To many marketing services providers, sales is the equivalent of checking your values at the door and becoming a slimy salesman. Your mental image is along the lines of getting a prospect to part with their hard-earned cash in exchange for something they don’t really want or need.
You can picture the door-to-door salesman, in your face, with a slippery voice, pushing something at you. You almost want to buy something from them just to get them to go away.
Is this new business? Does this resemble the great rainmakers you know or have read about? Would their loyal clients feel they were mislead into choosing the wrong agency? Of course not.
This slime-ball image is really far from the truth!
What do the great rainmakers do?
- They care deeply about their clients’ well-being and success.
- They prepare for every prospect or client interaction.
- They ask engaging questions.
- They listen carefully for what is said, as well as what isn’t.
- They identify problems.
- They solve them.
More importantly, they create possibility for their clients. They think big. They paint a picture of a future that their prospects may not think is possible – without help. Of course, the rainmaker’s firm is well-positioned to provide a solution – and deliver on the promise.
Great rainmakers are also patient.
- They are tuned-in to their prospects, sensitive to potential issues, and listen carefully for when to push and when to hold back.
- They make it about when it’s right for their prospect, not for the agency.
While remaining patient, they also set expectations and then deliver on them. Over and over again. This build trust, and helps to establish a relationship built on accountability.
When you think about it, is this approach all that different from really good account service?
Proactive new business is really that simple: great rainmakers establish their firm’s client service paradigm before a client relationship ever begins.
This is a long way from the used-car lot, isn’t it?
