusing on one aspect of becoming a rainmaker. Each chapter guides the reader in getting the customer and keeping the customer. While many of the concepts will be review for many readers, Fox does emphasize the concept of dollarization and offers examples of the idea. He asks the reader to think of what he or she is selling. He answers the question by claiming, "Rainmakers sell money." How he or she does this is through demonstrating to the customer the value of the product (hence selling money) through dollarization. Fox also offers six "killer questions" throughout the book. How to Become a Rainmaker can be read in one evening. Fox suggests after reading the book to open it to a random page and do what the chapter tells you to do. This way it becomes a handbook for future reference.