The idea of selling can be daunting. And it is! The business environment has
evolved significantly in the past decades that consumers now have more choices
(that means competition for the entrepreneur).
(article continued below ...)
Many home-based entrepreneurs fail in their ventures because they are not
able to execute and implement their vision. You may know what business to start,
how to gather the resources you need; but if you don't know how to sell, then
you might as well close your business (unless you have the money to hire a sales
person). As much as you dread of prospect of selling, your business needs
customers, without which you are doomed.
 Jeffrey Fox, in his book "How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for
Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients" offers simple instructions on
winning clients for your business, or as he calls it, how to become the
"rainmaker." Fox defines a rainmaker as "a person who brings
revenue to an organization, be it for profit or not-for-profit." They could
be the owner or partner in a small business, or the CEO or sales manager of a
large organization. If you are a one-person business, your goal is to become a
rainmaker and bring in new business to your business..
According to Fox, "the most important success factor in any business or
organization is having a customer." A customer brings money to the business
- whether to pay the bills and salaries, buy inventory or keep the business well
oiled. For him, customers are more important than "the business idea, the
products, the machinery, the buildings, the financing or the people." Given
the benefits customers bring to the business, your goal as an entrepreneur
should be to find customers and keep them.
The book is so easy to read you can finish it in one sitting. Fox offers 50
tips (one tip per chapter) that will guide you in getting and keeping the
customer. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of becoming a rainmaker and
contains 2-3 pages each. Short and an easy read, the book is full of practical
tips that are strongly grounded in wit and common sense. Some of his tips
include:
- Obey marketing's first commandment: treat each customer as you would treat
yourself.
- Appointments with decision-makers are rare events. Hence, it is essential
to do adequate "precall planning" when making your first call on a
new customer and when making the last call. You need to be prepared and
confident when you make that sales call.
- Don't drink coffee on a sales call! You have to maximize time and
concentrate in your objective. Do not waste precious minutes getting the
coffee, stirring the cream and drinking it. Worse, it could spill and
distract you and your prospect.
- You're not at lunch to eat lunch. Wherever the business meeting is being
held - in the golf course, restaurant or cocktail party - you are there
solely to do one thing: do business.
- Customers buy for only two reasons: to feel good or solve a problem. You
must therefore help the customer see the money by turning benefits into
dollars. This is the concept of "dollarization."
"Dollarization" is the concept continuously emphasized by Fox in
the book. Dollarization is "figuring out - in dollars and cents - what each
product is worth to the customer. In order to win a customer, you must be able
to tell him or her the exact benefits of your products or services, relative to
your competitor. Why will a customer use your business instead of your
competitor, especially if you are charging a higher price?
Fox cites the example of two paints: Brand A is $10/gallon, while Brand B is
$18/gallon. While Brand A has the lower price, Brand B has more pigment and will
require one less coat of paint than Brand A. If your product is Brand B, how are
you going to convince customers that your more expensive product is the better
choice? The key is to quantify to your customers the true costs of each product!
Rainmakers do not sell the product or service; rather they sell the value of
the product through dollarization. Hence, as a Rainmaker, you sell money! You
may say that your product or service is "longer lasting,"
"superior quality," "excellent customer service," or
"more efficient"; but you must help the customer understand the value
of your claims. Particularly if you are fighting a price war, you must be able
to translate "faster service" into dollars and cents to attract new
business and retain your existing customer base.
Assuming that you are selling gaskets to seal an engine component priced at
$1.00 each. Your competitor sells them for $0.92 each, but your products are
"more reliable." As a result of a different design, your product fails
eight times less often per thousand gaskets than the competition. When the
gasket fails, it results to a warranty claim of $25.00 to fix.
Using the above example, Fox illustrates six basic steps to follow in a
product's dollarization:
1.
Determine the competition.
Know other ways your customer can get the kind of product or service that you
offer. Find out as much as you can, including price and benefits they are
offering. In this example, you know that your supplier sells their gaskets for
$0.92 each.
2.
State your benefit.
List down all the reasons why the customer should do business with you, e.g.
your product is "more reliable."
3.
Quantify the benefit.
Determine how much the benefit actually translates to when you talk in
monetary terms. In the example, what does being "more reliable"
mean? By using your gasket, the customer faces eight fewer guarantee claims
per thousands of products sold. Think of it in terms of the savings a
customer can get in using your product or services.
4.
Dollarize the benefit.
Now, compute how much the benefits translate into dollar value. In the
example, you save on warranty cost, which is derived by the number of
warranty claims avoided multiplied by the cost per claim.
Warranty claims avoided x Cost per claims = Warranty Cost Saved
8 x $25 = $200
5.
Express the total dollarized benefit in "per unit" terms.
The example showed the savings per thousands of products sold. Bring those
savings down to each unit purchased. Divide the total amount of savings by
the number of units to get savings per unit.
Total Savings / Number of Units = Savings per unit
$200 / 1,000 = $0.20
6.
Demonstrate the true net cost of your product.
From the calculations above, show to your customer the true net cost (or
true price) of your product given the monetary value of the benefits that
you provide. Calculate your true price by deducting the savings per unit
from your price.
Your Price - Savings per Unit = Your True Price
$1.00 - $0.20 = $0.80
However, one can argue that Fox's sales tips are so basic that you would
intuitively know them without even reading the book. Nevertheless, it is
always a good idea to get a "refresher course" if only to sharpen
your knowledge and maybe, pick up new ideas along the way. The value of this
book to you will depend on how much training and common sense you already
have. Most of all, like any how-to books, you need to apply Fox's techniques
and principles in order to get maximum value out of the book.
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