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Mike Schultz
Mike Schultz
Mike Schultz is President of RAIN Group, consultant, sales expert and author. Along with his books, he has written hundreds of articles, case studies, research reports, white papers, and other publications in the areas of selling and marketingMarketing Marketing is the field, set of actions, or practice of making a product or service desirable to a target consumer segment, with the ultimate aim of effecting a purchase..
John Doerr
John Doerr
John Doerr is President of RAIN Group and co-author of several bestselling books.

Named the Top Sales Thought Leader globally in 2011 by Top Sales Awards, John Doerr works closely with a broad range of RAIN Group clients, drawing upon a global career in business leadership.

John also provides executive and business development coaching for sales professionals, sales leaders, and business executives.

RAIN Selling: The Consultative Sale

The RAIN Selling methodology, introduced in 2002 by Mike Schultz and John Doerr, is designed around the mastering of consultative conversations. RAIN Selling teaches salespeople a proven process for leading masterful sales conversations from qualifying to a successful close.

With this objective in mind, RAIN Selling uses questioning techniques to uncover the full set of buyerBuyer A buyer is an individual or organizational entity that purchases a product or subscribes to a service. needs and desires. The salesperson sells ideas, insights, and perspectives that influence the buyer’s agenda and develops and communicates the most compelling value case. With a full understanding of buyers, buyer types, and buying, a salesperson then closes new business with maximum success and integrity and overcomes objections that get in the way of the sale. The basic idea is to sell based on value, thereby reducing reduce price push backs.

The RAIN Selling Methodology includes elements such as:

  • Identifying and articulating the true value of your company’s solutionSolution Solution is a combination of ideas, strategies, processes, technologies and services that effectively helps an organization achieve its goals or hurdle its challenges.
  • Development of a winning value propositionValue Proposition Value Proposition is a statement or message that encapsulates the reasons — such as benefits and unique attributes — consumers would want to patronize a brand or purchase a product. positioning statementPositioning Statement Positioning Statements are used by sales reps at the beginning of a sales call to engage a prospect and focus on their pain points.
  • The building of trust, rapport, and relationships with prospects
  • The balancing of advocacy and inquiry in sales conversations, with the aim to not only uncover needs but to build and inspire credibility
  • Inspiring buyer action and influencing the buyer’s agenda
  • Uncovering the full set of buyer needs and desires with accurate questioning techniques
  • Understanding the different types of buyer personas, and how to approach each

RAIN Selling and Pipeliner CRM

Consultative selling requires the right dataData Data is a set of quantitative and qualitative facts that can be used as reference or inputs for computations, analyses, descriptions, predictions, reasoning and planning. at the right time—and no CRM solution delivers it like Pipeliner. A company implementing RAIN selling will have worked out the exact steps needed from qualification to close, and these steps are exactly expressed in a company’s sales pipelineSales Pipeline Sales Pipeline is a type of visualization showing the status of each sales prospect in the customer life cycle or sales process.. With Pipeliner, the sales pipeline is totally visual and fully customizable, as are the tasks, activities, forms, and fields within each pipelinePipeline Sales pipelineis a visual representation of the stage prospects are in the sales process. step.

RAIN Selling is also empowered by Pipeliner CRM through the multiple choices of the way data is viewed—ensuring that data is always seen in the best way possible to make the most of it.

Pipeliner CRM is the perfect Sales CRM choice for RAIN selling. Try it today.

Experience Pipeliner CRM Now

Pipeliner allows salespeople to take control of their opportunities, remain consistent through every stage of the sales processSales Process Sales Process is a series of strategic steps or a set of activities aimed at driving sales growth through the alignment of personnel, market insight, methodologies, relevant business units, and technology., and always stay focused on important priorities. It's the CRM that salespeople actually enjoy using.
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