RainMakers, Sales Rock Stars, & Salespeople - What's the Difference?

I signed up, paid for and attended Sandler Sales training almost 30 years ago. Back then, Sandler training was sold to individual salespeople rather than companies. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of the first class, the trainers often asked, "How many people paid to be here and how many were 'sent'?" Eventually, the Sandler guys switched from selling to individuals to selling to companies. Easy decision...bigger money.

Sandler President's ClubOK. Back to me. I was a sales junkie. I read. I studied. I practiced. I joined the President's Club. I traded stories. Seminars. Eventually, my Sandler guy called and said something like, "Rick, some of you guys (clients) are way beyond the basic program and while I like having you in the regular classes, I'm worried that if you stop being challenged and learning, you'll stop coming. So, I'm inviting you to join my Black Belt Group." There were twelve of us in that group and that was an awesome group. We met once a month and had almost perfect attendance and commitment from a dozen, busy people whose sales prowess was carrying their respective companies on their back. I sometimes miss that group. I had an opportunity to hang out, share and learn with a group of great salespeople that really got it.

So, enough about me. Back to the title. I was thinking about writing an e-book that talked about the differences between a Sales Rock Star/RainMaker and a regular every day salesperson. I'm not talking about what makes a good salesperson, sales manager, hunter, farmer or account manager different from a regular every day salesperson, but what makes them a real rock star.

Then I started thinking, "Seriously. if I ask ten experts for a list of the top ten traits of a sales rock star, they may have some commonalities, but they'll surely have some differences." Then I started thinking, "Who cares what the 'experts' think? Isn't it the customers that decide why they buy from the rainmaker?" But what about regular every day salespeople, what do they think is the biggest difference between them and the rainmaker that they know.

So, I ask for three things.

  1. Enter the most important Sales Rock Star/RainMaker trait(s) as a comment.

  2. Take credit for your contribution by entering your name and a link to your LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook profile, blog, or website.

  3. Forward, RT or post a link to this article to other Sales Rocks Stars, RainMakers, Salespeople, Sales Managers & Executives, customers and prospects along with your suggestion that they comment.

Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to the comments so that you can read everybody's thoughts.

Topics: rainmaker traits, Sales, sales rock star traits


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