Here’s a good post on sales “rainmakers” from my friend Bob Rosner. I suspect that most of you are aware of our emphasis on salespeople with strong listening abilities. Part of a rainmaker’s skill set? 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’s her ears.
That may be the most important aspect of their abilities. Unfortunately, we have seen this work against them in an interview. Some hiring managers want to be wowed in the interview by some form of verbal gymnastics. Often, we have to point out to the manager specific instances from the interview where the candidate was qualifying them.
One other factor that I think is common to all rainmakers is pointed out early in Rosner’s post:
It’s a story that I heard from a sage salesman at my dad’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. “No sales here, no one wears shoes.” While the second salesman wrote back, “Huge market, everyone needs shoes.”
Rainmakers aren’t witch doctors who dance to make it rain. Rather, they’re salespeople who see markets overflowing where most of us see nothing but desert.
Exactly. Rainmakers have the ability to see opportunity through what appears to be obstacles to others. This reason is why some rainmakers are boat-rockers within a company. They desire to power through these obstacles to reach the goal.