We’re winding up this year with a focused series of Points showing you how to be a rainmaker during these turbulent times. These Points are based on our newest book, Do What You Do Better For Salespeople, and they are your keys to achieving rainmaker status.

We started off discussing the power of being an advisor to your current clients and new relationships. Being an advisor means you enjoy relationships that are built on trust, respect and admiration. To get there, you have to add value above and beyond what others are doing. That formula positions both you and your client to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Last week, we looked at developing a strategic sales plan for a select group of clients and new-relationship opportunities that we call the Best Bets™ Opportunities Pipeline. A workable plan is the roadmap to your success. It’s your focus for the future. Specifically, it’s the gap between your existing active deals and the potential business in your Outlook database. And in many cases, it’s your top 100 to 120 relationships you want to develop over the next one, three and five years.

You can be a topnotch advisor with a fantastic strategic sales plan, but, still, to be truly successful, you have to be willing to work … hard. Activity is a contact sport. Being a rainmaker means maintaining a year-round high level of activity. Let me be clear on this: I coach people to maintain a high level of activity each and every day. But I probably have been more misunderstood on this one crucial Point than with anything else I’ve advocated over the past 20 years. Salespeople often assume that I’m coaching continuous cold calling throughout the year. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I believe if you use an advisory approach to selling and you have a select number of future opportunities that you are focusing on, you actually will do very little cold calling. After all, you can’t advise a client you don’t know well. And when you work with a strategic sales plan, you’re focusing on a carefully chosen list of potential clients—not names pulled out of a cold-call hat.

That said, your advisory role demands that you spend quality time with your existing and new relationships, understanding their business and nurturing your ties. I believe that most of your working hours should be spent in front of and talking to your clients and new relationships. This means being at their business, asking the right questions, observing, listening, meeting with people in various departments, then listening some more. All this takes effort and dedication. It happens over a period of time, not overnight.

This is true whether you have one client or 100. Regardless of numbers, the key to success is high activity. Be with your clients as much as possible, then spend the rest of your valuable time developing new relationships with a select group of opportunities. Work hard at both endeavors—each and every day—to make your time with them count.

To review the previous Points in this series, or to purchase your own copy of Do What You Do Better For Salespeople, go to www.corsini.com. Also, if you’d like a signed copy, I have an upcoming book signing at St. Vincent’s Birmingham (on the second floor of the main hospital building) on Tuesday, December 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.


Advising your current clients and building lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with new opportunities is a contact sport. It also requires a lot of work. There is no substitute for frequent, quality contact—either face to face; on the phone; or via email, if necessary. This is how you earn your advisor stripes. It’s how you add value. Spend the majority of your working hours in front of clients, building new relationships and connecting with those people in your sphere of influence who can point you toward truly promising opportunities. Be active (and proactive) in your approach. Remember, Outlook never bought anything. In short, spend your time out of the office, and you’ll Do What You Do Better.