Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in any Situation

Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in any Situation

Released March 2011
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470922231

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Book description

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 provides a proven system for leading masterful conversations that fill the pipeline, secure new deals, and maximize the potential of your account.

Rainmaking Conversations offers a research-based, field-tested, and practical 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. 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 advisor to your clients during and after the sale. With the RAIN system, you'll be able to:

  • Build rapport and trust from the first contact

  • Create conversations with prospects, referral sources, and clients using the telephone, email, and mail

  • Uncover the real need behind client challenges

  • Make the case for improved business impact and return on investment (ROI) for your prospects

  • Understand and communicate your value proposition

  • Apply the 16 principles of influence in sales

  • Overcome and prevent all types of objections, including money

  • Craft profitable solutions and close the deal

The world-class RAIN SellingSM methodology has helped tens of thousands of people lead powerful sales conversations and achieve breakthrough sales performance. Start bridging the gap between "hello" and profitable relationships today.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Praise for Rainmaking Conversations
  4. Title
  5. Copyright
  6. Dedication
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Part 1 : Getting Ready to Make RAIN
    1. Chapter 1 : Introduction
      1. RAIN, RASP, and 10 Rainmaker Principles
      2. RAIN—Your Guide to Rainmaking Conversations
      3. RASP—Four Keys to Rainmaking Success
      4. 10 Rainmaker Principles
    2. Chapter 2 : The Most Important Conversation You’ll Ever Have
      1. Six Questions to Ask Yourself
      2. Outcomes from Your Conversation with Yourself
    3. Chapter 3 : Goal and Action Planning
      1. Why Goals Are Important
      2. Living by Goals
    4. Chapter 4 : Understanding and Communicating Your Value Proposition
      1. A Value Proposition Is Not a Statement
      2. Three Legs of the Value Proposition Stool
      3. Focus on Impact, Not Mechanics, to Break Free of the Commodity Trap
      4. Six Building Blocks of Value Proposition Positioning Statements
      5. Make It a Rainmaking Conversation
  9. Part 2 : RAIN Selling Key Concepts
    1. Chapter 5 : Rapport
      1. Building Real Rapport
      2. Questions that Build Rapport
    2. Chapter 6 : Aspirations and Afflictions
      1. Capturing Missed Opportunities
      2. Uncovering Aspirations and Afflictions
      3. Advocating to Uncover Needs
    3. Chapter 7 : Impact
      1. Two Types of Impact
      2. Make the Impact Tangible
      3. Tips for Uncovering and Communicating Impact
    4. Chapter 8 : New Reality
      1. Establish the New Reality Benchmark
      2. Craft Your Solution
      3. Communicate the New Reality
      4. Differentiate Your Offering, Substantiate Your Claims
    5. Chapter 9 : Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry
      1. Why We Talk Too Much
      2. What We Miss When We Talk
      3. Advocacy—The Yin to Inquiry’s Yang
      4. Power in Advocacy
      5. Guidelines for Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry
      6. When You Inquire, Listen to What the Prospect Says
      7. Develop Active Listening Skills
    6. Chapter 10 : Digging Deep into Needs
      1. Example Problem: The Production Line Stopped Again
    7. Chapter 11 : 16 Principles of Influence in Sales
      1. Principle 1. Attention
      2. Principle 2. Curiosity
      3. Principle 3. Desire
      4. Principle 4. Envy
      5. Principle 5. Emotional Journey
      6. Principle 6. Belief
      7. Principle 7. Justification
      8. Principle 8. Trust
      9. Principle 9. Stepping Stones
      10. Principle 10. Ownership
      11. Principle 11. Involvement
      12. Principle 12. Desire for Inclusion
      13. Principle 13. Scarcity
      14. Principle 14. Likeability
      15. Principle 15. Indifference
      16. Principle 16. Commitment
    8. Chapter 12 : Tips for Leading Rainmaking Conversations
      1. Stage 1. Rapport Building
      2. Stage 2. Meeting Kickoff
      3. Stage 3. Needs Discovery—Interest, Desire, Aspirations, and Afflictions
      4. Stage 4. Impact Analysis
      5. Stage 5. New Reality
      6. Stage 6. Determine FAINT and Buying Process
      7. Stage 7. Next Steps
      8. Stage 8. Meeting Follow Up
  10. Part 3 : Maximizing Your RAIN Selling Success
    1. Chapter 13 : Prospecting by Phone
      1. Prospecting—What It Is
      2. Demand Driven—The Buyer Drives the Demand to Buy
      3. Demand Driving—The Seller Drives the Demand to Buy
      4. Prospecting for Demand-Driven Services
      5. Prospecting with Demand-Driving Offerings
      6. A Closer Look at Cold Calls
      7. Key Concepts in Prospecting
      8. Six Essential Prospecting Outreach Formulas
      9. What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)—The Common Denominator in All Outreach Formulae
      10. Telephone Call Success Power Boosters
      11. Voicemail—To Leave or Not to Leave
      12. Overcoming Call Reluctance, Nancy Reagan Style
    2. Chapter 14 : Handling Objections
      1. Four Objection Types
      2. The Five-Step Objection Handling Process
      3. When Money Is (Or Appears To Be) the Objection
      4. Responding to Money Objections
      5. Handling the Unspoken Objection
    3. Chapter 15 : Closing Opportunities, Opening Relationships
      1. Understand What Closing Is
      2. Setting the Table for Close Ready Deals
      3. Close with the Right Actions
    4. Chapter 16 : What You Need to Know to Sell
      1. What Rainmakers Know
    5. Chapter 17 : Planning Each Rainmaking Conversation
      1. Planning Question 1: What Is the Prospect’s Current Situation?
      2. Planning Question 2: What Are My Sales Goals for this Prospect?
      3. Planning Question 3: What Is My Desired Next Outcome?
      4. Planning Question 4: What Are My Relative Strengths?
      5. Planning Question 5: What Are My Relative Vulnerabilities?
      6. Planning Question 6: What Actions Do I Need to Take Before the Next Call?
    6. Chapter 18 : How to Kill a Sales Conversation
      1. Killers that Make You Dead on Arrival
      2. Killers Hiding in the Open
      3. Killers Waiting to Ambush You
      4. Killers You Never See that Kill in the Dark
      5. Tendency to Get Emotionally Involved
      6. Need for Approval
      7. Nonsupportive Buy Cycle
      8. Money Discomfort
      9. Self-Limiting Record Collection
      10. I’ve Met the Enemy, and It’s Me, I Think . . .
    7. Chapter 19 : Putting RAIN in Your Forecast
  11. Appendix and Online Resources
  12. About RAIN Group
  13. About RainToday.com
  14. RainToday.com Membership
  15. About the Authors
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in any Situation
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: March 2011
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470922231