Hope is Not a Sales Strategy

"Hope is not a sales strategy"   . . . . . . .   Nor is it a job search strategy!

"Hope is not a sales strategy," stated author Peter Finkelstein, head of sales strategy, Barrett Consulting.  In an article in Entrepreneur.com, he offered thoughts for waging effective sales campaigns.  However, his advice also applies to job seekers who, as you
as you now really know, are in sales when waging their own job search campaigns.
 
Just as a dream is not a goal, . . . Hope is not a plan. 
To find a job in today's tough employment market, you need a plan to sell your skills, experience, talents, capabilities, strengths, and evidence of accomplishments to customers - i.e., employers - for whom these assets may be of interest and useful.

Knowing how to sell yourself is key to locating your new employer quicker and landing a quality job that best uses your talents.

Decide that your search is a top priority
So, instead of “wishin’ and hopin’,” and sending out a resume every now then, calling up some people you know sporadically, researching 1 or 2 of your target companies, and dreaming about what your next job or opportunity will look like, decide that your search is a top priority, and take action:

• Make a plan each and every week of what you want to accomplish that week. 
• Detail a marketing plan for the employers you want to pursue.
• Identify network contacts to contact, and professional meetings to attend.
• Read the helpful articles on this AJC-Career Strategy website on "how to sell yourself."  
• And, then . . . work your plan!

Deciding to work at your job search for some amount of time every day -- and then doing it  --  isjob search strategy that will get you further faster than hoping ever will. 
For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.
 ____________________________________________________________________________

nancy@ajcglobal.com              www.ajcglobal.com             AJC - for Your Career Path

  Linked In:  www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-c-gober/6/14b/965        

Twitter:  @AfterJobClub

Want to Sell Yourself as the Best Candidate for the Job? . . . . . Sell the Benefits of Hiring YOU!

People Buy Benefits.   It’s true for selling . . .
   -  a car,
   - a house,
   - a computer,
   - an ink pen, or . . . .
   - yourself to a prospective employer!

And, what is the most frequent problem I see when it comes to job seekers’ written and verbal presentations of themselves?
No benefits.  A lack of the very thing that can sell a prospective employer on giving you a chance.

Finding a job is all about sales 
If you subscribe to the theory- and my belief - that finding a job is all about sales  – and it is  – , you can begin to see the connection:

1. Finding a job is all about selling yourself.  
2. And, when you are offered a job, you have made the sale.

So, if you believe that finding a job requires selling yourself, then it follows that you have to know what you’ve got to sell.  While this may seem obvious, it's not!  For a job seeker, it boils down to the ways in which you have benefited your prior employers and the ways you anticipate benefiting your next employer.  This offers a much stronger argument for hiring YOU, than just listing duties you’ve performed and/or responsibilities you’ve held.

Customers buy benefits
Astute salespeople don't approach prospects with "laundry lists" of their product's or service's features.  Instead, they show how these features will help the customer solve problems, stem shrinkage, and facilitate growth. 

For instance, a realtor showing a buyer a house may note the house’s “features” as being: 3,000 sq. feet, an attached garage, newly remodeled bathroom, and open plan kitchen/family room.  In and of themselves, these are just “facts” about the house. 

The realtor begins to make the sale when she or he illustrates how these “facts” about the house will help the buyer. 

    Feature                                              Benefit
    3,000 sq. feet                                     Provides room for the family to grow
    Attached garage                                Means safety from danger and the weather
    Newly remodeled bathroom           Means move-in ready, no costly renovations
    Open plan kitchen/family room      Can keep an eye on the kids while cooking

In the same way, astute job seekers know that resumes with "laundry lists" of duties, or “features,” tell little about how they can contribute to a prospective employer's success.  These duties in and of themselves don’t show how job seekers helped their customers, a.k.a. former employers, solve problems, stem shrinkage, and facilitate growth.  Astute job seekers’ resumes will certainly list duties they have performed and responsibilities they have shouldered, but then also focus on how their performance of these duties helped previous employers solve problems and achieve growth and success. 
 
Your most important sales tool
It is fair to say that your resume is one of your most important “sales tools” – certainly one of your most visible.  Throughout your search, you’ll distribute it to 100's of contacts and employers.  In it, you will show why you should be considered as a serious candidate for a position, promotion, or additional job responsibility.  Think of your resume as your sales brochure.  What you highlight, describe in detail, and de-emphasize forms an impression in the reader’s mind about you and your capabilities and capacity for helping an employer. 

You resume describes your experience by

1. Highlighting duties you have performed  –  features in sales jargon –. and 
2. The outcomes or results of your performance - benefits in sales jargon.

 In other words, your resume shows prospective employers what they could gain by hiring you and the benefits of doing so.

Employers buy benefits too!
Consider an employer who is advertising to hire a person to look into operating efficiency and cost reduction for their firm.  He will be more impressed by an applicant who states they (a) he or she has analyzed costs and (b) reduced costs for a previous employer, than the applicant who merely lists this duty (feature) on their resume.   The table below provides 2 examples of a duty performed and the resultant benefit or accomplishment.

    Feature or Duty                                           Benefit or Accomplishment
    Analyzed operating costs                           Reduced insurance costs $75,000
    Reviewed customer complaint system   Increased accuracy and timeliness, and reducing labor costs

Written on a resume, the benefit or "Accomplishment Statement,"might look like this:

• Provided financial analysis of operating costs, which resulted in reducing insurance costs $75,000 and in a refund of approximately $30,000.
• Streamlined customer complaint reporting system, increasing accuracy and timeliness, and reducing labor costs (add the $ savings if you know them).

Steps to identifying the benefit you provided
As stated earlier in this article, knowing what you’ve got to sell is not always obvious.  Here is a 3-step method for figuring out how the duty you performed benefited a previous employer:
Step 1
    Ask:    What action did you take and what was the result?
                What was the outcome for your company?
                        For instance, what was achieved in savings, revenues, problems solved,
                        efficiencies, increased productivity or profit, or improvement of some kind, etc.?
                 What was the outcome for you?
                         Personal outcomes can include increases in responsibility, promotion, awards.
    Note:    Quantify and qualify your results to the extent possible.  Not every result can be
                          quantified, but they can be qualified.
Step 2
    List:    Each of the duties you performed followed by the outcome or result (Benefit) you achieved by
               performing that duty.  Do this for each position shown on your resume.
Step 3
    Select: For each resume you send, select those duties + accomplishments that are relevant to
                 the position for which you are applying.
    Hint to get started:  Ask yourself this question:  What things am I proud of in each position?


How-To-Formula for writing Accomplishment Statements that show the benefit you provided
Here's a method to help you craft an Accomplishment Statement: 
(1)  Start by listing a duty that you performed in a job you held.  Write it down.
(2)  At the end of the phrase listing the duty, write the words:  "resulting in ___________."
(3)  Ask yourself what did the company, customer, my department, I, etc. get as a result of my performing that duty or task.  In other words, how did you benefit them?
Below are two examples:
            Duty performed                       “Resulting in”                  Benefit or Accomplishment
                                                                                                             (Outcome or result)
Step 1: Re-engineered reporting systems, resulting in  . . . . .. . . . .. . reduction of  timelines by 50%

Step 2:  Re-engineered reporting system,  reducing . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..timelines by 50%.

        - Use the words “resulting in” to connect the duty with the result.
        - Then change the words "resulting in" to a more accurate verb.  Above "resulting in" became
         "reducing."

Using this method, you can turn a resume, which simply lists duties you have performed, into a results-oriented, accomplishments-based resume that gets employers' attention!
__

In finding a job, as in sales, how you say things can be as important as what you say.  How you write about your work in your resume and other sales materials, and how you talk about yourself can make the sale.
So here’s the equation for selling yourself in the employment marketplace:

(1)  Identify features          and then          (2)  Sell or Market the benefits of hiring YOU!
For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.
 ____________________________________________________________________________

nancy@ajcglobal.com              www.ajcglobal.com             AJC - for Your Career Path

  Linked In:  www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-c-gober/6/14b/965        

Twitter:  @AfterJobClub

Want a New Job? It Starts with a New Year's Resolution

Still make New Year's Resolutions?  If you do, you have lots of company.  

Millions make them, fewer achiever them.  

What makes the difference?  

Following up your wishes - your resolutions - with action steps and deadlines.

Sounds like goal setting, doesn't it?  In fact, it is. Making a resolution, and then figuring out what you have to do, and how you have to do it, in order to achieve your resolution is nothing more than goal setting.

Resolutions in and of themselves are just dreams 
Resolutions in and of themselves are just dreams of what and where we'd like to be by the end of year.  But these dreams  - or visualizations of what success looks like to you - are important.  Because they are a step - an important step - to getting there!  

So, to have a happy, healthy, and successful 2014:
(1) Decide what you really want to accomplish by the end of the year, and 
(2) Plan what you will do to achieve your resolutions.


Here are some steps
1.  Identify the things you'd like to achieve in 2014.  Make a list.  Here are a few examples:
- winning the lottery
- learning to speak a foreign language
- losing 20 pounds
- saving money
- getting a new job
- learning a new job skill
- beginning a degree program
- running a marathon
- publishing your book
- taking a trip/vacation to Europe

2.  Separate the important from the frivolous.  Asterisk the things that are really important. Experts say it is hard to focus on more than 3, so choose 1 or 2 or 3 things that are really important.  Here are some examples: 
- winning the lottery
- learning to speak a foreign language
*- losing 20 pounds
- saving money
*- getting a new job
*- learning a new job skill
- beginning a degree program
- running a marathon
- publishing a book
- taking a trip/vacation to Europe

3. Become specific:  Amplify each asterisked item by defining it further, stating some steps -mini-milestones - you will take to accomplish each, and deadlines for the mini-milestones.  For example:
*- getting a new job may be most important to you.  So, now, do the following:
a) Amplify --
   Get a new job as a manager of accounting in a public accounting firm by September 2014.
b) Identify Mini-milestones --
   Write resume. Learn about employment market for accountants.  Attend professional association monthly meeting.  Identify colleagues and contact to network with.
c) Set Deadlines for mini-milestones 
   Write resume - by January 15, 2014
   Learn about employment market for accountants -  by January 15, 2014
   Attend professional association monthly meeting - by February 25, 2014
   Identify colleagues and contact to network with  -  by January 31, 2014.

 4. What's next?  Continue to plan additional action steps as you learn more and move toward accomplishment of your mini-milestones and your major milestone - i.e., your resolution.  Set a time weekly to review your activity, progress, where you fell short, and adjust current or set new mini-milestones to achieve your resolution. 

You can have a new job in 2014, or run a marathon, or learn a new language, or publish a book, . . . .. They are all achievable.  It's all up to you.  It starts with a dream, a wish, or in this case, a New Year's Resolution!

Happy New Year and best of luck in turning wishes for a "Happy, Healthy, and Successful New Year into reality!                                                       

For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.

 ____________________________________________________________________________

nancy@ajcglobal.com              www.ajcglobal.com             AJC - for Your Career Path

  Linked In:  www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-c-gober/6/14b/965        

Twitter:  @AfterJobClub

Looking for a Job - You are In Sales . . . . . . . "The Job Seeking Sales Process"

I often ask job search workshop groups I'm speaking to: “Have you ever been in sales?” 
     A few hands will go up.  
I then ask the group:  How many of you ARE in sales?  Again, a few hands go up.
I then ask:   How many of you are looking for a job? 
     As the light bulb goes on, all hands go up.
And I say, “Well, if you are looking for a job, you are in sales!”  And that’s the truth!

Looking for a job is all about sales
Looking for a job is all about sales  –  selling the most important product or service you will ever sell  – YOU!  If you are looking for a new job, new role, expanded role, interim contract or consulting gig, you are in sales!

What do you need to know and do?
How do you sell yourself?  That’s the $64,000 or $45,000 or $150,000 or $30,000 . . . . .question  –  literally and figuratively.  How do you go about selling yourself in the employment marketplace?  What do you need to know and do?

• One thing you need to know is that effective and successful sales people don’t sell themselves "helter-skelter" –  they don't just start talking to people.  That approach would be akin to “shotgunning” in job search lingo – just phoning anyone, or firing off resumes to anyone and everyone without a strategy or a plan.  Successful salespeople have a plan.

• Another thing you need to know is that "it's all about them" . . . . . them being the customer.  Good salespeople understand that customers want to know "What's in it for me?"  In sales lingo, it's called the "WIIFM!"  They want to know how what you are selling will help their company grow and prosper.  Know as job seekers that hiring firms are looking inward - at their own needs and selecting candidates who will best fill them.

• A final thing you need to know is that customers buy benefits.  Astute salespeople don't approach customers with laundry lists of their product's features.  Instead, they show how these product's features will help the customer solve problems, stem shrinkage, and facilitate growth.  Astute job seekers know that resumes with "laundry lists" of duties tell little about how they can contribute to a prospective employer's success.  These job seekers list duties they have performed and responsibilities they have shouldered and focus on how their performance of these duties helped previous employers solve problems and achieve growth and success. 

 
Good salespeople, understanding how and why customers buy, prepare thoroughly before they ever approach their first customer in the marketplace.  Let's take a look at what they do:

The Sales Process
Effective sales people sell themselves and their products or services by preparing themselves to approach their customers and their marketplace.  They:
(1)  Learn about and understand their product / service they are selling
(2)  Research and learn about their marketplace
(3)  Identify target customers / avenues into the marketplace to make a sale
(4)  Develop their marketing tools to market and sell their product / service
(5)  Market their product /service
(6)  Negotiate the sale
(7)  Make the sale!

As a job seeker, selling your product or service is no different.  You are offering, or selling your skills, knowledge, experience, and abilities to prospective employers.  Effective job seekers learn to sell themselves.  They devise a plan to approach their target market, prepare their marketing materials, and then venture out into their targeted portion of the employment marketplace.  They follow a process - a sales process, and do not conduct their search as some "helter-skelter" inconsistent bursts of activity.  When the process is followed consistently, job seekers get jobs!

The Job Seeker Sales Process
Effective job seekers sell themselves and their product or services using the same sales process. 
Here is how to apply the sales process to preparation and conduct of your job search:

Step (1)  Learn about and understand the product / service you are selling - That's you!
    It can be surprising what you don’t know about you - or at least how to talk about you!
    A.  Akin to a salesperson learning about a product or service, job seekers need to devote time to learning about what they have to offer their customer, i.e., a new employer.  How?
    ● Assessments are one way.
    ● But if you don’t have the resources to secure a formal assessment, a simple paper and pencil exercise can do the trick:  Identify your skills, knowledge, experience, strengths, attitudes, and aptitudes.  This is what you have to sell.
    ● Ask your network (close colleagues and friends) what they see as your assets in terms of skills, knowledge, experience, strengths, attitudes, and aptitudes.
    ●  An exercise I like is to ask about 10 people who know you well this question: If you had 3 words to describe me, what would they be?
    B.  “What do I really want to do?”
    Visit and re-visit this question many times as you go through each of the 7 Steps of the Job Seeker Sales Process and throughout your search.  Your answer will change over time and become clearer and clearer.
    ● Identify your objective for your job search.  Ask yourself:   “What type of work do I really want to do?”

Step  (2)  Research and learn about your marketplace
    Just as professional salespeople learn about their marketplace, called a sales territory,  job seekers need to learn about their sales territory – the employment market.  Ask and begin to answer these questions:
    ● What industries use and hire my type of skills, knowledge, experience, strengths, attitudes, and aptitudes? 
    ● What types of companies and organizations employ my skills, knowledge, experience, strengths, attitudes, and aptitudes?
    ● Within the companies/organizations, what departments use my skills, knowledge, experience, strengths, attitudes, and aptitudes?
    ● What areas of the country/globe are these companies and industries located in?

Step (3)  Identify target customers / avenues into the marketplace
    Hone your research by beginning to identify your target customers.  Identify target companies and organizations that may employ your skills, knowledge, experience, strengths, attitudes, and aptitudes.
    ● Use web/online research to identify companies within your targeted industry.  For instance, if you want to work as an electrical engineer in the defense industry, Google defense contracting companies to get a list of target organizations to begin to explore (Get that?  – Begin to explore and learn about - not send off unfocused and untargeted resumes and applications "helter-skelter.").
    ● Identify trade associations for your targeted industry(ies).  Use their websites to identify their member companies/organizations that are target companies for you.
    ● Research target companies via publications/business directories that provide “sales-type” information about companies.  Professional salespeople use and rank “Hoovers” as one of the best.  But there are others such as Manta, One Source, Yahoo, The Fortune 500, Fortune Global 500, etc.  Some are free; others provide free introductory time periods.  These resources can also be found, and used free of charge, in libraries.
    ● Speaking of libraries, visit one.  Librarians  can direct you to useful research tools to identify target companies/organizations and to learn about your target market.

Step  (4)  Develop your marketing tools to market and sell your product / service
    Here are the basic marketing tools you will need to venture into the job market:
    ● Resume in chronological format (at least to begin your search) 
    ● Linked-In Profile
    ● “L”vator speech (. . . goes everywhere you do.  Learn it and work it in to conversations.) 
    ● Business Cards (. . . go everywhere you do.)
    ● Annotated Reference List
    ● Marketing Plan
    ● Portfolio
    Think of these as your Basic Tool Kit for a Job Search; you will develop others - templates for cover letters, networking plan, follow-up method, etc. – as you get further into your search.  With these marketing tools developed, you are now able to enter the job market - to begin talking with your network and target companies in a way that contributes to your success - not deters it.  You now have the information you need to identify real, potential job opportunities, and a way to communicate to those potential employers about what you have to offer in an impactful, attention-getting way.

Step  (5)  Market their product /service
    Conduct your job search.  Because of the preparation you’ve done in Steps 1 -4, you can hit the ground running and pick up traction over other job seekers who did not prepare in this way. 
    ● Apply for positions using your targeted and focused resume aimed at showing that you meet the requirements of the job.
    ● Contact target companies/organizations with a targeted resume that addresses your  needs and priorities.
    ● Network with your contacts.  Inform them of your status and the work you want to do, being as specific as possible.
    Ask 4 key questions.  Ask about good:
        - Companies they are aware of (that you can look into),
        - People they can refer you to
        - Associations you can participate in, and
        - Search firms that they found helpful/useful.
    Don’t ask (at least not initially) this question: “Do you know of an jobs?”  If their answer is “NO,” it’ll be a short conversation!
    ● Follow-up.  Devise a strategy to follow-up periodically and consistently with each and every contact you make.  That applies to companies, network contacts, associations, and with search firms (find out how they prefer you to stay in touch).  Plan multiple follow-ups and schedule them every 3 weeks or so, more frequently when needed.

Step  (6) Interview for and Negotiate the sale
    Your goal is offerS so you have a choice!  To get to the offer, you have to interview effectively.
    A.  Interviewing is terrifying for a lot of folks.  But, like anything else in life, the more you practice . . . the better you get.
    ● Learn and develop the skills of interviewing to increase your comfort level.  These boil down to giving and getting information effectively.
    ● Develop skill early in your search by talking with people.  Practice your “L”vator speech, discussing your accomplishments, and asking about your contacts’ knowledge of the employment marketplace.
    ● Demonstrate that you are an ideal candidate by showing that:
        - You meet the job’s requirements (Technical competency)
        - Are a good fit for the organization (Organizational culture)
        - Would work well with the team  (Chemistry)
        -  Will provide value and benefit the employer if they hire you
    ● Steps 1 - 5 provide a great foundation for developing your abilities to sell yourself.  In producing your marketing materials, in talking with research sources, and in networking (in person and via social media), you increase your comfort level and develop the ability
        - To describe what you are looking for,
        - To discuss what you offer to a employer, and
        - To show how you can fit and fill an organization's needs and benefit them in doing so.
    ● Treat all networking meetings like you are interviewing.  It's good practice and it really is an interview.

    B.  Negotiation is a sticky wicket for you many job seekers.  Many, who have conducted a long, frequently frustrating and disappointing search, and who finally receive a job offer are loathe to negotiate for more than the offer offers. 
    ● To negotiate or not to negotiate - that is a job seeker’s dilemma. 
    ● If you do not negotiate, you generally leave some things on the table that could have been yours.
    ● For some, however, who do not have the stomach for negotiation - and the nervous anxiety it produces, it may be best to accept the offer as is.  It is truly the job seeker’s choice!
   
Step  (7)  Make the sale!
        Accept the offer - the negotiated offer - and close the sale!  You have a job!

Sales Summary
In the tough, tight employment market today, and I would predict for the foreseeable future, finding a job will require hard work.  Understanding and practicing selling skills will help you show employers what you have to offer and how hiring you can benefit them.   Following the Job Seeker Sales Process will aid you in conducting an effective and efficient job search.  Take the time to prepare yourself and your job search marketing approach to make the best impression of you as you enter and sell yourself in the employment market.  It is truly the shortest distance between looking for a job and finding it!
For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.
 ____________________________________________________________________________

nancy@ajcglobal.com              www.ajcglobal.com             AJC - for Your Career Path

  Linked In:  www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-c-gober/6/14b/965        

Twitter:  @AfterJobClub

__________________________________________

End-of-the-Year Audits Work for Job Search Too

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got!

This simple truth works for many things in life - your job search too! 

As the year winds down, and the holiday events you attend become fewer, take some time to review your job search activity to figure out where you can do a better job in order to achieve your goal -- a new job! 

Before jumping into 2014 with a continuation of the same search you've been conducting  -- doing the same old things you've been doing  -- give some critical thought to how your search has been going.  How?  By performing a A Job Search Audit.  It can tell you how you’re doing - really!     

Review your job activity, starting at the very beginning, in a methodical and complete manner - that is key!  Identify every activity and chart your activity on a spreadsheet - computerized or paper and pen - it doesn't matter which.  Focus on contacts and outcomes of those contacts.  This review, your Job Search Audit, will give you some clues and ques about. . . 
(1)  What you ARE doing well - a telltale sign is activity that is generated by your efforts

• Networking meetings, e-mails, offers of assistance from colleagues, interviews, final interviews in which you are one of 2 or 3 finalists, i.e., close-call interviews, invitations to meet, job offers, etc.

(2)  What you are NOT doing well - a telltale sign is little to no “external ”activity –

• Spending your days alone at your computer, sending countless resumes to companies with no response from them or sending countless applications with the same lack of response.

• Few, if any, networking meetings, e-mails from companies and colleagues, offers of assistance from colleagues, interviews, professional society meetings, invitations to meet, job offers, no “close call-interviews” etc.                                                                                                

Here are the steps to perform your Job Search Audit:
Step 1.  To perform your audit, set aside a block of time in which you can devote your total attention - no interruptions!
 
Step 2.  Next, if possible, find a “job search buddy” with whom you can talk through the review.  
             - If your resources allow, a trained Job Search coach will help you move through the audit expeditiously.
 
Step 3.  Third, review your Career Strategy.  Take out your Marketing Plan.  Create a chart and identify any and all responses you have what response you have received from your:
     - target companies, 
     - applications, and 
     - network contacts.
 
Step 4.  Chart your follow-up with each (Note:  Follow-up is not a one-time e-mail or follow-up phone call; it is a consistent process.) 

• List each response you received and the action you took in response.  
• Identify how many interchanges occurred. 
• Where did the communication die?  
• Who dropped the ball?

Step 5.  Fourth, review your resume.  You have learned a lot about your industry and the role you are seeking in your industry if you have been conducting a consistent and active job search campaign.  

• Based on your current knowledge of your industry/target companies, and their advertised positions, 
• as well as your current knowledge about what you REALLY want to do, 
• Ask Yourself:  "Does my resume need revision?"  

Spot the holes and fill the gaps
When you look at your activity this way, you will be able to spot "holes" or gaps in your activity.  Plan to plug these holes in your activity going forward.  It may make the critical difference. 
For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.
 ____________________________________________________________________________

nancy@ajcglobal.com              www.ajcglobal.com             AJC - for Your Career Path

  Linked In:  www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-c-gober/6/14b/965        

Twitter:  @AfterJobClub