GETTING HIRED IS A SELLING
JOB
(Copyright Sam Manfer, Sales
Consultants)
Getting a job is a sale and
requires the skills of a top sales person. Unfortunately most
people never learned how to sell, not even most sales people.
Consequently, they model ineffective, annoying behaviors in an
attempt to get positioned. To complicate the matter further
getting hired is a sale about you, which is very
emotional. The good news is that your product knowledge is
second to none.
To make the sale of you happen follow these strategies, tactics, techniques, reasoning
and examples and you’ll land the job of your dreams
Strategy 1 – Sell Yourself To
You First.
Become Confident.
A sales person’s biggest asset
is confidence. It is contagious and exudes credibility.
Believe in yourself. You know you
will get a job and a paycheck, but right now you have the
opportunity to get the job of your dreams. You deserve it. You
are capable. You have strengths that people want.
So then, why are you depressed and
low? It’s because of fear created from your internal voices and
social feedback. Therefore you have to be very careful because
water seeks it’s own level. What you think of yourself will set
your water level.
Set that level high by rallying
your spirit. Then command the parent within you to huge and
support you. Otherwise you will settle for low tide and the
child in you will be miserable.
Be Your Own Person.
Assess the social feedback others
lay on you. Some people have a tendency to tell you all the
things you do wrong or what you should do differently. Be
careful with these. It is usually this person’s interpretation
of what s/he doesn’t like or is sensitive to. If a lot of
people say the same thing, it may be real, and you might
consider some changes.
Your own internal demons may be
your biggest enemy. Become extremely conscious of what you say
and think of yourself. These messages were created from
childhood and will destroy you if you don’t recognize and
confront them. You have to be a loving nurturing parent to
yourself. You have to be full of accolades and encouragement.
Without this you will always be second-guessing yourself which
will block any chance of being confident.
Interview Yourself
Put yourself in control. What is
it that you really want to do? Wave a magic wand. What is the
perfect kind of job for you? Forget about the money. Do what
you like and the money will come. If you know your passion, you
can create ways to integrate it into something to support your
life style. For example I would love to be a professional
golfer, but I am a 20 handicapper and old. It’s not going to
happen, but I could get into the profession of golf as an
equipment sales person or work for a golf club or other golf
related jobs that would keep me associated with my passion.
Look at your strengths – what you’ve done successfully as a
professional and look at your passion. Ask yourself how you can
tie the two together. Sleep on it. That is, take some time to
listen to yourself for the answer.
Make a Presentation to Yourself
Now that you know what you want,
do some research. Prepare a presentation of what you will do.
How you will do it. What investments are required and the
overall game plan for moving forward. Get information and ideas
from people, but don’t ask if they think it’s a good idea, yet.
Put together the package. Then, give yourself the presentation.
Get Commitment from Yourself
Ask yourself how you feel about
your presentation. If you don’t feel good, ask yourself, “how
come” and listen. Capture those feelings (usually fear) and ask
yourself what to do about it? If you listen, strategies will
emerge. Keep reworking your presentation until you feel good,
happy and excited.
The fear you’re feeling is about
negative projection – thinking that something bad will happen.
Actually you don’t know what will happen. You’re not psychic.
So to eliminate fear, project positively. Say to yourself, “This
will be work beautifully” and you will create your own positive
destiny.
After you’re sold, you can share
your plan with others. Ask them for suggestions to improve it
and ways or ideas to help you accomplish it. Don’t ask for
their approval or what they think of it. Remember this is all
about you and your life. Yes, you may be responsible for
others, but you will be no good to anyone unless you are happy
with yourself.
Strategy 2 – Target Prospects
That Are Right for You.
Now that you know what you want to
speak about you have to target your search for the right
organization with the right people so that you can do the kind
of presentation you like. You must develop a profile to gauge
opportunities as good to bad. It’s not just about getting a gig
or the money. It is the happiness package you have to give to
yourself. Remember only you can nurture and support yourself.
Don’t expect it from others. They are worried about themselves.
Look for those that want what your
materials in the fullest sense of the term, rather than who you
want. There are certain types of organizations, people,
environments, styles, etc. where you fit that are better than
others. If your targets fit the characteristics where you fit
best, then all is OK. If your target doesn’t fit who your are,
then either you have to change or change your target. You have
a style that attracts certain types and you do well with them.
Develop Your Organization/Job
Profile Characteristics
List the organizations and
speeches where you did well. These are the ones where you
probably enjoyed working. Success and enjoyment are usually
linked. What were the characteristics about that organization?
What were the characteristics about the job? Purge your brain
and write these down. Then think of the organizations you didn’t
like and the gigs where you didn’t do so well. What
characteristics were in play here? Also consider the ones you
went after hard and didn’t get. What were the characteristics
about those?
You’ll start to see a trend in the
ones where you did well and the ones where you struggled. These
trends are your profile for success. Maybe you’ve done well
where the meeting planner left you alone, and you did poorly
with a dominant meting planner. Compile a list of
characteristic trends?
Judge each opportunity that you go
after against this profile. More importantly, seek
opportunities that closely match these characteristics. If
you’ve done well in small organizations, don’t pursue Fortune
500’s or even 1000’s. If you’ve done better working alone,
don’t pursue association events.
Once again, this is about putting
yourself in charge. You have to select what is good for you,
not what is available.
Strategy 3 – Use
your Golden Network
These are people with whom you
have developed professional credibility and these are the people
you have to ask for help. Strange thing, they will be happy to
give it to you. Why, because you helped them at some point.
That’s how you got the credibility initially, even if they don’t
remember how it came about.
The asking technique is to tell
them what you want them to do for you. That is, you want an
introduction to someone you’ve identified or get you an
introduction to someone who can help you get to the type of
person you eventually have to meet. You have to frame
your request so your helper knows exactly what you’re looking
for. Be specific. Your message is this, “Are there people s/he
knows that fit your requirements in her/his associations that
s/he can call and arrange an interview for you?”
Strategy 4 - Interview The
People You Meet.
Establish
Credibility
You have to establish credibility
with this new person. Your Golden Network person who set-up the
interview transferred her/his credibility over to you. That got
you in the door. Now, when you first speak, this credibility is
yours to lose the minute you you’re your mouth and you want to
keep it.
In 30 words or less you have to
thank her/him for seeing you and tell this person why they
should spend a few minutes with you. This is your credibility
statement not a pitch about what you can do for him. Mention
the person that referred you and give some of your credentials
that are relevant to this person. For example, “Thanks for
meeting me today. John Smith and I worked successfully on many
healthcare presentations. My medical training is 10 years of
experience and I have been speaking for 3 years which has
contributed to our mutual successes. (29 words)
Take Charge by
Making Her/Him Talk
Your goal is to stop talking and
to get this person to tell you about what you want to know.
This way you can be in control to see if you would like it there
and if you could fit.
Be prepared with some questions to
get this person to tell you what s/he is looking to accomplish.
What’s worked and what didn’t. What are the challenges with
this group? How come they are the way they are? As long as
this person is talking you have control. You will be doing the
judging.
However, before you start asking
these questions, you need a transition statement or a
“permission to ask questions”. This person must not feel there
is a self serving interrogation about to take place. S/he must
believe that you are interested in her/him. The only way for
this to happen is to be sincerely interested in this person.
Start with the word “you” or “your”. “Your company has been
doing really well…” or “You must be facing challenging problems
these days. What are some of your healthcare issues?”
A good technique is to ask what
other peoples ideas of what a perfect world situation would look
like. The response will be her/his perception of others, which
is really the one speaking’s perception. It’s called transference. People can’t think or feel in the minds and
hearts of others. So they project themselves into the answer.
Lead them to the topic you want to
discuss – a healthcare presentation or workshop. However, keep
it about them and this will hold her/his attention. Once you
start talking about you, the session is almost over. This is
especially true as you move to senior managers. Even if
s/he says, “So tell me about you.” Turn it around by saying,
“I’d be happy to, but I don’t want to bore you with a lot of
details that are not relevant to you. So can I ask you a few
questions first.”
Gathering Your
Ammunition
Become genuinely interested in
what s/he is saying and listen to understand. Take notes. It’s
OK and it shows you really are listening and involved. Although
you set it up, this interview is not about you. It is about
learning if you can do something for this person or this
organization. You have to know what s/he or they do and how you
can help them do it better. You may see that it is not the kind
of place that’s good for you. Then you can be in charge and
walk away with pride. Your purpose is to see if you belong
there, not to convince that you do. If you feel you do, then you
need information to submit the perfect specifications of you.
Every sales person knows that if they can write the
specification that’s used s/he has a tremendous advantage in
making the sale.
Assess the Fit
Don’t take a resume or one
page. Until you interview, you are not ready to submit a
resume. With a universal one-page they get to judge you and
determine if you fit. You have to judge them first and
determine how to fit - if you think you can.
You only want them to judge once you show them you can do what
they want.
Finally, if this feels right for
you, you will have to learn the decision-making process. This
first visit may not be the right time, but you want to be
listening for hiring type information. Don’t let budgets or all
the other stuff dissuade you. It is all fluff. If senior
management finds someone to help them, they will find the money
with or without a budget.
Strategy 5 – Fit Your
Presentation To The Individual.
Now that you’ve decided this is
worth pursuing, fit your presentation to this individual. Even
if you won’t be working with this individual, you have to win
this person over if you want to get to the next level.
Therefore your discharge of information has to appeal to this
person. It will incorporate how others will benefit, but it has
to really excite this person. That’s why that interview above
is so critical.
Win One Vote at a
Time
Structure your one-page for this
person. This is why you may want to come back another time to
present. Just say that you want some time to review your notes
and create some helpful ideas. If so, could you possibly come
back for a short presentation within a week?
You will also have to show that
you are better than the alternatives of doing nothing or hiring
someone else. You will have to address the effort involved and
risk. Help them make hiring you effortless. You will have to
get to the decision-maker - probably a senior manager. The
person you meet may not be that person. This person will not
want to do the work to get your fee approved. That’s your job.
You have to get this person to introduce you to the next level.
The only way that happens is if this person sees the benefit for
her/himself with you. Additionally, you will have to mitigate
risk - any possibility of you failing. Be prepared with
testimonials and references, and success stories that will
relieve any fear of your failure.
Strategy 6 – Get
Commitment to Move Forward
After you sell yourself, ask the
individual how they feel about what you’ve said. It s/he feels
good, ask if you can meet the next person in the chain of
command or ask if s/he would submit a request to hire you.
Ask for something tangible and tie a date to it. Don’t ask them
to think about it. This is a good out for her/him. The
date gives it a meaningful boundary.
Handling
Resistance
If s/he doesn’t feel good about
your presentation, thank her/him for their honesty and ask
her/him to elaborate on the issue. Sit back and listen, but do
not argue. Do not try to justify, rebut, or say anything. Just
nod and let them talk. Finally say you want to analyze what
they have said and if appropriate offer up some suggestions to
deal with the issues at later date. You can also ask them what
they recommend you to do so that they feel comfortable with you.
If s/he feels good, but says no to
the commitment to go further, ask what the issue is. Say,
“Obviously there is a problem. Please share your thoughts with
me.” Once again, don’t argue. Listen and get commitment to
come back with suggestions of how to address the issue.
Conclusion
These strategies, tactics and
techniques will get you the jobs that will help you become
successful. Success is relative to you and you have to be in
charge of where you will work. It requires being proactive.
You can’t just answer call for papers. It requires confidence.
You have to believe in yourself and be confident enough to know
you can get what you want. However, it takes work and time, but
the harder you work using the above strategy the sooner and
better it will be.
Getting a gig is a proactive
initiative where you are hired to solve problems. It is not
about filling a stage position. That is reactive. People hire
you because they want you to perform miracles.
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