Which kind of sales leader is more valuable to a company? A rainmaker or a meteorologist?

A meteorologist. Accurate forecasts are going to have a much greater impact to the business as it communicates to management, the current state of the sales pipeline. Providing the accurate forecast, even if below expectations, allows management time to make necessary adjustments, pull deals forward, etc...

A rainmaker who misses forecast and does not know the details of every deal, can become a liability in certain cases.

Perhaps taking the easy way out, there is no reason these should be mutually exclusive--great sales people who hit the numbers should be able to have very accurate forecasts.

Often, the lack of accuracy in forecasts is the organization has a poorly defined, understoond, and executed forecasting process. I get involved in too many meeting where people are talking apples and oranges--they need to get aligned about the criteria and process used to forecast, that process needs to be supported with data and discipline. Alternatively, management pressures sales people to hit a number for the forecast, not to reflect reality.

If you have a strong process and a rainmaker who consistently doesn't forecast accurately--and they have been trained to do so, then I think you have a deeper issue, is the person really in control of what they are doing? Are they doing the right things for the business? Professional selling is disciplined and process focused. If a rainmaker is dealing more on the "art" side and not able to forecast accurately, then it's really hit or miss--you can't build sustainable performance from this.

Scott makes a great point about the role of the sales manager in building the team, enabling them to maximize and sustain performance. The sales manager who is only a rainmaker is not doing the organization or team any good, and is not building to the highest levels of performance and cotnribution to the organization.

You're always going to need both. Its rare to find both qualities in one person but, they are out there.

I've seen a VP of Sales and CFO team up to make a good combination of forward looking realism and go get 'em selling in the here and now.

A sales leader's job is to hit the number. While it depends what type of company you are trying to build, generally the best way to consistently hit the number is to hire a meteorologist who can make it rain when necessary. As Michael correctly points out, the scalability that a meteorologist provides around visibility, hiring, and process is much more important in the long run than rainmaking on specific deals. It's these skills that will allow the company to hit quota consistently over the long run.

Having said that, there are times in every company's life when having a VP of Sales drop into a specific deal is what allows you to hit the number. This happens more frequently in early stage companies when businesses are still coping with issues like customer concentration and customer satisfaction. But the way to avoid these issues later on is to make sure that you have a sales leader who can scale and via that scale ameliorate the aforementioned issues. For example, the real solution to the early stage customer concentration problem is not to have the VP of Sales tactically involved in big deals each quarter, but to have him building a team so that the business has enough account coverage to no longer have a customer concentration problem.

I'd say a rainmaker because it is the people that make things happen (the upper 20%) that drive the company. Having 1 (or 2 maybe, please?) on your team will help tremendously in not only hitting team goals (i.e. making up losses by the majority...er lower 80%) but also serve as an inspiration to the team in the way of mentoring them, etc.

Predicting or forecasting is one thing...but then I've always said that I should have been a meteorologist...what other job do you know of (besides baseball, of course) where being right 50% of the time is doing a great job! :)

Hi Tom!
Hello Gents!

I'll take the liberty to add a nuance to you question - "Under the present market conditions which kind of sales leader is more valuable to a company? A rainmaker or a meteorologist?".

Here are some subsequent questions (what can I say - I'm a coach):
- is a former succesfull rainmaker able to addapt to this new market? How? How quick?
- is a former succesfull meteorologist able to deliver reliable forecasts considering the changes we are experiencing for the last years? How? How quick?

Taking off my coach hat - I'd say the healthiest option is to have a rainmaker trained and able to play with the "tips & tricks" of a meteorologist or viceversa.

Making quota produces cash flow. Meeting the forecast but not hitting quota has at least the merit that a early warning flag was set but diminishes cash flow.

But there is an underlying problem here. Forecast accuracy depends on the variability of demand which is out of control of the sales leaders. This is a fundamental truth many struggle to accept.

Which kind of sales leader is more valuable to a company: one who always makes quota but sometimes misses his/her forecast? Or one who sometimes misses quota but always forecasts bookings with a high degree of precision?
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It's difficult to imagine someone having good forecasting ability and not being intimately involved in the development/selling process. They work in concert. That said a SALES LEADER, as we would define it, would be a person who is both a rainmaker and motivator. If the selling process is limited to one individual (unless you have no other choice), it typically leads to an unhealthy level of control over the management of the entire enterprise. We strongly view the idea of the "Peter Principle" as one to be assessed and avoided at all cost. Selling is fundamental to the health of the enterprise but, it must work in concert with the other elements of the management team for the long term success of the company.

You need them both. You do not need all your sales people the same. You manage them differently. Numbers as one of my colleagues says above are how measurements are made in sales, although you also need fairly accurate forecasting to ensure stocks, engineers and the like are working to plan. I wonder why you ask the question? If you have people making sales, work with them to help them identify what they are doing and how they can get better at it to provide the information you need. Never rock a boat that has good sales people, always encourage and development them.

Thanks everyone for the great responses to this. Choosing the best answer is a challenge because it’s a photo finish from my perspective.

But I’m picking Richard Cushing’s answer, primarily because it touches on an important root cause of both missing quota and poor forecasting. Some companies refuse (whether due to lack of will or know-how) to “get under the hood” and learn how their revenue engine actually works. They instead opt for the “it’s going to happen because management said it would” approach. Those in the rank-and-file who are comforted by the notion that someone else higher up has it all figured out begin to feel empowered to present opinions, facts and data that confirm management’s hypothesis. Those who might have dissenting views are discouraged from offering their contrarian opinions, facts, and data lest they be seen as skeptics, naysayers, or defeatists. We’ve all seen or played parts in this bad movie (I know I’ve played multiple parts in several remakes). I think Richard’s answer gets to the meat of the matter. A close second place nod to Miles Austin, the overall vote leader at this point, for his succinct and cogent response.

Thanks Tom. 2nd place huh? Enjoyed the comments and input from everyone.

Miles, at least you placed!

A combination of rainmaker and Meteriologist, forecasting is a science, and someone who can examine the evidence and make predictions, coupled with the ability to create the momentum to close deals in their timeframe is the ideal.

Great perspective! It is good to keep it light. I just had my hopes up to get that Starbucks card that I am sure Tom will be sending to Richard.