Are You a Believer?
As any professional salesperson will tell you, it's a lot easier to close a sale if you really believe in your product.
It's not absolutely necessary that you use it yourself, but you have to believe in its unique competitive advantages, its integrity and its ability to deliver real and important benefits for the prospective customer. Of course, if you can share first-hand experiences, that's even better.
The Home Depot and Lowe's home centers have learned this lesson well, and as a result they encourage their important suppliers to conduct training sessions with all associates to impart the product knowledge (affectionately known as “PK Training”) that will let them share detailed information with customers who need empathetic help. When possible, associates are given the opportunity to use the products themselves as part of the training process. The objective is to make them true product believers.
Remember, too, the late Victor Kiam, who bought Remington and appeared in commercials: “I believed in the product so much that I bought the company.” And Lee Iacocca, when he took over at Chrysler, appeared in commercials with a personal declaration: “I believe in our cars, or I wouldn't be in this position.” Both of these CEOs were very public and explicit product believers.
When you think about your job search as a marketing project—marketing yourself and your capabilities to a prospective employer—at some point you become a salesperson. Selling is part of the marketing process, and it is important that you be a product believer too.
You need to believe that you can bring value to the company, that you are a person of integrity and that you will be able to generate incremental profit for your employer in excess of your cost. If you don't believe in the product—yourself—it will be difficult, if not impossible, to convince the decision maker.
→ end article preview
Read the Full Article
Michael A. Goodman is a marketing/management consultant and author of the book The Potato Chip Difference: How to apply leading edge marketing strategies to landing the job you want. For more information, visit PotatoChipDifference.com.
