Any sales professional looking for that new sales position recognizes that their success is based on a process.  The sales process includes your understanding that each sales professional is different, and each product is different.  The most important part of that is realizing that each sales professional needs to be able to determine and articulate what gives him/her success based on their own level of skill.

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In Black Sales Journal 2/28, How Many Prospects Do You Really Need we discussed knowing your metrics.  This was a wake-up call to some who do not necessarily agree with the sale process fundamentals.  I assure you those fundamentals exist, and the variable for each sales professional is based on individual effectiveness, product, and industry.

The most important item to know is that you need to be able to articulate the basis of your own success.  This is powerful in an interview, and you need to be able to do it cogently and clearly.  You will find, that if it is well rehearsed and documented, it will put you to the front of the line in getting that new sales position.

You Are the Expert on You

You have heard me cite the phrase “You are the expert on you!” as it is obvious that you should be able to define yourself better than anyone else.  Nowhere is it more important than in the interview process.  Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is one thing, and your benefit will potentially be that you may be able to sell someone on them and get past first base.

Knowing your process, and being proficient at articulating it can be the shot that you need to impress that hiring manager.  What is more important, two things can happen on that next interview:

1. You could be asked to define your sales process
2. You could be asked to define why you are successful

Either way, you will need to be good at explaining it, yet not glib or slippery.  You will want to show that you are successful because you do the things that make you successful intentionally, consistently, and systematically.  You will want to show that your routine is solid, and not responding to what happens on a particular day.  Your respect for the law of large numbers and volume will come through in your characterization of your daily effort.

You can give the best presentation of yourself possible, as well as the best display of your mastery of your own “process” by practicing it in the mirror and with a caring listener.  Someone who cares enough to listen to you drone on and on until you have mastery of this important piece.

A Practical Example

The interview would lead to this statement and comment:

“Jerry, from what we can see your sales results are admirable, and enviable in terms of your percentage of goal attainment, and your ability to do this year after year.  Will you share with us what makes you successful?”

Jerry responds “Bob, I would attribute the consistency of my success to the regimen that I hold myself to.  In addition to that I wholly subscribe to the law of large numbers and their effect on prospecting and quoting.  I measure my success against my continuous activities and results and adjust my prospecting efforts based on my call (prospecting) to appointment ratio, my appointment to quote ratio, and my sold to quote ratio.  I track them and utilize them in determining my effectiveness and my level of future activity.”

Jerry expands:“I make 75 prospecting calls a week religiously by phone, and 20 in person cold calls per week.  I believe that if I do this, I give myself a realistic chance of increased success and earnings.   I reach all hard to get prospects by phone after hours, which means the hours of 5:00 to 6:30P, as I have found that to be a time when the “gatekeeper” is not on duty, and the decision maker has to answer the phone on their own.”

Then Jerry pulls it together: “What I do works for me and I believe in it.  My results are in the portfolio that I just handed to you.”

Why Does It Work?

Every sales manager wants you to have a system that works.  It makes management easier.  Your sales statistics are yours, and others have their own.  Believe me, if you cite you discuss your process like I am suggesting, and you are able to back up your claims, you will be a primary candidate.

When I was a sales manager, I knew my role was to get the most out of every sales candidate.  A candidate with the basics well in hand was one who would be ready for advanced sales techniques, as opposed to me pressing him or her for the rudiments.  Knowing your plan is more than rudimentary though; it is the start of being the true professional.

We welcome your comments. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

You are back in the job market, or recently out of college, and you need to get hired as quickly as possible.  There are bills, potentially including college loans, to be paid, and you are having trouble even getting an interview.  There are some things that you might consider to put you on the radar screen and these things revolve around your resume.

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What Do Employers Look At?

Recruiters and hiring managers look at a variety of inputs. The most important item you have what it comes to creating interest is your resume, so we will start there.  The resume can have a positive effect, but the other items can have a deleterious effect. The group is as follows:

• Your resume
• Your LinkedIn Profile
• Your Social Media
• Google, Bing, Yahoo Search
• Public Records

Any of these items any of these items can harm your job search if you aren’t careful. It’s your job to construct them or police them, or at least be able to explain them.

Resume

Your resume is that fact-filled item which creates the interest in you, and hopefully gets you the opportunity for a phone or face-to-face interview.

I cannot stress the importance of having a superior resume, because your competition is honing his or her own resume, and someone will get the call. Recognize that this is an area that deserves as much of your time” cheesy”.

I note the following the following articles to help you get that resume looking as good as possible:

Constructing Your Resume? I Will Give You One!

6 Ways to Sharpen Up That Sales Resume’

Should You Hide a Termination?

Race and Your Resume – Part 1

Race and Your Resume Part 2 – The 3 Ps

The resume is something that you should be proud of it after it’s completed, and remembers, always lock your resume down by only sending PDF copies of it to prospective employers if you are forwarding it electronically.  As you will read in the articles I offer, bullet point your accomplishments, and quantify your results. Also, be prepared to back-up what you have with proof sources.

LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is nearly as important as your resume. It is a way for prospective hiring managers as well as HR professionals to check you without actually making contact using this business-networking site.

With that in mind, make sure that your profile is well done and professional.  It should mimic your resume.  Remember that it is a “tease” more than a complete “platter” of you and your accomplishments. With that in mind keep it reasonable in length, and it should accentuate the important things that you have done.

Below I’m going to attach an article that might help you with your LinkedIn profile. It is incumbent on you to have a solid, well done LinkedIn profile.  People will view it, and you will potentially be contacted without doing anything else.

Keeping in mind the fact that the LinkedIn profile can potentially include a picture, recognize that a picture on the LinkedIn profile obviously erases any possibilities of racial anonymity. In other words they will know you’re race and your gender by taking a look at the profile picture.   It is just the way it is now days. It can work to your advantage, or it can work against you in cases where people are being close-minded.  I suggest a well-done shot from the shoulder up.   No web cam shots and no shots of you at the party at the club.

This article can help you with the link in profile:

Are You LinkedIn? The Best Have Been For Years!

Social Media

If you have read BSJ before coming you know my feelings about social media, and your ability to get employed.

42% of hiring managers and human resource professionals indicate that they would reconsider an applicant after a visit to the applicant’s social media sites! Think about it.  This is a window to the type of person that you are.  Your actions and your likes and dislikes can be seen there.

Take a good look at the links below, and make your decisions consciously before you lose the chance to get a job.

Employers Checking Your Social Media Profile? Bet On It!

Social Media – Friend or Foe?

I see many individual’s social media sites and they often include pictures that may be funny and novel, but might make me reconsider whether I would consider them for a position.  Note the posts above and make the necessary changes.

Search Engines and Public Records

I will put these two topics together as they are similar.  This is important, and I cannot emphasize it enough:

Be the expert on yourself!

I have included one of my favorite posts on this subject, because too many job seekers forget to “investigate themselves”.  It is the very first act you need to take in preparing to seek employment.  If you neglect this step, you could get a rude surprise in the job search.  Know what is on-line which ties you to any problem activity.  Check your name, and all variations of your name, so that you can have explanations ready.

Remember this is your first step:

Investigate Yourself! The First Activity of Your Job Search!

You cannot get a job without getting the first interview, so please recognize that now is time to make the changes. Long before start looking at the want ads, get straight your online personality and investigate yourself!

I welcome your comments. Please write me at Michael.Parker@blacksalesjournal.com.