Rainmaking Conversations

Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation

By: Mike Schultz, John E. Doerr

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

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, 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 selling 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.

©2011 The Wellesley Hills Group (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"There are lots of books on selling, but few as free of fluff as Rainmaking Conversations." (Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid)

The Must Read (or Listen) for all business professionals

Rain, it brings nourishment to the fields and the farmer. Rainmakers, they bring nourishment to their companies and themselves. I learned many secrets from John Doerr - one of the business leaders behind the success of Intel, Google,... - in these pages. Learn and apply!! A must read/listen. Thank you!!!

I've listened to it three times already.

Would you consider the audio edition of Rainmaking Conversations to be better than the print version?

At first, the audiobook was booooring. Then I set it at three times the normal speed and was able to enjoy it. The author talks too slowly.

It has very useful ideas on how to sell.

What other book might you compare Rainmaking Conversations to and why?

How to help customers succeed, because of its approach to selling.
SPIN Selling, on how to ask questions.

What three words best describe Paul Boehmer’s voice?

Too slow, nice tone, clear.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

I used the Android app to play it a three times normal speed. It is understandable and you can finish it in a couple of hours.

Fantastic Information if You Are in Sales...

A must read/listen for those in sales. Not just a what to do book but also a how to. I highly recommend this book as a person who has spent his adult life in both the US Army and Sales it was wonderfuly structured and full of great knowledge.

Decent book, Only Fair Audiobook

This book has a lot of great lists and tips on selling professional services, including some very useful examples. From that standpoint, it is a decent sales training book, although not the best I have read. I think the book also suffers from what could be seen as internal contradictions regarding sales techniques, but which could also be seen as trying to find a happy medium. The problem is that the listener is sometimes left with less than clear direction. Nevertheless, overall, the content is not bad. Nothing great or new here, but not bad.

As an audiobook, the book suffers from the style in which it is written (lots of lists) and the narration. Although the narrator is smooth, his lack of vocal inflection and variety just makes the book drone on and on. I listen to books most often when working out, and it was really difficult at times to maintain concentration because of the narration.

A textbook in the worst sense of the word

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. There are a couple of nuggets in here but the rest is full of page after page of definitions and classifications of strategies and theories that have no application to real life.
Most sales people need to be more structured in their approach, but if you followed this book, you'd be drowning in it.

It's ok.

It's ok, but not more than that. There are better options for sales books. For instance, Chet Holmes' books on this subject.

This book should be titled "Sales Conversations"

Rainmaking good; salesmanship bad. Marketing good; prospecting bad. The publisher likely decided that a book promising to teach rainmaking will probably sell more copies than another "consultive sales book".

This book spent too much time discussing the sales conversation during the appointment. Other audio books cover the same material more systematically and throughly (e.g. Sandler or Maister).

Disappointing that the author periodically pitched his firm's sales training program throughout the book.

Good that the audiobook covered value orientated elevator speech construction but this topic was better covered by author Mark LeBlanc.

Prospecting by phone (cold-calling) was covered well and this topic made the audiobook worth purchasing. Unfortunately not enough emphasis was placed on the subject of effective prospecting during face-to-face social encounters or via social media.

Boring, waste of money.

I've read numerous sales, influence, attitude, strategy, books and was really looking forward to this one. I found this book extremely boring and hard to keep focused on. Normally I listen to audio books while driving cross country to keep my mind alert and engaged in something besides the road, I had to change my radio back and forth to music quite often to stay awake. This book put me to sleep on a few other attempts, it wasn't the narrator's fault it was the lack of engaging content. In my opinion it was the equivalent of asking someone a simple question and the person goes on and on for an hour and after you realize they are still talking to you, you say to yourself "holy sh-t, get to the point, I zoned out 15 seconds into your response" Even after I finally struggled to complete this book, I came away feeling I learned nothing from this and I am no better equipped than I was before I wasted my time listening. One of the few times I felt I wasted my money on an audible book.