“An excellent book on how to dollarize, and how to quantify business benefits…”
I’ve waited quite a while to file a review on “How to become a Rainmaker” because I’ve often read books once, but this is perhaps the only book I can remember that I have read more than 5 times.
Written by Jeffrey J Fox, the best selling author of “How to become a CEO”, this book is an insightful look at how to dollarize, how to quantify business benefits and how to get and keep customers.
Like Fox’s other books, this is a very short book with about 170 pages. (You can read it in a day to be honest) Each chapter lasts no more than 2-3 pages and is direct to the point. Fox’s style is unique, direct and frankly refreshing; cutting through the hype to deliver ideas, concepts and practical strategies without hyperbole.
Rainmaker is primarily for people who sell, the people who get clients, get referrals, and close deals; ie: the people who make it rain. The book covers a wide range of topics, including:
- Show them the money
- Customers don’t care about you (perhaps my favorite chapter)
- Dare to be dumb
- Never by ‘in a meeting’
- The six killer sales questions
- Earthquakes don’t count
- Park in the back
- Sell on Friday afternoons
- Fish where the big fish are
- You’re not at lunch to eat lunch
- Never wear a pen in your shirt pocket
- A shot on goal is never a bad play
On the subject of dollarization, Fox goes into some depth about why dollarization is important. Dollarization is about showing your customer the return on investment, or how much can be saved, or how things can be done better, cheaper or faster.
The idea of getting and keeping customers is also re-inforced by a chapter called “using the points system” where you can use 4 steps for each sale:
- Getting a lead, referral, an introduction to a decision maker (1 point)
- Getting an appointment to meet the decision maker (2 points)
- Meeting the decision maker face-to-face (3 points)
- Getting a commitment to a close (or purchase), or to an action that directly leads to a close (4 points).
Rainmaker is really is a good book, I enjoy reading it because it’s short to the point, it’s direct and very legibile and easy to read.
If identifiying, attracting, getting and getting customers are your goals then this book is a great read and is perhaps one of the better business books out there on the market, and surprisingly – it’s not that expensive either!