Career Worth Living For!
Posts tagged selling
I want an iPhone 3GS
Dec 17th
My sister-in-law and her family visited my family over a weekend last month and we had a good time catching up. Her son, Ryan, is 11 years-old this year and although I have known him since his birth and have even taken care of him for a short spell 4 years ago, he is growing up to be his own man and, entering his teenage years, he now tends not to enjoy adult conversation nor company.
Ryan spent most of the entire visit glued to my laptop computer that was in the living room where everyone was. I would peek at what he was doing occasionally (mainly to ensure he was not messing up my files) and found him on the Apple Computer website.
Specifically, he was on the iPhone pages of the Apple website.
Before I knew it, he interrupted the adults who were happily chatting away over coffee.
“Mom, look! The iPhone 3GS is so thin and it’s so cool!”
Three minutes later, he shouted again, “Mom, the 3GS can take videos and upload them to YouTube! Isn’t that something?”
Another 5 minutes later, he exclaimed, “Mom, there is voice command for the 3GS! Wow!”
This time, his mother responded, “Ryan, you don’t need an iPhone. I’m not buying one for you. You already have a mobile phone.”
It turned out that Ryan had been bugging his mother over the past week to get him the latest iPhone 3GS. And when I asked him why he needed an iPhone, he said, “Everyone in school has one and it’s really cool” to which I responsed, “Ryan, the iPhone cannot make you cool. Only you can.”
Of course, Ryan didn’t understand what I meant and he also didn’t get the iPhone 3GS he coveted.
From this little episode, it reminded me of the way most of us try to persuade, influence and convince others of something – in other words, our “selling” strategy.
And guess what? Job-hunting is a “selling” process whether you like it or not.
Most people think that the best way to sell is to do what Ryan did – promote the features of the product or service: The iPhone is thin, it can take videos, access the internet, and issue commands via voice, etc.
In job-hunting terms, most people promote ONLY their features thinking that those will sell: Their degree(s), work experience, internship experience, special skills, awards, extra-curricular activities, community service, professional memberships, etc.
Just like Ryan’s mother, the features of the iPhone 3GS meant nothing to her. They may be cool to Ryan but they do not appeal to his mother at all. In fact, an iPhone is expensive to buy and to maintain, especially for an 11 year-old.
Remember: To an employer, you are always on the right-hand end of this simple equation:
Profit = Revenue – Cost
To make business sense, you will only be hired IF:
1. You are affordable (i.e. low cost), and
2. You can generate sufficient value (or revenue) to cover the cost of employing you (i.e. high benefits).
And so, your features may be cool to you, but they will only be cool to the employer IF and ONLY IF they can generate benefits to the employer.
In order to sell successfully to employers, you must approach from the BENEFIT angle: How exactly will the employer benefit from having you on the team? What value can you bring.
No doubt, features can be part of the selling process to provide support for the benefits but features should never be the main focus.
Remember: We don’t buy features. We buy only benefits.
When Ryan understands this, he will be in time to get an iPhone 3GS for Christmas.
Are you in sales?
Dec 16th
I know from experience asking this question that most of you reading it will be thinking, “Oh no, Ethan, I’m not in sales. I don’t sell anything at all. Besides, I don’t like selling and I don’t think well of people who do.”
The first thing that came to your mind may be a salesperson trying to persuade you to subscribe to the Smartone-Vodafone 3G plan. Or you may be thinking of those credit card companies trying to get you sign up for their credit cards. Or how about telemarketeers who are trying to convince you to take up a super low-interest rate line of credit?
Yes, those individuals may be engaged in professional selling work, as in their title read something in line with “Sales Executive.”
But let’s look at what being in sales really mean. Being in sales or being engaged in the work of selling means that you actively do the work of closing deals, convincing, presenting, persuading, influencing, impressing on a day-to-day basis.
Think about it. When you are standing in front of your class presenting your project, you are trying to convince your class and your professor that your presentation (and project) deserves an “A”. When you apply for a job by sending in your resume and cover-letter, you are trying to impress the employer enough to get an interview. When you get to the interview, you are trying to persuading and convince the interviewer that you should be the one hired for the job instead of the others. When you want a promotion or a raise in salary, you have to ensure that your boss thinks well enough of you. When you need money for your project, you have to pesuade the board of directors that the project is viable. When you are leading a team, you have to convince your team that your ideas or instructions are sound. If you are a guy and are madly in love with a girl and wants to date her, you have to impress and influence her enough for her to say, “Yes.”
The fact is this: We are all in sales. We are all actively doing the work of selling most of our lives (i.e. other than the time we spend sleeping). We spend a lot of time and effort selling ideas to ourselves even!! Just think about it.
So, get this: Realising that you are in sales gives you leverage in life. It is your selling that will get what you want. If you don’t sell, then, most likely, you won’t get it. Because for sure nobody’s going to buy from you if you don’t sell. One author put is well, “Life’s a pitch!”
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