Talking about yourself

Today, one section I outlined is "Talking about yourself."

Most people perceive this section to be the most important. How do I talk about myself? How do I sell myself? etc.

This is actually not that important. In sales, it’s not the most smoothest-talking people who perform the best. It’s the people who do the work to understand their prospect the most, who is most curious, who asks the most questions.

Successful people ask a lot more questions during sales calls than do their less successful colleagues. We found that these less successful people tend to do most of the talking.” – SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham

This is why I emphasize: Targeting the right people, conveying your value in your profile, being curious and preparing thoughtful questions.

If you do these, you are pre-sold. 80% of your work is done before you ever get on a call.

I realized how much sales and marketing informs my thinking on job hunting. After all, what is job hunting, if not selling and marketing yourself?

Aside from SPIN Selling, I reviewed another awesome book, Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. Below are some highlights and how they apply to job hunting.

Get better reality. Improve your service quality. But never forget that the prospect and client must perceive that quality.

Translated to job hunting: Get better reality. Improve your job skills. But never forget that the employer must perceive that quality.

Beckwith states a relatable example. A hotel merchandises quality. We perceive the hotel to be spotless not because it's actually spotless, but because each glass is tightly wrapped in paper and the toilet seat is covered with a sanitized wrap.

Service quality is invisible to the client. A service is only what prospects and clients perceive it to be.

Marketing's greatest battle is not waged in the market, but in the minds of prospects. Understanding how people think helps you understand how to market and sell.

Translated to job hunting: Job hunting's greatest battle is not waged in the market (in job ads and formal applications), but in the minds of potential employers. Understanding how they think helps you understand how to market and sell yourself.

Our methods for choosing a service are often wild and seemingly arbitrary -- anything but intelligent, cost-benefit-oriented behavior. This suggests that you cannot expect to seize a market just by creating a provably superior service with a demonstrably higher benefit-to-cost ratio.