A Brief Book Review of How to Become a Rainmaker by Jeffrey J. Fox
Bias is strong, and often hard to recognize and check. I came into this book, Jeffrey J. Fox’s “How to Become a Rainmaker”, with some pretty strong biases. I half expected it to be the book version of one particularly cringeworthy but hilarious 90-second scene from Will Ferrell’s magnum opus “Step Brothers”; in the scene Ferrell tries to convince Adam Scott and Rob Riggle’s characters that he’s the right man for running the Catalina Wine Mixer, “the biggest helicopter leasing event in the Western Hemisphere since 1997.” To sell them on the idea, Ferrell pretends to be a douche, and it works. Would I be a douche after reading a book about rainmakers? In hindsight, no. This book is actually really good and refreshingly brief.
I learned about it after it was mentioned in Chris Voss’s surprisingly good Never Split the Difference, and I’m glad I picked it up. Too often books of this ilk are essentially Business Insider articles that should’ve stayed as Business Insider articles and not be drawn out into 200-page woodblocks on common sense that you could learn from speaking to any high school guidance counselor. This book is actually helpful and not geared toward sales bros, but toward anyone who cares about revenue, fundraising, or customer acquisition and retention, whether at a non-profit or for-profit (read: everyone). And I enjoyed its practical advice and many case studies. There are a couple sections that are maybe overly specific and detailed (such as ‘don’t put pens in your pocket because they could explode, embarrass you, and ruin a meeting’—Hmm, okay), but the advice is useful otherwise.
Some advice is common and could be found in similar books, such as: put yourself in your customers’ shoes; do not talk about yourself but instead ask probing, detailed questions and clarify and summarize what they say; pre-plan every sales call; be flexible in your pitch, and if they say yes, take yes for an answer; do the math of how many calls it takes to land a sale and don’t start a “trip” with a customer without enough “gas in your tank”; dare to be dumb by “onionizing” your customer and continuously asking questions about their business; be polite to everyone; a shot on goal is never a bad play; don’t waste your time trying to convince people of your value who don’t already buy similar products; and ask them what you’re not asking that you should know.
Other advice is unique and I hadn’t come across elsewhere: rainmakers sell money not benefits or products (dollarize the benefits of everything for your client); give yourself the best seat in the house; encourage them to express their free will and decide for themselves; welcome customer objections or roadblocks and turn them into objectives; in the middle of a job ask for the next one; don’t negative sell, but do emphasize points of difference; anytime is a good time to reply; show the chain but sell the first link; and ask them to give it a try.
Glad I read this and will do as the author said and flip to a random page every so often and see if I can use the advice in it. I’m confident I can and you can.