Everyone is a salesperson. When you become a job seeker, you are really a salesperson.
You are trying to get people to buy YOU. Or your resume, or to spend time with you (lunch, etc.). You are trying to sell yourself into an interview, and then into THE job.
Doesn’t it make sense that you learn how to sell?
There are many sales tactics you could study. Here’s a great post from Cody Pierson: The Secret of Selling (To Me)
Don’t stop there. Once you learn how to sell someone something, it can be fun. Sell something else. For example, try to “sell” someone on becoming your evangelist. That can be a fun, complex challenge.
I had a salesperson who said that he found the most success when he became a “consultative salesperson.” That is, instead of focusing on steps to close the deal, he focused on becoming a consultant to prospects. An expert who shared information he learned from others in the industry.
Take the concept of becoming a consultative salesperson and marry it with your personal brand.
In other words, you don’t want to be branded as a desperate job seeker. You want to be branded as an expert. A project management expert, or a supply chain executive.
If you are an expert, and people know it, does that change your job search?
It would have changed my job search, back in 2006.
Food for thought: consultative sales, creating evangelists, and defining your brand (and how other perceive you).
What are you going to do with this information? How will it change how you are approaching your job search?
