Yesterday we talked about you stepping into Rainmaker Mode.
Now we’re going to talk about how to transfer that role to others, if you need to hire a new salesperson one day. (But make sure you know the real reasons why you should NOT hire a salesperson right now before you make any decisions.)
First, a disclaimer…
You still need to stay in your Rainmaker Mode.
Hiring salespeople is about handing off the sales “action items.” We want you to spend less time doing quotes or estimates so you can stay in your rainmaker role & do more podcasts… or speaking gigs… or conferences.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s dig in…
Step 1: Document your process
You probably have a way that you do things to drum up business. But it’s organic – you do it when you think of it.
You might need a coach (or a team member) to help you break down the things you naturally do so well.
You have a lead come in… and then what do you do?
How are leads guided through your sales pipeline now? (This is often the reactive version you do on the spur of the moment.)
And if you brought someone in, how would you want things to happen? Who would you want to be doing what? (This is the proactive version).
Map all that out step-by-step.
Step 2: Prep the client
Now that you have a process document and are clear on who on your team will be doing what, you can prep the client so they have their own relationship with your team.
Start “selling” your team so that the client knows in advance that other members of your team will be contacting them.
For example, you could say to the client:
“I want you to know there’s several people on the team that are going to be supporting you. There’s Alison that does X, Sam that will help with Y and Jack will do your Z.”
Step 3: Remove yourself as the bottleneck
In the past, you’ve probably made the salesperson fully responsible from Day 1. The salesperson would be responsible for generating leads, quoting, follow up, technical expertise, all of it.
Now that you’re the Rainmaker, you keep hold of what’s in the pipeline, so you don’t lose out on opportunities while you’re raising your team up.
It’s your job as the rainmaker to fill the top of the pipeline. Then you educate your team on how to guide a potential sale all the way through the pipeline.
It would be foolish to give your little birds responsibility for the whole pipeline before they’re ready. You need to prep them.
Step 4: Track your results
Now that you have multiple people working on moving your clients through the sales pipeline, you need transparency about what projects are in the works.
There needs to be clearly defined roles about who is responsible for what in the pipeline. When you have multiple hands working with the one client throughout the pipeline, there needs to be a very clear definition of who is responsible for what and when.
That could look like you, as the rainmaker, being the primary point of contact for any strategy work with the client. Then the rest of the team will have a different role where they’re following up on order dates, sending paperwork, sending reports, etc.
PRO TIP: You could use a Sales CRM or Pipeline Management Software system for this. But for it to work, you need to genuinely use it.