Black Sales Journal

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.

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 reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.