Some Strategies that Will Help You Win!

Throughout our lives we are selling something; many times it is we, ourselves, who is the product. Even if you are selling something else—be that a product, a service, or a mere idea or an argument—unless the buyers are sold on you first, nothing goes beyond that stage and you will be rejected, despite the greatness of what is that you are trying to sell. Although many do not realize that you do not have to carry a quota to be in sales our life is filled with opportunities to sell ourselves to others. How you persuade someone who will “buy” your shtick does not merely depend on how good you are at what you do, but how good you are at selling your shtick!

This is why it is common to see someone less capable than you, getting the promotion that you deserved; or someone with a lesser product selling more than its better counterpart. This is why there are so many false negatives in job search and in the interview process, where good candidates get passed over and risky ones (false positives) get hired. It is well known that in technical interviews there are more false negatives than companies would like to see.

So, here are 11 tried and true strategies for you to get good at selling anything you desire to sell to anyone, including yourself in a job search!

# 1: Smile. First appearances are critical in making a good impression. This is where how you dress, what you say, and how you say it in the first encounter can make or break the deal. Adding to that a genuine smile is a simple way to make a good first impression. Every business encounter — across the desk, at the customer’s site, and even on the telephone — should begin with a smile. A smile says, ‘I like you and am happy to see you.’ This aspect of presenting yourself with a smile is particularly important to the Types that are Introverts. A genuine and broad smile can help you neutralize the first impressions Introverts often tend to create.

#3 Build Trust: Business moves at the speed of trust. So, the sooner you are able to build trust with the other party the faster you can move to close the deal. The best way to build trust quickly is to state what is obvious and let the other party affirm it in their own mind as they are quickly getting to know you (I call this “calibration”).

For example, in the case of one client, who was being interviewed for a manager role the VP interviewing her was concerned that unless the incumbent is tough and assertive the team would not respond to her leadership. So, early in the interview my client said, “My soft voice and small physical size belie my leadership strength and resolve. People often underestimate me because of that. But, once they see how I deal with errant team members they get the picture.” She was hired!

# 3: Listen. Customers and clients want to hear what you have to say, but they want you to hear what they have to say first. Beyond that, consider this: How can you, as someone who is selling something, know what customers need if you don’t give them a chance to tell you first? In many such instances, if you let the customer talk before you offer your solution, they’ll often tell you the solution they are looking for on their own. This way they can own the solution and be happy about how “you” solved their problem. Many times a person with a problem talking to an expert already knows the solution that will work for them. They merely need some expert validation with some proven tips to reinforce their approach.

# 4: Arouse an “eager want.” Always remember that action springs from what we fundamentally desire. If you want someone to do something for you, first find out how it is going to benefit them. Once they see their benefit in the transaction they will gladly grant you what you want. A poignant example of this basic psychological need is vividly illustrated in a recent movie, The Hidden Figures. This is a docudrama about three brilliant and driven African American women instrumental in NASA’s moonshot in the 1960s.

When one of the women wanted to attend an “off-limits” all-white engineering class she needed a judge to rule in her favor to allow her that “privilege.” So, instead of asking him to grant her that favor, she reminds him how he would be remembered as the first judge to allow a black woman to attend a white school one hundred years from now. The judge grants her wish. 

# 5: Use names. Learn the names of your employees, your customers, and your prospects as they enter your sphere of business. After you learn those names, use them. A person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. This is especially true during job interviews—phone interviews, in-person interviews, or any encounters with those screening to select you. If you are doing a remote interview write down the interviewer’s name in front of you and use it often throughout your discussion. It can help you change the outcome.

# 6: Avoid arguments. This would seem to be almost a “given,” but far too many, perhaps in their zeal, engage in arguments with a customer who shows resistance or says they’d like another option from someone else. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. Be respectful of the other person’s (customer, interviewer) opinion. Do not argue, criticize, or condemn. You will have an opportunity to brag about you or your offering soon enough. When they ask you why I should hire you, respond by saying, You should hire the best candidate and here’s is why I am the best fit.  

# 7: If appropriate, apologize. If, at any point in a sales transaction or pitch, you discover you have made an error, don’t make excuses. Say you are sorry and do so emphatically. Then move on. You may be surprised at how quickly the whole incident is forgotten. If you insist on building a case for why you erred, you’ll only drag things out. If you discover that you made an error in responding to an interviewer’s or customer’s point after the meeting was over, write an email to them with your apology, correcting what you erred on!

# 8: Let customers sell to themselves. In general, people do not like to be told what to do or what to buy. Provide information and be helpful, but let customers make the decision. You do this by asking questions and steering the conversation until customers realize that you, your product, or your service is the solution they’ve been looking for. What sells more than what you know is how well you come across as knowing it. Ratchet up your confidence in what you present and in what you say. This way you will get a bigger impact for the same material.  

# 9: Sell Benefits, not Features. When discussing yourself or your product, put it in terms that speak to your customers’ interests. You may have the biggest, fastest, and most reliable product on the market, but unless customers see how it benefits them, you won’t make a sale. Learn how to shift your conversation from focusing on “features,” to focusing on “benefits.” So, instead of saying I bring 20 years’ experience in managing partners (a feature), say, because of my vast relationships with key partners for 20 years in this ecosystem I can start building new partnerships on day one for this company (a benefit).

# 10: Dramatize your ideas. This has less to do with human interaction and more to do with a flair for the dramatic. Do not be afraid to engage in a little showmanship, as long as it is honest and doesn’t mislead people. For example, there is the story of a cash-register salesman who told a grocer that the registers his store was using were so old that he was literally throwing money away because of the errors in operating them, especially with new employees. With that, the salesman threw a handful of coins on the floor. He got the sale.

# 11: Do not “Stalk” if they don’t act: It is common to try harder if the customer says no and goes silent. The same applies to a job search or a job interview. The normal approach is to keep calling and following up—almost stalking—to no avail. Instead, follow-up with something that the interviewer will benefit from: A news article about their competitor, a new development that would interest them, or a new market that they missed out on. In the note say, When (and not if) I join your team I can help you capture this new opportunity. These strategies are far more likely to get a positive response than merely “stalking” your potential employer for a job.

Selling anything requires selling yourself first. Learn how these 11 strategies work their magic in any selling endeavors and see how much easier it is to get your next job adopting these strategies.

Good luck!