{"id":1447,"date":"2008-02-29T09:14:28","date_gmt":"2008-02-29T15:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/rainmaker-traits\/"},"modified":"2008-02-29T08:57:57","modified_gmt":"2008-02-29T14:57:57","slug":"rainmaker-traits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/rainmaker-traits\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainmaker Traits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Business\/CareerManagement\/story?id=4340343\">good post<\/a> on sales &#8220;rainmakers&#8221; from my friend Bob Rosner.\u00a0 I suspect that most of you are aware of our emphasis on salespeople with strong listening abilities.\u00a0 Part of a rainmaker&#8217;s skill set?\u00a0 Absolutely:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>DO Listen and synthesize. <\/strong>The biggest difference between an average salesperson and a rainmaker? Mr. Average assumes his most important tool to making a sale is his golden tongue. While Ms. Rainmaker knows that it&#8217;s her ears.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That may be the most important aspect of their abilities.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we have seen this work <em>against<\/em> them in an interview.\u00a0 Some hiring managers want to be wowed in the interview by some form of verbal gymnastics.\u00a0 Often, we have to point out to the manager specific instances from the interview where the candidate was qualifying them.<\/p>\n<p>One other factor that I think is common to all rainmakers is pointed out early in Rosner&#8217;s post:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It&#8217;s a story that I heard from a sage salesman at my dad&#8217;s car dealership when I was a kid. Two shoe salesmen land in Africa. Upon seeing hundreds of people walking around barefoot, one salesman sends a telegram back to his home office. &#8220;No sales here, no one wears shoes.&#8221; While the second salesman wrote back, &#8220;Huge market, everyone needs shoes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rainmakers aren&#8217;t witch doctors who dance to make it rain. Rather, they&#8217;re salespeople who see markets overflowing where most of us see nothing but desert.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Exactly.\u00a0 Rainmakers have the ability to see opportunity through what appears to be obstacles to others.\u00a0 This reason is why some rainmakers are boat-rockers within a company.\u00a0 They desire to power through these obstacles to reach the goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a good post on sales &#8220;rainmakers&#8221; from my friend Bob Rosner.\u00a0 I suspect that most of you are aware of our emphasis on salespeople with strong listening abilities.\u00a0 Part of a rainmaker&#8217;s skill set?\u00a0 Absolutely: DO Listen and synthesize. The biggest difference between an average salesperson and a rainmaker? Mr. Average assumes his most important tool to making a sale is his golden tongue. While Ms. Rainmaker knows that it&#8217;s her ears. That may be the most important aspect of their abilities.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we have seen this work against them in an interview.\u00a0 Some hiring managers want to be wowed in the interview by some form of verbal gymnastics.\u00a0&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/rainmaker-traits\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16,3,9],"tags":[383,381,385,384,382],"class_list":["post-1447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring-salespeople","category-sales","category-sales-techniques","tag-hiring-strong-salespeople","tag-rainmaker","tag-rainmaker-skills","tag-rainmaker-traits","tag-sales-superstar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-nl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1545,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/3-sales-hiring-inhibitors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1447,"position":0},"title":"3 Sales Hiring Inhibitors","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Even bad salespeople can appear to be strong in a face-to-face interview situation.\u00a0 This reason is why sales recruiting is truly different than any other form of recruiting.\u00a0 Reviewing resumes and assuming abilities is is a fool's errand.\u00a0 Yet, there are certain aspects of general recruiting that can that hinder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":670,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/assessing-the-behavioral-based-interview\/","url_meta":{"origin":1447,"position":1},"title":"Assessing The Behavioral-Based Interview","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling Power discusses behavioral-based interviewing in On Your Best Behavior. The article covers the main points of this interview approach and it is certainly an approach we incorporate - to some extent. First, if you are relying on the face-to-face interview to make a strong sales hire, you are taking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":970,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/06\/sales-is-more-than-5-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":1447,"position":2},"title":"Sales Is More Than 5 Things","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Top five traits you gotta have to sell! The top five traits of a successful salesperson! Discover the 5 key behaviors of sales superstars! You have probably seen these amazing statements across the web.\u00a0 Isn't it interesting how \"5\" seems to be the magic number for sales traits, behaviors or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2307,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/04\/product-vs-service-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":1447,"position":3},"title":"Product vs. Service Sales","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been seeing this distinction first-hand among salespeople I have encountered of late.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure there is a clear-cut sales ability towards product vs. service sales, but I do know that certain salespeople have skills and aptitudes that support one over the other.\u00a0 In that vein I give you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5859,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2017\/06\/4-pillars-of-successful-sales-selection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1447,"position":4},"title":"4 Pillars Of Successful Sales Selection","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Successful sales hiring, in any company, is one of the most difficult tasks in which to achieve repeatable success.\u00a0 From unexpected outbursts to terminal tardiness to woeful incompetence, every company has a sales hiring horror story regarding employees who interviewed strong but performed poorly. Perhaps a subtle, but more dangerous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Pillars.jpg?fit=304%2C204&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1334,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/12\/mediocrity-in-the-hiring-process\/","url_meta":{"origin":1447,"position":5},"title":"Mediocrity In The Hiring Process","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Hiring salespeople is the difficult combination of science and art weighted perfectly to select the right person for the position's requirements.\u00a0 Obviously, knowing the position's requirements is the preeminent step.\u00a0 Many sales managers believe they know what it takes to be successful in the position and they do to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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