GETTING HIRED IS A SELLING JOB

BY SAM MANFER

(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.

Sam Manfer is an entertaining key note speaker and delivers in-depth sales seminars for those anxious to increase sales. His hands-on coaching turns individuals and sales organizations into selling whirlwinds. Sam’s selling awards and $ Million sales recognitions support his methods. His book, TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER$ along with his Matching Chemistry’s CD and sales seminars replace selling myths and clichés that frustrate decision makers with a proven approach that captures their attention. Follow Sam’s C-Level Selling Blog for more insights. Sign-up for his free Sales Articles E-Zine.

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