Now that you are searching for a new position, how are your
selling skills? Armed with the best resume ever written, you still have to sell
the benefits of hiring you to a hiring manager. Selling skills are ‘must have’
or ‘must develop’ for getting a job offer.
Good salespeople know how to prospect, make contact, establish
rapport, discover needs, present solutions, listen, overcome objections,
negotiate, and close. That's a lot to ask of job seekers that are not trained
salespeople. But these sales skills are incredibly important in job
searching. Most people can do a reasonable job of discovering opportunities,
but then fail to get the interview and be hired. Frequently, the problem they
have is developing the skills and confidence necessary to close the deal.
These tips can help:
1 - Get sales training from a competent job search coach.
Good salespeople will tell you unless you are dealing with the decision-maker,
you are wasting your time; Make direct voice contact with the hiring manager to
generate interest. Create and practice scripts for navigating through
gatekeepers and for making a good introduction. Avoid mentioning you are job
searching.
2 - Learn how to prospect. Learn how and where to
identify hiring managers. One great way is to network with current employees and
get referred.
3 - Establish rapport by focusing on the other person.
Ask questions about them. This applies when you are networking, having an
informal meeting or discussion, or interviewing. Practice good listening
skills. Avoid monopolizing conversations. Watch out for your body language,
even on the phone. Bad habits carry over into interviews.
4 - Overcome objections. Objections are opportunities to
sell. If an objection is not responded to it becomes the final disqualifier.
Don’t lose the opportunity to respond. Be quick on your feet and ask a
clarifying question to get at the heart of the matter to respond to.
5 - Learn closing skills. If you wait for the hiring
manager to close you, it may not happen.
The most useful closes for job seekers to master are these:
Ask For The Job!! At the last interview with the hiring decision maker, if
you have decided you want the job, lean forward, look the hiring manager
directly in the eye and ask for the job. Never let the hiring manager wonder if
you are sincerely interested in taking the job!
Set Expectations! At the end of conversations get into the habit of
establishing who is going to do what and when, including
the fact that you will follow up at a certain time. This avoids the problem of
wondering if you should call after a week goes by. When you make the follow up
call and the gatekeeper asks if your call is expected, the answer is one word, "Yes".
The Trial Close – This is a close that should be used frequently. It
tests the hiring managers' readiness to make a decision to hire. Use it after
you have made a strong selling point or when you have answered an objection.
The Trial Close may use other closing techniques such as the
Assumptive and the Yes-Set closes. Questions are asked to see if the hiring
manager is ready to hire you. When you have asked the Trial Close question, as
with most other closes, be quiet, watch body language, and listen carefully to
the response:
"Can you see how my ability to achieve [some result or
accomplishment] can benefit your need for [some need that was discussed]?"
"Can you see how my background in [ ] would benefit your
need for [ ]?"
The conditional close: The Conditional Close builds on social agreement. It
states "If I do this will you do that?" Thist pushes the dialogue
towards the final close and is very effective in salary negotiations. For
instance, “If I accept that offer will
you add more vacation time".
The conditional close should always be phrased in the form of "If I, will you'', not the other
way around. It works because our brains work very quickly. Starting with 'If I'
causes psychological closure on what you are offering. It draws the other
person closer to the final close whereas starting with 'will you' causes the
other person to begin thinking immediately about objections which drives the
conversation away from closure.
The Rational Close: This close uses logic and reason to persuade. For
example, "We've gone through all your needs and the benefits I bring to help you
resolve your needs, correct? [pause] Is there anything else that would
stop you from wanting to offer me the position? [Pause] No? Good! When should I expect to receive the
offer?"
The Assumptive Close: The Assumptive Close works on the assumption principle
where acting confidently as if something is true makes it difficult for the
other person to deny it. In this close one acts as if the hiring manager has
already made the decision to make an offer. For instance, if at the end of the
last interview you’ve established there will be no further interviews, the most
important thing to say is “I like what I’ve heard and I want the job. When
can I start?” This achieves two things, it lets the decision-maker know you
want an offer and the question forces a response.
The Take-Away close: This powerful close is very effective in salary
negotiations or when you are very certain the hiring manager is strongly
interested but is undecided. You could say, "It
appears that you don't want to hire me. Perhaps we should stop discussing the
position." It is a bluff, so stop talking and listen. If you're
correct, the hiring manager will worry, thinking he or she has lost the
opportunity to hire you.
The Yes-Set close: This close gets the buyer saying 'yes' to a series of
questions. It also ferrets out further objections to respond to. A series of
questions are asked that are easily answered with "Yes" leading
toward the Final Close:
"Does that answer your question adequately?"
"Do you feel positive about my answer?"
"Does that address the problem for you?"
"Can you see how well I fit in your organization?"
"Are you feeling positive about hiring me?"
The Future Close - close on a future date. Sometimes a hiring decision is
simply not going to happen today. If this is the situation, ask how much time
is needed. Ask if there is they intend to make you an offer then. After
thinking about this, they may be ready to close now. The Future Close works by
getting them to think in the present about the future, hence bringing the
future to now so they can 'compress time' and possibly close now.
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