Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

Chapter 20. Making Rain: Taking on the Role of Rainmaker

A rainmaker is the person in an organization who is responsible for generating the most business. As rain- maker, you are not responsible for harvesting the crop—taking orders and attending to all of the other details of running your office. Your job is to pull in enough business to keep the other members of your team busy and productive with the harvest.

However, as rainmaker you are responsible for what you say, do, and imply. Make sure that you always underpromise and overdeliver—that you manage expectations right from the start—otherwise, your team will be bogged down managing unhappy clients and striving to achieve impossible goals. Make sure your enthusiasm is not the only thing on which your customers have to hang there hats. Salespeople are notorious for promising the moon so they can play hero to their customers, but you have another world of people back at the office who have to deliver on those outrageous promises and meet those exaggerated expectations. To be the hero rather than just playing the role and earn a long-term career with more clients then you can handle, always remember: It's not about making one sale; it's about building trust, retaining clients, and earning referrals for a lifetime.

When you begin to walk like a giant and sell like a madman, you have bigger shoes to fill, and you tower over the competition. You may not be bigger than your competitors just yet, but your ability to rise above them ...