The interview as your chance to tell why you are the best person for the job, but also embrace that opportunity to show how you are different!

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There are few moments that are more critical in your work history than the all-important job interview.  That sixty or so minutes presents you with the opportunity to:

• Make a lasting impression on a one-on-one basis.
• Describe, defend, and promote your employment history
• Showcase your verbal skills and your adeptness at responding to complex questions.
• Prove you critical sales skills while in the process of “selling yourself.”

“Critical” is a fair word here because you only get one opportunity, maybe no more than an hour to do this and separate yourself from the crowd of applicants that are being interviewed for the position.  You must use this opportunity to “sell yourself” while you scale the mountains of questions that the interviewer or interviewers might have for you.

How to Stand Out?

So in the midst of this, your objective is to not only answer all of the interviewer’s questions, showcase your knowledge of the sales process and your product/industry acumen, but also to stand out from other applicants.  Frankly, if you are a Black sales professional, you already stand out! You have selected a career that is challenging, measurable, and rewarding.  It is not the career that is the preference of the lighthearted.  This role is normally relationship-based, requiring an investment of time and effort in the cultivation of deep enduring relationships with buyers of all backgrounds and origins.  Not everyone can do it, and most would not make it to the interview stage, but you are there. Even the buyer that considers himself/herself color-blind recognizes that you’re an anomaly in the position.  Now the good part is that you are a “good” anomaly in that role.  I am serious in saying this.  Absent prejudice, the good buyer is looking for some change or variation from the norm as well.  Here is your golden opportunity. Even some of the most mundane issues about you are new ground for a customer from a different social and racial background.  Questions will flow in search of information about the following:

• How did you get in this business?
• What is your background?
• Where did you go to school?
• Did you play sports?
• Numerous other general interest questions

These questions only lead to more inquiry.  These questions, as banal as they may seem, happen because there is an informational divide in America.  That informational divide then serves as a “curiosity chasm” as well.  No one is going to go into your community to satisfy their curiosity as to how someone so different from them lives and thinks; yet if you come into their office, and hold conversation, everything is game.  Whether you hale from the heart of the ghetto or your state’s most affluent suburb, the curiosity is the same. You can stand out in this positive way, and there are some things that you can do to make this even better:

• Be personable and inviting without getting too personal.
• Know your story and its fine points.  You have license to discuss only what you want made public (because it will be public).
• Always tell the truth (Black Sales Journal 6/30 – Always Tell the Truth). The truth, in the light of its novelty to others is quite enough.
• Know what has made you strong and durable, and …better.

Now, when you know these well, you can begin to weave them into your story as opposed to “tell” them.  You might want to give that comment some thought.  You are the expert on you, and that cannot be denied.  Do you know how to tell your story in a factual, yet illustrative way that captivates and informs?  If you practice these points, you will gain proficiency in doing it, and will benefit from it.

The Value of the Icebreaker

In Black Sales Journal we always speak of the strength of conversation in building a successful relationship.  You are less trying to build a successful relationship during the interview than trying to construct a gateway; there is invariably a brief moment that is the “icebreaker”.  This is not a long interlude, yet a skilled interviewer will use this time to get to know something about the person that he/she is interviewing.  Here is where you get an opportunity to showcase “YOU.” During this time, most interviewers would not approach a subject that is to intrusive, yet will ask you a question like: “What made you decide to get into sales?” or “What convinced a bright looking guy/lady like you to go in to equipment sales?”  I am sure you have been asked a question like that before.  That is the icebreaker, and it is without doubt that is not the question he/she wanted to ask, yet it is the evidence that someone is curious about you, your motivations, and your background.

Remember…Be Personable…

Black sales professionals with tenure in sales have experience in relating their story. There is no doubt that regardless of whether you are male or female, they want to understand more about you.  You can move them from wanting to understand more about you to the point of fascination by disclosing some tidbits of information although never compromising personal information you want to protect. Remember bullet one above.  “Be personable and inviting without getting too personal,” serves as a good motto.  Although interview sessions can be tedious, remember that being interviewed by someone who is interviewing five others is tedious work on their part as well.  It is made more interesting by someone who has a personality, and has points of interest that would probably attract a buyer as well.

You can be that someone.

Master the relationship. Your comments are welcome.

You can say it any way you want to, but “keep your business to yourself”.  In today’s wired world too many professionals broadcast things that never would have been exposed before.  Don’t make that mistake!

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A news flash about four  years ago about our closest celestial neighbor, the Moon, disclosed some secrets that many might not even have know were even secrets.  Despite common sayings and even albums (Pink Floyd ‘The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973 and many others) many don’t realize that the far side of the Moon, let’s call it the “Dark Side” had not generally been seen by the public until a few years ago.

The Moon does not revolve on an axis as the earth does, so we constantly see one side.  What does this have to do with sales? Being the consummate sales professional has much to do with how you conduct yourself with your employer, your co-workers, and your customers. As a Black  professional your personal life, well… much of it, should be less visible than the ‘dark side of the Moon’ to many who you interact with in business.

You are developing your sales persona, and it is your ‘brand’ so it is your responsibility to manage what everyone sees and knows about you.  You will overcome obstacles in the process, but you don’t want anything that will make it tougher.  With a few exceptions you are in control of this, and you should exercise that control wisely.

Self-Inflicted Damage

This post is important as much of the damage regarding what is said or released is considered “self-inflicted” damage.

The topics for this ‘self-inflicted’ damage includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Politics
• Race Relations
• Religion
• Family
• Company Management
• Salary and benefits
• Interracial Relationships
• Sexual Relationships

Above all, remember a most important lesson.  As indicated in Black Sales Journal 10/27/11 – The 3 Unmentionables for the Black Sales Professional, avoid talking about the following;

• Politics
• Race Relations
• Religion

The Scene of the Crime

The forums and situations that you have utterances and conversations about these topics are many.  The people that you have these situations with can be the familiar to a network broadcast (social media).

Co-workers – Treat the people that you work with like they are people you work with.  They are not your best friends, and don’t need access to your life story, your relationships, and your ‘master plan to beat the man’.  What you say at the bar or club can come back to haunt you.  Some solid examples appear in the following posts:

• Friends, Co-Workers, and Vampires (Black Sales Journal 1/30/2012)
• Friends at Work (Black Sales Journal 5/23/2011)

Social Media – Wow! This one deserves more discussion than we can give here.  Do you need to post those pictures of you with the dreaded ‘red cup’?  Social media makes it easy to find something to criticize.  This is the broadcast that we spoke of earlier.  Your personal life is your business and you should recognize that there is no context specified on social media, it is just ‘out there’.

• Social Media – Avoiding the Pitfalls (Black Sales Journal 3/10/2011)

Customers – You never know what perceptions the customer has until you have the deepest of relationships.  That is only going to happen with a select number of customers.  This means that you still must project your brand.  For the Black sales professional I suggest that there is no casual day at a customer location that you need to participate in, wear your uniform (Your suit or business attire).  You are the professional.  There is no usage of slang and colloquial terms and foul language.

The customer will only know about your family and friends what you tell them.  Even if he tells you about his brother Rick, who smokes something that smells funny, that does not mean that you need to air your family’s dirty laundry.  You might read the item below to see the importance:

• Preference, Prejudice, and Your Customer, Black Sales Journal 12/27/2010

Management – Your manager needs to know you.  Actually, your manager needs to know the ‘you that you want him to know’.  This is “image management” in its finest sense.  Do you want management to know all of your past?  Do you want them to know the nature and depth of your intimate relationships?  Do you want them to know that you have relatives that are incarcerated?  I say why have those types of conversations and disclosures?  Now you may think that this does not happen, but it does.  Be careful because as I have said before “You cannot put toothpaste back in the tube”.

I say that your superiors should know the things that will shape your brand!  You are a hard worker…you worked your way through school.  You have perseverance and stick-to-it-ness…you were an athlete on scholarship.  You have a good personality and good values and can show it, stick to that type of disclosure.

No discussions on religion, race relations, and politics.  Don’t be baited.

Build a Brand for Yourself

We will cover this more in February and March, as it deserves it.  When you go this route, you use each of the above, social media, co-workers, management, and the customer to make it happen.  It is not an easy process, and it requires that each input and contact be carried out with forethought and consistency.

Always be the best!

Your comments are appreciated.