The Rainmaker Sales Mastery Program!

By Wyn Nathan Davis

Welcome to module two of ‘The Rainmaker Sales Mastery Program’! All materials are copyrighted 2020. The goal of this program is to teach you how to sell at a very high level and earn the kind of money that you probably thought was impossible for you to achieve.

You can read the full Module Two here or Download the PDF

Click here for Module One

Click here for Module Two

Click here for Module Three

Click here for Module Four

Let’s start with a quick overview of the Module One program.

Developing a Winning Attitude.Remember the right attitude is the attitude that others see in us! When we are in control of how others see us than we win the game. To control how others see us we must be able to control our actions. To control our actions we need first to control our thoughts. To control our thinking is the hardest work in the world but when we achieve this we will become a Mastermind.
The Power of Intention.Intention is the most powerful tool at our disposal. Think about it, when we truly want something with every fiber of our being nothing can get in our way. The reality is that the only thing that ever gets in our way is our own thinking. When we set a powerful intention to reach our goals – no matter how small or large – we set in motion powerful intellectual powers that have a huge impact on our world and those around us.
The Sales Process. A sales process can be very complicated depending on your industry; however, the basic components are always the same:
Leads
Qualified Leads
Prospects
Engagement
The Pitch
Objections
Trial closing
Closing
Servicing the sale

Why We Buy. There are a million reasons why people buy but all of those reasons can be boiled down to one. We all buy because we want the feeling that we get from buying that product or service. Learn to ask good questions, listen carefully, make astute observations and people will tell you why they buy. Unsuccessful salespeople talk and talk and talk. Successful sales people listen and listen and listen.

Personal Presentation. It is a fact that everybody judges everybody. It is in our DNA. When we were Cavemen and focused on survival it was essential that we instantly assess everything and everyone in our environment – just to stay alive. Today life and death is less of an issue but we still instantly judge people – on the way that they talk, the way that they dress and every visual cue available. In selling, we are selling ourselves first and so visual and aural cues are important. Do not underestimate the importance of personal presentation.

Where the money is. Most salespeople make one primary mistake that keeps them from becoming Rainmakers – they treat everyone the same. All customers are not created equal. Some customers have more money to spend, bigger budgets and a broader scope with which to do business. Think about a British Airways Flight. There is Economy, Business and even First Class sections on some flights. A business class passenger may take up three times the space but may pay ten times the airfare (more profit). A First Class passenger may take up to six or ten times the space of an economy passenger but the First Class passenger can pay up to fifty times the economy airfare.

Find the First Class customers in your market and you will make more money. A small company may lease two vehicles, a medium sized company may lease two hundred, a very large company may lease five thousand – get the picture? Learning to find and sell to the largest customers can dramatically change your income and your lifestyle.

The Power of Social Media. First, Social Media is marketing and not selling so Social Media activity should NEVER replace sales activity but Social Media is a tool in the Rainmaker’s toolbox and there is power there. Twitter, is a particularly powerful means to connect with our prospects and customers. Every salesperson should have their own professional Twitter account where they post relevant (business only) posts, thoughts and ideas to position themselves as industry experts and insiders. Follow your customers and prospects and add your Twitter to your email signature. Respond to the Tweets of your prospects and customers to engage and connect! You may get leads from Twitter but think of it more as marketing – positioning you as a leader and an expert!

LinkedIn. LinkedIn is very powerful and you should be connected to every customer and player in your industry. Make certain you have a professional photo (invest a little), write your profile in the first person. Get your profile complete and be very professional. It is not a CV so just cover the highpoints of your career. Once your profile is perfect than start to connect with everyone in your industry. If you don’t have at least five hundred connections then you better be working harder as a salesperson!

How to really network. Networking is very powerful but can easily be the biggest waste of time and money! Do not believe people that will tell you that you need to join some random networking group and that it is not about the people in the room but the people they know. Networking within an industry should be done at industry events. If you are focusing on an industry join the industry association and start to attend trade shows and conferences – that is the place to network and nowhere else. The exception is certain clubs where the truly connected and powerful meet but that is the only real exception.

The Power of Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM). If you are not using some sort of CRM system then you need to start. That which is measured get managed and if you are not keeping track of your leads, prospects and sales activity it is not getting done. Your very first activity every morning should be to look at your CRM and gauge the health of your sales pipeline. It is very easy to get off track and stop prospecting for a few weeks and the price to be paid can be harsh. Three weeks of no prospecting and you can bet the farm that ninety days later you will be in a sales slump. Stop prospecting for two months and in five months you might be out of work or out of business! If you don’t have a CRM system start with a simple free online program such a http://www.capsulecrm.com that will provide you with an instant snapshot of your sales activity.

Cold Facts About Cold Calling.

1.Scripts don’t work!

2.Smooth banter doesn’t work!

3.Tricking the gatekeeper doesn’t work!

4.Gimmicks never work!

The ‘accepted’ method of cold calling is mechanically making call after call, reading from a script, which drives prospects away and is soul-destroying for the salespeople. When managers see this doesn’t work then push for more calls – calling sales a ‘numbers game.’Doing more of what doesn’t work is simply moronic!

Here is what works!

1) Start with your list – calling the entire telephone book is rarely a good idea. Unless you are certain that every business can realistically use your product you are wasting your time. A bit of research can result in a good, current list of businesses in your target sector and geographic location. The City of London Business Library at Guildhall provides public access to some very expensive business databases and it is 100% free. Most cities will have a similar service.

2) Get the direct line of the person you are calling. This doubles your chances of the person answering the telephone.

3) Separate cold calling activities: prospecting to find the right person, and call blitzing to get that person on the telephone are two activities. These should be done at separate times. Do not research then call, research and then call. Cold calling benefits from developing a rhythm and being in an ideal state of mind – better to maintain focus on one activity.

4) Throw away your script! Just a moment, first you write a script that is short, tight and has a highly compelling reason your prospect should meet with you. Spend some time on your script – get it polished, read it aloud until it sounds great – then throw it away! The moment you start reading anything the person on the other end of the line will know it and will shut you down. NEVER read anything but be so clear on your prepared and compelling message that it exactly like normal conversation.

5) Be present! Listen, you’re not stupid and so please don’t expect stupidity in others. Think about telephone conversations you have with friends. You’re chatting away with your friend and they start to watch television, work on the computer, use the toilet – whatever – we ALWAYS know when we are not the main focus of the conversation. Don’t you always know? Once we move from giving 100% attention to the person at the other end of the telephone to doing something else, or thinking about something else the other person knows instantly and will begin to shut you down. Be absolutely 100% focused on the person on the other end of the telephone or don’t bother making the call. Effective cold calling takes intense focus.

6) Get engagement! Now this might well be a 2-minute conversation and so I am not talking about making a deep, personal connection I am talking about being completely real and completely in the moment so that you know the other person is also present and involved in the conversation. The best way to set up engagement is get 100% focused on the other person, be humble, be friendly and smile. Think about someone you really respect and enjoy speaking with (hold that feeling) and then make the call.

7) Gatekeeper won’t let you through? Well, 90% of the time engaging with the gatekeeper will get you through. My favorite phrase here is ‘I wonder if you could help me?’ Think humility! If the gatekeeper is stonewalling you then you need to get creative. Using LinkedIn to find names, or try calling unrelated departments and ask for your target. Sometimes calling just after the switchboard closes is a way to get through to somebody. A Google search will often produce a direct number or mobile number – make it a game and be relentless if the prospect is worthwhile.

8) Know what you want. Most cold calls are not about selling, they are about getting a confirmed meeting (in person or on the telephone). Cold calling is almost NEVER the time to sell the product or service – leave that for the presentation. The cold call is to get an appointment – only talk about that!Keep your mind focused on getting an appointment – only. And, only talk about that. If the person asks for more detail tell them that the information can only effectively presented in-person. Be strong.

9) Ask for the meeting then shut up. Selling is always about controlling the customer conversation. As humans we are trained from a young age to say yes and silence after the request puts stress on the other person to say yes to you! Once you get a yes confirm any required information and get off the telephone as quickly as possible. The longer you talk the better the chance you will talk yourself out of a yes.

10) Ignore all requests to email detail. Virtually 100% of these requests are a strategy to get rid of you – don’t do it! Instead say, ‘I do have literature, however, a 10 minute meeting is all it takes to present the offering and answer any questions. At the end of 10 minutes we will know whether we can help you and you will know if we can deliver any value.’The same is true for most requests to call back later – don’t get diverted!

11) Never leave messages! A message puts you in a corner and leaves you nowhere to go. When you leave a message you are chasing the prospect – desperate. Unless you have an incredibly powerful message that will make sure your prospect picks up the telephone to call you leaving a message only has a downside.

12) Know the difference between persistence and annoyance. Some leads might take days, weeks or even years to develop. Don’t burn a good quality lead by pushing too hard or calling too often. Remember that most customers will have a telephone that shows call history. Don’t hide your telephone number either – it looks deceptive and many people will not answer calls that don’t show a number.

Cold calling is essential to business. Even if your business is well established eventually you will need to pick up the telephone and get a meeting with someone. A bit of effort and you can develop the skill to book a meeting with anyone that might help your business move forward.

A last note for those who thing that cold calling is about numbers and that if you need to make 1000 calls to get one appointment – that is what you should do. Wrong! Why would you waste time, energy and investment making low-grade cold calls that give very little return on investment?

Learn to do it right!

Important:If you did not complete all of the assignments from Module One please stop here and go back and complete the program. It is through action that you will get things done and it is through the leveraging of dozens of different actions that the power will come!

This Module we will cover the following topics:

Creating a Sales Pipeline
How inconsistency creates sales roller coasters
Selling Smarter NOT Harder
Creating awareness of your personal brand
How to build a huge network
Prospecting and Selling on LinkedIn
Creating an audience
Preparing for sales situations and delivering sales presentations
Negotiate sales and pricing
Destroying sales objections
Monetize your offer

Let’s start!

Creating a Sales Pipeline

One of the most important things that you can understand about selling is that selling is NOT an art, it is a scienceand this means that in selling same actions brings the same results. This is a very important principle. It means that by correctly modeling a great salesperson you also can become a great salesperson. In a business, it means that if the best salesperson’s activities can be carefully monitored, understood and measured that the process can be replicated and your business becomes scalable. A sales pipeline is the lifeblood of every salesperson and every sales organization.

How inconsistency creates sales roller coasters.

I can guarantee you if you do not have a well-managed sales pipeline your business is going to be in trouble eventually. A sales pipeline is like any system. Imagine an assembly line in any factory – large or small – every assemble line requires a constant quantity of raw materials and parts to be assembled. The moment any of the component parts runs out the assembly line screams to a halt. Nothing can be completed, nothing can be shipped, and the longer the assembly line stops the bigger the impact on the business. Eventually, the business will close!

A sales pipeline is exactly the same and has the exact same impact on a business if it is not maintained. Every business needs customers but eventually every customer leaves – perhaps they are unhappy, find a better solution, no longer have a need for your product or simply die – all customers leave eventually! If a departing customer is not replaced the business will be affected. Perhaps only a little at first but eventually cash flow will be hurt and the business will stop!

Effectively managing a sales pipeline means managing the sales and marketing activities of the company to ensure that there is a steady stream of qualified leads that can be converted to paying customers. A well-designed, healthy pipeline should be able to quantify the future business of the company. A managing director should be able to ask a sales manager, ‘What are the projected sales for the next year, month by month and where will the business come from?’ The sales manager should know by speaking to his salespeople on a regular basis and carefully monitoring sales reports what the future sales are going to be. It is this basic information that forms the basis of a sales pipeline and this information is used to plan every aspect of the business.

If you do not know where your business is coming from 90 days from now you are in real trouble and your business will struggle. It is only through the development of a sales pipeline and the predictable sales results that are the product of that sales pipeline, can a business grow.

CRM software is very valuable in creating and managing the sales pipeline. If you are a small business or even a one-man band using this software daily will keep your business development activities on track.

A sales pipeline is really about asking the tough questions.

Who do we sell to?
Where do we find them?
Who are the top prospects?
When do we expect to close them?
How much business can we expect them to give us?
What are our chances of success?

A good CRM such a capsulecrm.com or salesforce.com will force you to ask these questions. If you’re a small business I would recommend capsule, it is free for up to two users and very user friendly.

There is nothing worse for a salesperson or business not to know where next month’s business is coming from – this leads to sleepless nights and is not necessary. A little understanding and discipline will help you develop your own pipeline!

Assignment:

Write down your business or territory sales projections for the next 90 days. Describe in detail your sales pipeline. What are the names your prospects? How much business do you expect each prospect to do with you? What is the chance of closing the business and when will the new business be closed? You may want to open a free account on capsulecrm.com for this assignment. Once you have completed the pipeline, how does your next 90 days of business look? Are you scared or comforted by the results of your pipeline?

Creating awareness of your personal brand

Go home, find a large paper bag then, cut two holes in it for your eyes. Now, go to the bathroom, lock the door and undress. Stand in front of the mirror and carefully evaluate your strengths and your weaknesses. This is the starting point to seeing yourself objectively.

Do I really want you to do this – well, not really but I would like you to start to look at your public persona as if you were naked with a paper bag over your head. The reality is that most of us never take even a few seconds to look at our professional image and evaluate what other people see. As a sales recruiter I can tell you that most people applying for sales jobs never review their CV, LinkedIn profile or do a Google search of their own name. Are you really putting your best foot forward? You should never lie but it is always possible to present yourself in better light. LinkedIn profiles should always be in the first person, enhance but avoid crazy hyperbole. Nobody should describe himself or herself as a ‘Guru’ or a ‘Visionary’ – even if you are these things – if someone else has said it go ahead and quote them but don’t say it about yourself!

Invest in a quality photograph and use the same photo for all social media – it helps with recognition and branding! Carefully, review your LinkedIn profile, line by line word by word for accuracy, grammar, spelling and brand position.

LinkedIn is your most powerful professional online marketing tool. So make sure it presents you at the very best. Get written recommendations and as many endorsements as possible. If you are in sales you should have at least 500 LinkedIn connections.

I won’t go into extreme detail here but here are links to a couple of useful articles that can be found on my blog. Click on the links below.

101 LinkedIn Tips, Tricks and Strategies For Success

How To Get 5,000 LinkedIn Connections In 30 Days Or Less

Assignment

Take a few minutes to review the LinkedIn profiles of some people that you truly admire. Write down what stands for you and then add those elements to your LinkedIn profile – don’t copy, emulate! If you have time invest in a professional photo. If you cannot manage that then find a friend with a quality digital camera and take some photos outside – morning light is great. Make sure you are well groomed and professionally dressed. The photo should be cropped shoulders up. Do not include anyone else in your photo unless they are directly related to your work. You may love your children and your spouse but including them in your photos looks unprofessional at best and manipulative at worst. Don’t do it! Many people have very strong feelings about people using children in photos – it is best just not to go there! Once your profile is absolutely perfect then use the same text and photo for every online profile – consistency build brand!

How to build a huge network

In selling you can never have too many contacts. Now, quality is better than quality but quality and quantity is great! Make a plan to know everyone in your industry, everyone who works for all of your customers and everyone who works for all of your main competitors. It is very common for established competitors to help each other or even subcontract business out to each other. The more people you know the better placed you will be to take advantage of opportunities.

The first place to start is to identify the industries of your best customers. Every industry has an association! Join industry association and start attending all industry events and network like crazy! Meet everyone and connect with everyone. Be authentic, energetic and consistent and you will build huge recognition quickly. As all of your targets work within the same industries, referrals become gold and word of mouth is powerful!

If you work in more than one industry then do the same for each making sure not to spread yourself too thin!

Assignment

Look at all of your customers and identify their industries. Next, identify the industry association. Visit the association website and join. One of the important benefits of joining any association is that you receive the membership list and have access to trade shows and conferences. This is a powerful source of leads and customers!

Prospecting and Selling on LinkedIn

Building business through LinkedIn is not difficult but it does require discipline and consistency.

1) Write a profile that people find interesting and that reflects your wider business experience. Provide links to websites, blogs, and social media accounts, which hopefully support the fact that you have good ideas and are passionate about what you do for businesses.

2) Connect with as many people as possible – think audience not Rolodex

3) Funnel all your blogs, tweets, newsletters and announcements through your LinkedIn account updates – Hootsuite is great for this.

4) Be active in as many relevant groups as possible – where your customers are!

5) When you make a connection engage with that person, determine if the relationship has ‘legs’ and then move the relationship along. Start with a LinkedIn connection, then a coffee, then a proposal, and then business. This is the selling part and what most people miss. They do all the networking stuff but cannot, don’t remember or don’t want to close.

6) ABC! Always Be Closing! Identify if the relationship has business potential and if so then close! If not, then perhaps this contact could refer business, be a source of industry information or even a good friend – that is all good stuff!

Common LinkedIn Mistakes

Posting without engagement. It can be too easy to just push the share button and post in fifty different groups. This is a great tool but it is always important to engage!

LinkedIn not working for you?

If Linkedin is not working for you then you:

1) Are not truly engaging with people – selling requires engagement!

2) Have not invested enough time.

3) Don’t know how to close. Networking is filled with people who just want to chat. If that is you then you will never get business here!

Assignment

Review your list of customers again and select the top twenty percent. Now find the relevant contacts in those top twenty-percent and visit their LinkedIn profiles. Make a note of the groups they belong to and then join those groups – you want to spend time where your customers are! Fish where the fish are! Too many people waste LinkedIn by socializing instead of selling – don’t make that mistake!

Creating an audience

No matter what your profession being seen as a recognized expert will deliver real business success – fast! You can really become a recognized expert.

It does not matter whether you are a lawyer, accountant, plumber, salesperson or babysitter; being seen as an expert will help secure your ability to earn a better living doing what you have always been doing. It is true for individuals, organizations, businesses and even products!

One of the strategies we teach in our Rainmaker Seminars is how to establish yourself as a recognized expert in your market fast. The highest performing salespeople are always seen as experts! Look at all of the reality programs on television and you will find cooks, matchmakers, accountants, lawyers, real estate agents, antique dealers, builders, designers, and the list goes on and on of established, recognized experts in something!

Any category you can think of and somebody has positioned themselves as experts in that field. They have then pitched a television producer on a show featuring them as experts! You can do the same and here is how you do it!

There are three primary steps to becoming a recognized expert in any market and here they are:

Your positioning becomes your position.

Take a few moments and define your market. Let’s say you’re in Real Estate. As a real estate agent you will find lots of experts already established, however, you just need to further define your market and expertise. Are you an expert on London, on starter-homes, on one-bedroom flats, on retirement homes, on investment property? Just find a niche that fits your experience and has a market that you can claim. If someone else is there then simply tweak your niche until you can separate yourself from the crowd. Once you find your niche and are certain that it defines a market big enough to support your goals then define your position! I am… ‘this!’ You may not be ‘this’ today? Once you position yourself then you have a target and can do the work to get there.

2. Find a public platform.

Whether it is your own Website, your Blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, Book, YouTube, or Public Speaking just find your medium, state your position, claim your expert status and begin to talk and write about your expertise. A blog can lead to a newspaper article, can lead to a book, can lead to speech, can lead to a YouTube channel can lead to your own television or radio program. It all starts with a message and the confidence to shout that message.

3. Ask for an opportunity.

Once you have written a few blog pieces, or given a number of speeches or published a book you will, in fact, have become an expert in your field. The work in establishing yourself as an expert will make you an expert even if you are not one yet! The groundwork could be done relatively quickly and social media is a great tool to spread your name and message fast! Once you have fully established your name as an expert then it is simply a matter of building your position and asking for opportunity. Ask a publisher to publish your book, ask to speak at a conference, or ask for a television show starring you – the expert on something!

This exact formula has been making experts for more than one hundred years. Sure, the medium has changed but the process is still the same. People want to be informed, entertained and taken on a journey. It is your confidence in your own knowledge and experience that will convince the crowd to follow you! The time involved really depend on your confidence, willing to put yourself out there and your energy!

Assignment

Identify your unique approach and interest in your industry. What could be your angle? What is your expertise that could separate you from everyone else? Now write five actions you could take to begin the process of establishing yourself as an expert.

Preparing for sales situations and delivering sales presentations

Most sales people give very little thought to sales presentations. They simply wing it! The result is that the majority of time sales people do not ask for the order and they never have control of the customer conversation. Now many sales people may have five face-to-face presentations everyday and telephone-based salespeople can make ten or twenty times that number – so how does a sales person prepare? There are a number of key things that you can do!

Know your product or service inside out. Information is the best and fastest route to establishing trust with the prospect and dealing with objections. Take the time to learn your product or service offering and what is important to your customer.
Most sales people hang themselves by simply not listening to the prospect. In most cases if you let the prospect talk they will tell you exactly what they need. Most people are open books if you let them talk.
Set an intention deep within your mind that your product or service delivers exceptional value and visualize the perfect presentation and outcome. Intention is powerful in setting up many of the non-verbal cues that prospects will follow! Even 30 seconds of mental preparation prior to picking up the phone or walking from the car to the prospects office can be enough to make the difference.

Assignment

Create a twenty-word ‘mantra’ or ‘intention’ that you can repeat to yourself prior to every phone call or in-person meeting. It could be something like. ‘This prospect will sense the positive power of my intention and see the value in my superior product or service.’ Try repeating these words to yourself prior to every presentation and judge the difference for yourself after one week.

Negotiate sales and pricing

Of course negotiation is a powerful skill that could fill many courses but for most salespeople the issue with price is really a problem of objection. Most prospects will have a few objections or questions with regard to buying any product – even a product they know well. This is part of establishing trust with the seller and the product or service. The problem with most salespeople is that on the very mention of price they simply roll over and cut the price or give up on the sale.

Most price objections have very little to do with price, it has to do with trust. What the prospect is really asking you to do is to justify the price. The best way to deal with price objections is to know the value that your product delivers to the prospect.

Assignment

Take a moment to think about the added value that your company delivers. Write ten points that support the value of your product or service and the company’s value proposition. Consider your last three sales presentations and choose which value proposition would have best supported your sale. Memorize your list of value propositions and add it to your sales arsenal.

Destroying sales objections

Most salespeople when faced with an objection such as…

The price is too high
It is not the colour I wanted
It lacks the features I was hoping for

…simply give up!

They shrug or mumble or apologize and let the prospect walk away. In most cases, the same prospect will eventually buy the exact same product a few weeks later from a competitor.

How to get past this?

Well, the best defense is a good offence and in selling the best offense is to know your product or service so well that your pitch pulverizes every objection before the customer even thinks about it! Invest in your sales technique and learn every objection inside out. When you do have an objection you use these three simple words taught to me by Brian Tracy.

This is how it goes.

Feel, Felt, Found!

“I understand how you ‘feel’, many of our best customers ‘felt’ the same when they first spoke to us but they have ‘found’, through experience that the reality is almost the opposite and they have become some of our best customers.”

The ‘feel’ acknowledges how they feel – validation. The ‘felt’ lets them know that others have felt the same way – more validation. And the ‘found’ suggests that the objection has a clear and recognized solution.

It works every time.

Every other sales objection can be dealt with by knowing your product and service inside out as well as the competition. It is when we don’t have an intelligent response that we need to cut price or give up.

Monetize your offer

Know the value of your service and be able to monetize the value in terms of the client’s return on invest (ROI). When the client raises the issue of price make certain that you can justify in terms of value to the customer. It may be software that will cost several thousand but before the clients raises the price issue let them know that the software will save them three times the cost in direct savings over the life of the software. This is just an example and your own instance will take some real homework to define but the more effort you put into supporting the investment the better your position.

Assignment

Figure out the monetized value of your product or service in terms of your customer’s situation. This can take a lot of work and you may need help – find a helpful accountant to help you with the numbers.

That’s it for this module! You have a lot of material here and a lot of work to cover.

Next we will cover the following: