Rating: 
Summary: Making Clouds, not Rain
Review: This short, easy read is a quick refresher course of the basic principals of selling. Mr. Fox breaks down the rainmaking, or sales execution, process into a number of sequential 'Killer Questions' designed to turn your sales target into a frienly decision maker.As a former salesperson, I did find a number of the killer questions to be natural and direct, not pushy or canned. Mr. Fox also goes beyond simple client 'probing' and hammers at the importance of a hard days work, getting the appointment and pampering your clients once you have sold them. I believe one should buy How to Become a Rainmaker. It is a quick read that offers enough unique material to help even the most seasoned salesperson. Will you become a rainmaker if you read this book? Nope...like every other rule in business, the rain will fall if you APPLY Mr. Fox's ideas.
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Summary: ¿Read This Book If Your Organization Needs Revenues"
Review: "You Should Read This Book If Your Organization Needs Revenues," or so begins How to Become a Rainmaker, by Jeffrey J. Fox. He explains the book's title:
"American Indian tradition exalts the Rainmaker. The Rainmaker used magical powers to bring the rain to nourish the crops to feed the people. . . .Today, a Rainmaker is a person who brings revenue into an organization, be it profit or not-for-profit." Rainmakers are the folks on the front line, the ones we may call 'sales people', 'account executives' or 'regional account managers.' But as Fox points out, "the paramount job of every single employee in an organization is to, directly or indirectly, get and keep customers." Fox encourages the reader to "Dare to Be Dumb" by asking questions until getting to the heart of the matter----to pull back the layers and onionize the clients needs. Like most powerful ideas, Rainmaker's core concepts are easier to write about than to put into practice. Fox holds the mirror up, showing us how everyday habits accumulate and work against our ability to 'make rain.' A short read of only 165 pages, it's almost certain to ask that you relinquish a few habits and gain some new ones ----requiring discipline. This book reminded me of the best advice I've received over the years, like Fox's "Do a wonderful job, do it on time, do it on budget, don't complain, and give a customer a little extra." A worthy business goal, and a sure formula for making rain.
Rating: 
Summary: just what I needed
Review: I'm new to sales, so this book was great for me. I got a lot of help from it. I needed to sell my car among few other things, so i decided to go for this book because it didn't look like some sales bible filled with tons of information. I needed some fast information I could use right away, and this is exactly what I got from this book. I'm guessing that to the seasoned, experienced seller this book would be waste of money and time, but for beginner who needs some fast, to the point information, it will be very helpful. this is what you find in this book,
** customers don't care about you, but about themselves and their problems.
** Always plan your sales call, like a sports team plans their strategy. (He tells you how)
** Help them see money. Don't sell the product, sell dollorized value. People would select the product that yield lowest total cost. (I can't explain this, it'll take too much space, read the book, but this is one of the gems from the book.)
** He tells you few "killer" sales questions and explains them, very helpful.
** Don't make cold calls, don't go for "break the ice" introduction (he explains why)
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Summary: Creative, Aggressive, and Principled Salesmanship
Review: The subtitle suggests that Fox explains "the rules for getting and keeping customers and clients" and that is true. However, he accomplishes much more than that in this book. True, he provides a series of what he calls "Killer Sales Questions", most (if not all) of which are now asked by the most successful salespersons. He also devotes substantial attention to the entire cultivation and solicitation process, suggesting all manner of dos and don'ts. Throughout the book, he correctly insists that the every effective "rainmaker" (i.e. one who brings revenue into an organization) has impeccable integrity, at all times and with all people manifests good manners, has a sincere commitment to the best interests of each customer or client, and seizes upon each rejection as a welcome opportunity to understand how she or he can be of assistance to (literally) anyone encountered, whenever and wherever that may be. It may not have been Fox's intention but I think this is a book which should be read and then periodically re-read by anyone within any organization, not only by those which have contact with customers and clients. Think about it. If the objective is to create as much "rain" (i.e. revenue) as possible, why not involve everyone, including family members and friends, their family members and friends, etc. What about vendors? What about services providers (third-party centers of influence) such as attorneys, accountants, insurance agents, staff members of trade and professional associations, chambers of commerce, etc.? It is not sufficient to think of everyone within your organization as a "rainmaker." You must also help them to understand what rainmaking is, how to do it effectively, and (most importantly) why. Each should be provided with a copy of this highly-readable book and urged to share it with their spouse. Everyone within each organization should have an attractive business card which includes his or her name (of course) but also some indication of what the organization offers. For example: "Lots of people have problems selecting the most appropriate (whatever). We help them solve those problems." Or a briefer version: "We solve problems with (whatever)." Have all employees carry their business cards with them wherever they go (e.g. dining out, shopping, athletic events, social gatherings) and encourage them to distribute the cards as widely and frequently as possible and appropriate. I highly recommend this book to those who are responsible for generating revenue as well as to those responsible for others who do. But I also recommend it for distribution among everyone else within the same organization (regardless of its size or nature) who can -- and should -- become involved in creating an on-going need for sturdy umbrellas.
Rating: 
Summary: Tightly Focused Book
Review: Jeffrey J. Fox defines a rainmaker as "a person who brings revenue to an organization, be it for profit or not-for-profit." He says, "Customers' money is the rain." The book consists of chapters containing 2-3 pages each, with each chapter focusing on one aspect of becoming a rainmaker. Each chapter guides the reader in getting the customer and keeping the customer. While many of the concepts will be review for many readers, Fox does emphasize the concept of dollarization and offers examples of the idea. He asks the reader to think of what he or she is selling. He answers the question by claiming, "Rainmakers sell money." How he or she does this is through demonstrating to the customer the value of the product (hence selling money) through dollarization. Fox also offers six "killer questions" throughout the book. How to Become a Rainmaker can be read in one evening. Fox suggests after reading the book to open it to a random page and do what the chapter tells you to do. This way it becomes a handbook for future reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple minded and trite
Review: I am sure that this book is handed out at many a company meeting. Too bad it does not have any substance to it. This book is merely a collection of stale and cliche ridden sales tips (though they have been changed enough to prevent any copyright lawsuits!). If you are looking for real sales tips, dont' buy this book. Rather, go to Google and search for sales tips. If you are a manager looking for a way to make your boss think you are motivating the troops, order this book. It might help your next review. This book is basically this year's "Who Moved my Cheese" or the fish throwing book.
Rating:
Summary: A worth-reading common sense book!
Review: A rainmaker, as defined by Fox, is a person who brings revenue from customers and donors into an organization, be it profit or not-for-profit. And rain refers to customers' money. It is good to use "rainmaker" as the metaphor since the book is about how to get and keep customers, which is directly related to the revenue of the organization. And people bringing revenue to the organization can really help it to survive, just like the importance of rain to life. However, some people may think that the use of "rainmaker" is not suitable. No matter it is suitable or not, it can, at least, arouse my interest to read it! How to become a rainmaker? The answer is to focus on customers. It is true that salespeople should put themselves in the customers' shoes. They need to tell the customers what economic benefits the product will give them and the consequences of not going with the recommended product, rather than how good their products are. It is also important to precall plan for every sales call, talk to customers who want your products, treat everybody you meet as a potential client, try to make the selling attempt¡K¡K Many ideas in the book seem to be common sense or quite minor. However, these ideas are really important that people are in general ignorant of. For examples, many salespeople neglect the importance of taking the best seat in a restaurant so as to reduce distractions and make the customers focus on them. They waste time on trying to "break the ice" in just a few minutes for sales. They forget the aim of the appointment: it is not a time to focus on eating lunch. To be a rainmaker, just read it and put it into practice!
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Summary: Great book on the principles of sales
Review: I bought the book two days ago and I read it really quickly (2-3 hours). Like other books on improving sales you need to APPLY these techniques and principles in order to get maximum value out of the book. If anything, you will at least learn to recognize good sales people from bad ones. This book is, for some, common sense. For others, this book is a quick refresher course of the basic principals of selling and finally, it might be a completely new experience for many and it may have you thinking about the art of selling. The reality is that the value of this book, to you, probably depends on how much training and common sense you already have. In general, I really enjoyed the book and thought there were many interesting sales concepts, which I am looking forward to employing to see how effective they are in real life. Fox continually emphasized the concept of dollarization throughout the book and gave examples of different sales techniques throughout the book
Rating:
Summary: get you into trouble water
Review: Grabbed the old stuffs and merged them into a book. It was just a salad dish, not a melting pot. The segregation fully reflected Mr. Fox's inadequacies in sales. Anyway, broken pieces were broken pieces. Good needle-works could hardly conceal. Using the words "Killer sales question" also disclosed Mr. Fox's real attitude towards customers. A sincere salesperson will not kill her/his customers with any probing question. Sales pro does mind the wordings and will choose them carefully. Just another bogus guru.
Rating:
Summary: A Decent Basic Refresher Course on Sales
Review: As a lawyer and as an MBA that is currently running his own consulting business, I picked up this book as a way of giving myself a refresher course on sales. I was not disappointed by the book, nor was I amazed by the advice given. The book is easy to read and contains 160 odd pages of large font, widely spaced text. I read this entire book during the course of a brief flight from Los Angeles to San Jose(about an hour). Others have commented that the book contains a lot of simple, obvious and straight forward advice and I tend to agree with this assessment. However, advice does not always need to be complex or particularly insightful in order to be useful. For example, it is always good to remember the value of embracing your client's objections and to develop a client-centric view of the sales process. While this is obvious to most sales people, many of us tend to overlook this principle from time to time. The book has other fundamental weaknesses. For one thing, most of the examples contained in the book are non-specific and often feel like made up clichés. For example, the truly predictable tale of the sales person who was able to land a huge account by being nice to a secretary that later became an executive VP... From my perspective the book also has another serious deficiency - most of the examples given in the book deal with tangible products. The author almost completely ignores the often much more challenging and complex process of selling services. The bottom line is this: this is a decent book if you need a quick refresher or if you are completely unfamiliar with the world of sales. If that is not the case, look for a different book.
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