Breaking the Rainmaking Rules
A few rainmakers break selling rules and still get hired more times than not. They talk too much and too much about themselves. They stress features rather than benefits. They arrive late for meetings. And they get away with it! One management consultant I know will tell his client that something is red. No, the client says, it’s green. Yes, I agree with you, replies the consultant, it is red. And he gets away with it! Another professional whom I observed many times would threaten prospective clients of the immediate failure of their business, if they didn’t hire him and march to his orders. And he got away with it!
The reasons for these aberrations, I think, are specific to each case. The red-is-green consultant is one of the most charming people I have ever met. People want to agree with him. The do-as-I-say professional sold effectively only to those clients which were paramilitary in style. His talent was finding them—so many of them.
But most of us don’t have boundless charm and don’t feel comfortable ordering our clients about, or a reputation that puts us beyond questioning. We must listen to what they say. We must not be arrogant or imperious. We have to follow the rules.
Has anyone else a good example of a rainmaker who broke basic rules of selling?
