You may do yourself a favor by starting to consider yourself, if you have not already, as a product. Yes, some will find it oh so highly offensive to be considered a product, but that is what you are. You are a product and a service that you market and sell in the employment marketplace, usually to companies and hiring managers. What do we know about products in general? Some products are high quality, some are low quality. Some products are expensive, some are cheap. Some products have many potential buyers, some have few. Some products are specialty products, some are not. Some products have many features, some do not. Some products are new, and some are mature. Some products improve, some do not. Whatever your situation is, there is a buyer out there just waiting for you to market your services to them.
A product in the marketplace, whether it is you or cereal, needs to be sold in order for it to be successful. A product will not be successful, just because it is in existence. It needs to be developed, improved, marketed, and sold. The better the salesperson and marketer, the more successful it will be.
Have you heard the expression, "know thy product"? Product knowledge is the foundation of all sales success. Without an in-depth awareness of the key attributes and selling features and benefits of a product, it is going to be more difficult to get a sale / new job. If you are going to sell yourself, how well do you really know what features you have that would be considered valuable to a potential employer?
What are your pro's and con's? Draw a line down a sheet of paper and list on one side the reasons someone would buy you, and on the other side the reasons why someone may not. Just doing this one exercise alone will put you far ahead of your competition. If you identify potential con's, well then you can do something to improve or eliminate them. When you have identified your pro's, well then you will be clear about what attributes you can sell to employers. When you approach a buyer (an employer) think about what pro's that this particular employer would find of benefit, and sell them. Sell the product.
How do you really know what a buyer (hiring manager/employer) would mostly be interested in? You ask. Let us say you are in an interview. You do not want to just rattle off every imaginable positive attribute you have in hopes that something sticks. Nine out of ten may not be something the buyer cares about. You need to identify the buyers hot buttons, those one or two items that would be considered most important.
Long before you ever interview, you also need to identify those key product features and benefits you offer before you even send them your resume. Your resume better shine with items that are likely to be important to buyers for your particular offering. Once you have secured a sales meeting / interview, you can then further identify the key buying points that are most important to this customer.
Ask questions early on in your meeting such as; What are some of the characteristics of your top people now doing this job? What were the best attributes of the last person in this role? What kind of skills would be most important for success in this position? If you could describe the ideal person for this job, what they look like? Besides obtaining invaluable information, asking questions during an interview is looked on very favorably by hiring managers.
Once you understand your buyer and their needs, not your needs, you are then in a position to sell. Throughout your interview, interject examples, stories, and information regarding what you have learned about the employers needs and wants. If you do, a sale will be imminent.
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