Rain Making Conversations

Conversations make or break everything in sales. Every conversation you have is an opportunity to find new prospects, win new customers and increase sales.  Rainmaking Conversations by sales training experts Mike Schultz and John Doerr provides a proven system for leading masterful sales conversations that fill the pipeline, secure new deals and maximize the potential of your accounts.

Rainmaking Conversations offers a research-based, field-tested selling approach that will help you master the art of the sales conversation. This proven system revolves around the acronym RAIN, which stands for Rapport, Aspirations and Afflictions, Impact and New Reality. With RAIN, you’ll learn how to ask your prospects and clients the right questions and help them set the agenda for success.  Armed with the knowledge of the markets you serve, the common needs of prospects, and how your products and services can help, you can become a trusted adviser to your clients during and after the sale.

RAIN is an acronym for Rapport, Aspirations and Afflictions, Impact and New Reality. These are the core concepts you need to remember to lead a rainmaking conversation. In addition, the “A” and the “I” perform double duty, standing for Advocacy and Inquiry, and the “IN” will help you to remember to maximize your Influence. The RAIN acronym is also a nod to the fact that this process is focused on rainmakers — a common name for people who bring the most new clients and revenue into an organization.

Ten Rainmaker Principles

The top rainmakers share 10 common principles:

1. Play to win-win. Rainmakers respect and always try to satisfy the best interests of prospects and clients as well as their own (the win-win part). They are also extremely dedicated to becoming top performers (the play-to-win part), exhibiting the hustle, passion and intensity it takes to achieve what only the elite achieve.

2. Live by goals. Goals are a part of Rainmakers’ daily rituals.

3. Take action. Rainmakers realize that goals without actions don’t get you very far. While other people intend to take action and do more, rainmakers do it.

4. Think buying first, selling second. Rainmakers map their selling processes to the processes and psychology of buying.

5. Be a fluent expert. Rainmakers might not be technical experts in every area, but they know what they need to know in order to sell.

6. Create new conversations every day. Rainmakers always feed the front of their pipelines and improve their pipeline quality.

7. Lead masterful rainmaking conversations. Rainmakers lead masterful sales conversations, from prospecting to needs discovery to closing to account management.

8. Set the agenda; be a change agent. Rainmakers recommend, advise and assist. They are change agents who are not afraid to push when it’s in the best interest of the customer.

9. Be brave. It takes courage to rise to the occasion in sales. Rainmakers not only conquer their fears, they actively seek to win the most fruitful sales opportunities no matter how difficult the challenges may be.

10. Assess yourself, get feedback and improve continuously. Rainmakers are never afraid to learn the cold, hard truth about themselves. They use what they discover — the good and the bad — to learn, grow and change for the better. They never stop this cycle.

The authors: Mike Schultz is co-president of RAIN Group, and a world-renowned consultant and expert in sales training and performance improvement.