Yesterday I spoke with an AI researcher who’s working on curing brain disease.
His team builds models to solve complex problems in the brain. He said something that stuck with me:
“The model only matters if it works in real life".
What he means is he may have a model that uses data that finds something useful. But until it gets validated that it works in the real world to change research, healthcare and/or patient lives, it doesn't matter.
It's no different to salespeople. Many salespeople sell what they've been trained to sell. They've learned the product in theory. But what about "real life"?!
We're in an AI world, where buyer trust is at a disturbingly dipping low and there's way more stuff to "adopt". In a recent Junto, a VP of Sales said something like "for anything less than $40k, the salesperson will be replaced by AI", unless "they need someone to blame".
Then in response, another VP of sales in that Junto said: "there's going to be a huge problem with adoption of any new technology, let alone AI". Do you agree that if you sell something, you gave them your word? And if you gave them your word then it's totally on you, no one else to make sure that it gets delivered on?
Here's 3 Things I've Noticed Rainmakers Do To Become Experts In Real Life:
- Study failures (Add to your Dirty Laundry List)
Understand why customers who bought went wrong: what got skipped in their buying process, in adoption or after. List them, define them and make sure to qualify out or fix them so they never bite your customers or you again. - Study breakthroughs.
Find the 5% of customers who got extraordinary results. What did they do differently? What made their outcome possible? Who was on the team? Replicate it! - Study your best-fit customers.
Know your top 5% inside out and spend your time finding more of them.
This is what separates a rep from a Rainmaker.
A rep sells a product...
A Rainmaker does not stop until the client is delighted...