your next job intervie...why am i talking about how to handle yourself during a job interview?...

© QBS Research, Inc.

Make no mistake, a job interview is definitely a sales situation.Although my primary objective in this book is not to find you a new job,the interview scenario is one to which virtually everyone can relate.Whether you are being considered for a new position within your currentorganization or are pursuing a fresh start with a new company, you willbe competing with other qualified applicants who are vying for the samedesirable position. In those scenarios, you will undoubtedly be respon-sible for selling yourself.

Professionals are constantly enhancing their resumes incontinuous preparation for their next job opportunity. Even if youstay with the same company, you will likely change positions, eithermoving into a new role or by being next in line for a big promotion.

In the role of customer, hiring managers evaluate candidatesin an attempt to find valuable employees. And, even if you are indeedthe most valuable candidate applying for a position, you still have tosay and do things during a job interview (or sales call) that enableyou to be perceived as such.

Your Next Job InterviewThomas A. Freese


The realization that your performance during a job interview has adirect impact on the outcome of the hiring manager’s decision is bothempowering and frightening at the same time. If the meeting goes well,you certainly have the right to congratulate yourself for a good showing.A good interview is both empowering and confidence building. On theother hand, knowing that any missteps during the interview processcould threaten your chances can be very intimidating. Either way, yoursuccess during an employment interview is largely dependent on you,and more importantly, how you are being perceived by the person sittingacross the desk.

Your success during an employmentinterview or sales call is largely dependenton how you are being perceived by theperson sitting across the desk.

Why am I talking about how to handle yourself during a jobinterview? Frankly, an employment interview is probably the closest youwill ever come to actually selling yourself. In these situations, the hiringmanager becomes the customer, and you are, in effect, the salesperson.The interview itself then transforms into a classic Sales 101 scenario,where the host company needs to fill a certain position and your goal is toimpress the hiring manager and convince him or her that you possess theabilities that provide the best solution. During a job interview, you areessentially the product that’s being offered and they are deciding whetheror not to buy into you.

Whether you are competing for your first career opportunity out ofschool or you hope to secure that big promotion, applying sound saleslogic to your next job interview will give you a strategic advantage overeveryone else. Most candidates will simply default to what I would referto as an old-school or classic approach. If you are strategic, however, andyou understand how to position yourself in a way that will differentiateyou from other candidates, you maximize your probability of success notonly to secure the desired job opportunity, but also to exceed your salesgoals in today’s competitive marketplace.

You may have heard the axiom, “Everybody sells all the time!”Well, it’s true. Most people are selling themselves every day in some


fashion. Whether you hold in a traditional sales job or are in a customerservice role, if you interact with customers in any capacity, the customer’sperception of your company and products will likely be impacted by theimpression they end up forming about you. Consequently, in my simpleway of thinking, you are selling yourself every day—to customers,partners, colleagues, your employer, and even to friends and family whenyou are not at work.

The whole notion of Selling Yourself is a culmination of the overallcommunication philosophy that I have been advocating and teaching formany years. My premise for this book is pretty straight forward. One ofthe most important reasons people would want to buy from you, hireyou, or deal with you at all, is because of you! At the end of the day, youare the one who invests the time to understand the customer’s needs andyou will educate them as to how your offerings compare to other optionsbeing considered. You may also be in the best position to suggest alterna-tives to help decision makers both their business and personal objectives.No matter what job title you have in your current company, or what roleyou might be interviewing for, the unique blend of knowledge,experience, and insight that you bring to the table makes you a valuableresource and an integral part of the overall solution.

The fact that salespeople directly contribute to their own success isa double-edged sword. When everything goes well, popping corks andcheers of congratulations can be heard from miles around. There’s asobering flipside to this reality, however. If for some reason you are notgetting the results you desire, then it’s possible that you may need to lookinward to identify the culprit.

Frankly, I have been training professionals long enough to knowthat most people don’t relish being on the receiving end of constructivefeedback. Don’t worry, my goal here is not to ruffle anyone’s feathers orpoint fingers in an attempt to indict the sales establishment. (Notice that Iwas intentionally careful not to suggest that you are the problem.) Most ofthe salespeople I’ve worked with over the years are honest, caring, hard-working people. But, if you are truly motivated by success and are willingto take an objective look at yourself through the eyes of others, I thinkyou will discover significant upside opportunities to benefit yourself andprovide even greater value to your customers.

Are you the type of individual people can trust? Do colleagues andcustomers solicit your input and opinions? Are you intelligent, and Imean outside of just being knowledgeable about your industry? Do you


always have the customer’s best interests in mind when offering advice?Let’s assume for a moment that your answer to these questions is aresounding yes. Great, but how are customers supposed to know you areall these things? I’m sure good friends and your best customers alreadyknow your value. But, what about new people you meet. You have tobelieve that every seller who walks through the customer’s door, anyevery candidate who comes into the hiring manager’s office claims to bethe best. Unfortunately, all the ‘chest pounding’ in the world doesn’tchange the fact that just because someone claims to be great, doesn’tnecessarily make it so.

During an employment interview, what will differentiate you fromthe previous candidate who was quietly ushered out of the hiringmanager’s office just minutes before you arrived? During a sales call,what separates you from the seven or eight salespeople who called on thecustomer and delivered their best sales pitch?

A fair amount of skepticism now exists in the marketplace wherecustomers have become increasingly standoffish toward sellers they don’tyet know or trust. Believe me when I tell you that this trend is not goingto reverse itself anytime soon. But, let’s not blame the customer. You and Iare just as reticent to share information with those pesky salespeople whocall us at home during dinner. Actually, most customers don’t despisesalespeople at all. In fact, most customers depend on salespeople—as asource for information, for ideas, a vision into the future, and solutions.They just don’t depend on all of them. So, out of all the sellers calling thesame target customers, some small fraction of them are going to be seenas valuable resources. The question now is, how consistently are you putin that small fraction of people who are perceived to be of value? Or, ifyou buy into my premise that you contribute to your own success,perhaps I should pose the question this way: How consistently are you“putting yourself” in the customer’s select group of chosen vendors?

How consistently are you being put (orputting yourself) in the customer’s selectgroup of chosen vendors?

That’s enough high-level sales philosophy. What salespeople reallywant is a system—a repeatable formula that can be implemented and


managed, that will produce a noticeable positive result. My approach toselling is based almost entirely on coexistence and the relationshipbetween cause and effect. Simply put, people do buy from people, and theextent to which someone will put their trust in you or accept your advicehas a lot to do with your approach. Hence, most of our attentionthroughout this book will focus on two things—your approach to sellingyourself and how you can impact the customer’s perception of your value.

As you implement the techniques and strategies discussed in thisbook, you will likely discover numerous ways to enhance your credibilityin the eyes of potential customers and raise the level of respect and confi-dence they express toward you as a trusted advisor. Furthermore, I amenthusiastic and excited now that more attention is finally being given tothe softer skills of selling yourself, which I believe is the missing ingredientin traditional business theory and for many is a refreshing change fromcumbersome process models. You will find that the logic behind this ideaof selling yourself is a common thread among highly effective sales-people, and it will be the catalyst that enables you to attain top performerstatus at your company, and within your industry.

The Biggest Difference is YouSuccess in selling is ultimately about customer perception—

specifically, the customer’s perception of the value you offer. If the valueof your product or service is perceived by customers as greater than acompetitor’s offering, then you are in a strong position to differentiateyourself and possibly even command a premium price. On the otherhand, if your product or service is perceived to be less valuable thansimilarly positioned alternatives, the reverse is true and you will likely befacing a significant competitive disadvantage.

The sales and marketing world has struggled for years to get its‘intellectual arms’ around is this notion of perceived value. Millions ofcorporate dollars have been spent on initiatives to gain a competitiveadvantage with respect to product placement, promotional advertising,sponsorships, brand recognition, data mining and demographics. Asmuch or more has gone toward diagnosing consumer behavior andidentifying ‘why they buy.” Still, the number one issue facing most organ-izations remains the same—how to duplicate the success of topperforming salespeople. In every company, some salespeople are clearly


more successful than others, even though they offer the same menu ofproducts to the same types of customers.

One might wonder why cracking the code on this secret salesformula has eluded us for so long. Back when I was a neophyte salesperson, I vividly remember wondering what those top performingsalespeople were doing that I wasn’t. What gave them such a compet-itive edge?

Some people say you have to be a born salesperson. From myperspective, it’s a bit of a cop-out to attribute high performance toinherent character traits like personal charm, charisma, personality, or justhaving superior DNA. Frankly, I’ve met plenty of charming people whoare now struggling mightily to meet their sales goals. On the other hand, Ihave also met some pretty successful sales nerds over the years—if youcan call someone a nerd whose success now has them flying around theworld in a private jet.

I can agree that some people are naturally endowed with certaininnate gifts. But, if you attribute consistent high performance with thingsthat are totally out of your control, you will probably never realize yourfull potential in sales. Case in point, during the 1980’s, I fell short of mysales quota during my first few years in corporate sales. As time marchedon and I became increasingly more frustrated with missing my goal, so Imade a few adjustments to my approach. Within a short time, I wasdramatically exceeding my sales numbers and finished over two-hundredpercent of quota for multiple consecutive years. During that period, myDNA remained the same, and I was no more or less charming, but myapproach to selling myself changed dramatically. So did my perspectiveon being successful in life.

In competitive sales situations, the difference between yourproposal and a competitor’s offering can be negligible. Sometimes yourproduct or service does something that no one else can provide. But, it’smore often the case in a competitive market that you don’t have anexclusive offering, and there are other vendors who can offer a similarlyviable solution.

In the case of a career opportunity, chances are good that you willbe competing against other applicants who will produce a resume that isequally impressive to yours. Yet, decision makers and hiring managersare quick to form opinions and they generally can exhibit on a clearpreference for one vendor (or candidate) over another. When pressed,these decision makers may cite specific reasons to support their decision,


but if you listen carefully, there is no clear cut differentiator in most cases.Instead, you will hear hiring managers say, “I just felt more comfortablewith this person,” or, “I thought we clicked.” It wasn’t the product, thecompany, or the resume that created the biggest differentiation; rather itwas the intangible qualities of the way your product and company wasbeing represented to the customer. This has everything to do with howyou position yourself, and ultimately, how you are being perceived.

If we can agree that selling yourself in today’s competitive market-place is directly linked to your overall effectiveness and your futuresuccess, excuse my candor as I drop a bombshell that may change yourperspective on selling forever. What would happen if we discovered thathow most salespeople have been taught to sell, or communicate value, isliterally upside-down from how most customers buy things? Seriously,what if you found out that the traditional approach to selling wasactually backwards from how people process information for a purchasedecision? Trying to leverage an approach that is upside-down andbackwards doesn’t make sense. But, the good news is it also creates asignificant upside opportunity if you are willing to make a few adjust-ments in strategy.

What if we discovered that how most salespeople have been taught to sell isupside-down from how most customers buy?

The best way to show you how to reposition and enhance yourvalue proposition is to explore more specifically what happens when youare actually selling yourself—and that’s during a job interview. Thismetaphor is not only legitimate advice for someone hunting for a newopportunity in a competitive employment market, it’s also a way to helpyou increase your sales volume.

Meeting the New BossPicture yourself walking into your next job interview. You’re on time,

and there’s an extra amount of nervous energy pumping through yourveins. With a slightly clammy palm, you reach out and shake the


outstretched hand of your potential new boss. “It’s nice to meet you,” yousay, intentionally trying speak clearly so as not to bumble the introduction.

Everyone knows that making a good first impression is important.Particularly in a business setting, when you meet someone for the firsttime, you obviously want to start off on the right foot. If you have a knackfor sizing people up, or you have the presence of mind to scan the roomfor subtle clues, you might get a feel for the hiring manager’s personalityand disposition. It usually doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell whether ornot the person you are meeting is pushed for time or is having a bad day.So, you put on a happy face and walk into the office, keenly aware thatthey are sizing you up, too, and forming their first impressions at thesame time.

I’m not a fan of interviewing gimmicks like making the applicantfeel uncomfortable or presenting them with an awkward situation to seehow they will handle themselves. Most of these power plays went out ofvogue with the previous generation of bosses. Honestly, if you doencounter a disrespectful interviewer, you might want to think aboutwhether you really want to work for that company. Fortunately, mosthiring managers don’t play games with potential new-hires, so we won’twaste a lot of time dealing with interviewing tricks.

The purpose of a job interview is generally pretty clear. It is anopportunity to meet with a qualified candidate in order to evaluate theirskills relative to the needs of an open position within the company. Sincemultiple candidates are usually being considered, hiring managers willdocument the information gleaned during the various interviews, assesstheir alternatives, and they will ultimately select the person whopresumably provides the best fit from the pool of applicants. As we saidbefore, the actual hiring decision is based largely on the impressionsformed during these interviews. Can you see why the metaphor of sellingyourself is so fitting? Mind you, the interviewer and applicant both playan important role in these meetings. Like any legitimate transaction, anemployment opportunity should be mutually beneficial and meet theneeds of both parties.

A certain amount of casual chit-chat or small talk is a commonstarting point for most job interviews. Hiring managers want to observeyou at your best. So, they want qualified candidates to feel relaxed andcomfortable. They might ask, “How was your trip across town?” Or,“Were the directions helpful?” Or, “How is your summer going?” But,after a little light-hearted banter, the conversation will quickly transition


to the purpose at hand—the actual interview.Let me back up a little and say, just as any good salesperson would

diligently prepare prior to meeting an important customer, you shoulddefinitely come prepared for an important job interview. Hopefully, youwould have done some research on the company, its product offerings,and its financial status. Perhaps you’ve even typed the interviewer’sname into your favorite search engine. It’s also good to have a list ofquestions in mind that you would like to ask about the company and thespecific job opportunity.

In anticipation of the meeting, candidates strategize over and overabout the types of questions that might come up during the interview andhow best to answer. There’s no need to wonder what the first questionwill be during an employment interview, however, as the opening salvofrom every hiring manager is essentially the same. At the appropriatetime in the discourse, the hiring manager will say something to the effectof, “So, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

Now it’s just a matter of answering the question, right? Perhaps,but let’s not miss the target completely on your very first shot. Althoughthere are a couple ways to respond to this first interview question, I cantell you that without a doubt that the standard response most inter-viewees give is not the most effective. Do you remember what I saidabout the traditional approach to selling being upside-down from howmost customers think? Let me further the analogy to illustrate.

What’s Important to the Customer?When this proverbial first softball question gets tossed out by the

hiring manager, “Tell me a little about yourself,” most people respond bydoing just that—they tell about themselves. Hmmm. Is that wrong? Onewouldn’t necessarily think so, since that’s what the interviewer seem tobe inviting the candidate to do. But, there’s more than one way to skin acat and the best way to respond to this question from a customer mighthave less to do with you, and more to do with those things that are mostimportant to them.

If you think about a job interview as a sales situation, a candidatewho wants to secure a desirable position with a quality company woulddefinitely be trying to sell himself or herself to the hiring manager. Theseroles can sometimes be reversed if a hiring manager is trying to attract


top-notch recruits into the company. But, for all practical purposes, inyour next interview, you will be selling yourself to the hiring manager.

Once we have a firm grasp who is selling to whom, let’s askourselves this question: What’s more important to the typical buyer, theirown issues and concerns or a salesperson’s goals? This may seem like aloaded question, since most customers are clearly more interested in theirown goals and objectives than they are in hearing a product pitch.

What’s more important to the typicalbuyer, their own issues and concerns or asalesperson’s goals?

To prove the point, suppose you came down with a bad case ofspring fever, which brought on a sudden urge to purchase a newautomobile. Or, maybe you decided that your expanding business needsan additional set of wheels. Or, on a whim, you just want to upgrade yourcurrent ride to a newer model. So, you head off to do some car shopping.Before you’ve even had a chance to step all the way out of your vehicle atthe first dealership, a classic car salesman scurries over and introduceshimself. With an outstretched hand and a hundred dollar smile, he says,“How can I help you today?”

At that moment, what do you suppose would be more important tothe typical customer, their specific car-hunting objectives or the sales-person’s career aspirations? I think we already know the answer.

Customer: “I’d like to explore some options for purchasing a new vehicle.”

Car Salesman: “Well, Sir, you’ve come to the right place. Southern Motors has atrack record of customer service that is second to none. In fact,this dealership has been in the family since my grandfathermoved here from Connecticut almost thirty years ago.

Yes, sir, we pride ourselves on delivering the most bang for thebuck. In addition to our fabulous showroom filled with brandnew automobiles, we also boast the largest inventory of usedcars and trucks in the area. If for some reason you don’t seewhat you’re looking for on the lot, our crack team of vehicle


locaters will find one that you are sure to like. Our financedepartment also offers comprehensive terms for leased andpurchased vehicles with the best rates in town.”

Whew! I’m already tired of car shopping. Aren’t you? If this hadbeen the second or third car dealership you visited so far today, wouldn’tthis pitch sound just like the others? While the salesman’s opening litanyprobably does contain some useful information, I can assure you that thetypical customer is much more interested in their own goals, objectives,problems, issues, needs, wants and desires, than they are in hearing asales pitch. At some point, this particular car salesperson would be welladvised to find out some information—like if the desired vehicle was forbusiness use or personal. It might also be helpful to find out whether thecustomer is leaning toward buying a sedan, sport utility vehicle, van, orlight truck. Most customers have at least a couple of specs in mind whenthey start out on this type of quest, don’t you think?

During an employment interview, hiring managers have specificobjectives in mind as well, including short and long term goals theywould like to accomplish by hiring the right person. Whether they aretrying to replace an employee who recently left the company or arepopulating an entire team for a start-up division, the manager is probablylooking for a very specific skill profile, in addition to finding a good fit.Personal preferences, style, and priorities will vary between interviewers,and qualified candidates are not usually privy to the underlying nuancesbe driving the manager’s decision. But one thing’s for certain. Goal-oriented hiring managers are looking for people who will help them, andthe company, to accomplish ‘their’ goals. Therefore, it’s safe to assumethat the candidate who is perceived to be most likely to help accomplishthose objectives has the best shot at being offered the position.

Again, even if you are really the most selfless, customer-focusedperson in the world, you still must be perceived as such—particularlyearly in the decision process when the customer (in this case, the hiringmanager) is forming his or her initial impressions. The question nowbecomes, during your next formal job interview, sales call, or salessituation of any kind, what impression do you want the hiring manager(customer) to form about you?


Knowing What the Competition Sounds LikeWeek after week in QBS training seminars, I concoct pretend

interview scenarios, and in doing so, I invite a few audience members torole play with me as a way to see how they currently position themselvesto customers. It turns out that the a approach most people use during ajob interview best characterizes the approach they are most likely togravitate to when selling products and services. Given our premisethroughout the book, that you are the biggest differentiator in the salesprocess, this exercise points out just how easy it is to sound like everyTom, Dick, and Harry who is similarly selling themselves whilecompeting for the same opportunity.

In this role play scenario, I select a volunteer from the audience andI play the role of the hiring manager. To emulate the typical exchange, Iinitiate the dialogue by saying, “Tell me a little about yourself.” Here’s asample of how the dialogue usually plays out.

Manager: “Thank you for coming to interview with us today. Why don’tyou tell me a little about yourself?”

Candidate: “Well, I have been with my current company for the past fiveyears in a variety of roles, most recently as sales and marketingliaison for the largest implementation of our product in NorthAmerica. Prior to that, I was an account manager in Chicagofor three years, and I also completed the management trainingprogram out of our corporate headquarters in Philadelphia.

While an account manager, I achieved my sales goal twoout of three years, and made President’s Club both times.

I graduated from Auburn University in 1997. Immediatelyafter college, I went to work in the family business, which wassold four years later. I thought about going back for my MBA,but that’s about the time when my wife and I started a family.We have two children, a boy who just turned six and a brandnew baby girl. Consequently, I was really hoping to find anopportunity that would allow me to make more money andspend more time with my family.

I am willing to travel, but not too much, and I would like tohave some flexibility for choosing vacation days.

My salary requirements are…blah, blah, blah…”


Let me interrupt the reenactment for a moment. The person beinginterviewed is responding exactly as requested—he’s telling the hiringmanager ‘a little’ about his background. On the surface, the candidateseems like a decent person as far as we can tell from the brief exchange.But, something is missing in this sample dialogue.

In a classroom setting, I will usually invite a second or third personto partake in the same exercise as a way to establish a standard orbaseline for what the ‘typical approach’ usually sounds like. Once theaudience hears two or three people respond to the interviewer’s initialquestion pretty much in the same manner, we quickly realize that thetypical approach is what your competition also says during theirinterview. Still, something is definitely missing.

Virtually everyone who participates in this exercise responds thesame way—they rattle off a litany of bullet points summarizing theirpersonal history, which I assume is an attempt to position themselves in agood light. What’s missing here is any mention of or concern for what thehiring manager’s goals or objectives might be. If you notice, ourcandidate in the sample dialogue is totally consumed with his ownhistory, his current situation, and his personal desires. It’s fine to havepersonal goals, even to express them, but you must recognize thatcustomers also have goals, and to them, their goals are far moreimportant than yours. Frankly, this scenario we’ve outlined where theperson describes themselves ad nauseum may well be a characterizationof how not to begin a job interview or sales call. By the time the hiringmanager has seen two or three qualified candidates, the specific detailsfrom each interview will be intermixed and potentially forgotten as thepersonal backgrounds all mush together.

One of the reasons your next job interview provides such a greatmetaphor for selling is that the same thing happens to prospectivecustomers when they meet with multiple vendors. After a while, all theclaims of superiority and market leadership start to blend together, to thepoint where customers forget who said what. What happens then? Aconfused customer might delay their decision. An overwhelmed customermight decide not to move forward at all. A customer who doesn’t fullyunderstand the differences between the options might just flip a coin orchoose the vendor who offers the lowest price.

Given that the need to differentiate yourself dictates that sellersmust do something to stand out in the customer’s mind: What specificallyare you doing to set yourself apart from the competition? If your


approach is causing you to sound the same as everyone else, you forfeitany competitive advantage. Believe me, you don’t want your next jobinterview or sales opportunity to come down to a coin flip.

Fortunately for those who are striving to differentiate themselves,there is another tack to take that will instantly set you apart from the restof the masses. Let me show you what I mean.

What a Hiring Manager Really WantsLet’s not over think this. When a manager interviews potential

candidates for an open position, he is undoubtedly trying to address oneor more specific business objectives by hiring the right person. That’s notselfish or self-serving. It’s only logical that the customer wants to selectthe person or product who can help them the most. Keep in mind that wedo the same thing when we’re the customer. We evaluate our options andmake a decision based on the solution that seems best for us at the time.

Therefore, if we shift our focus and think for a moment about whatthe customer might need, what specific business objectives do yousuppose the hiring manager at your next job interview might want toaddress? It’s difficult to know exactly, but if we put together a top ten listof desirable attributes for the perfect candidate, I bet it would includesome of the following:

Desirable Qualities Sought by Interviewera.) Knowledgeable, experienced, savvy.b.) Likable, easy to get along with.c.) Customer focused.d.) Blends with current business culture.e.) Quick learner, short ramp-up time.f.) Offers a fresh perspective, new ideas.g.) Independent, motivated, self-starter.h.) Track record of success.i.) Positive attitude.j.) Solid references.

Can we agree that if a new employee possessed all these attributes,they would be a pretty good hire and potentially a valuable long-termasset for the company? The challenge for candidates is, how to convey


that you indeed possess these qualities, more so than other candidatescompeting for the same position? You could get up on your soapboxduring the interview and claim to be a quick learner who is smart, likable,independent, motivated, and a self-starter. Did I forget humble? Trying toarticulate one’s own strengths during a job interview or sales call poses achallenge because there’s always a fine line between sounding confidentand sounding pompous or presumptive.

Alas, we come to a crossroads in philosophy where you mustchoose between traditional sales thinking and a differentiation strategythat will elevate your game to the next level. The first step toward imple-mentation is simple. Just ask yourself this question: What’s moreimportant to the typical decision maker, focusing on a salesperson’spersonal agenda or accomplishing their own specific goals and objec-tives? If you believe, as I do, that being customer-focused is the right wayto go, then it may be time to make some changes to your approach.

The Customer-Focused AlternativeMy philosophy on the best way to position yourself during a job

interview or on a sales call is pretty straight forward. Figure out what thecustomer wants or needs and then gear the entire conversation towardthat. This includes demonstrating that you are indeed customer-focusedfrom the moment you meet the hiring manager, rather than trying to digyourself out of a hole later on in the conversation.

In the case of a job interview, it’s actually quite easy. Just thinkabout what you would want (or need) if roles were reversed. Zig Ziglar,my all-time favorite motivator, used to say, “The best way to get whatyou want…is to help enough other people get what they want.” He wasright. Let’s see what happens if we apply this logic to the interviewscenario.

Manager: “Dale, thanks for meeting with me today. Can you tell me alittle about yourself?”

Candidate: “Sure. Do you already have a copy of my resume?Manager: “Yes, I have it right here.”Candidate: “Well, since you have a snapshot of my work history already,

I’ll just add that I think I’m a good person, a hard worker, and


have a decent track record, but my guess is you may be lookingfor more than that to fill this position-perhaps some of theintangibles that don’t always show up as specific line items on aresume.

For example, I’m guessing that in addition to findingsomeone with knowledge and experience, you might be lookingfor someone who could ramp up and become productive asquickly as possible. You might also want a person who canblend well with the current culture, but who could alsocontribute new ideas and possibly give a fresh perspective. Youmay also be looking for someone with a positive attitude, who isself-motivated and customer-focused. Am I close?”

Manager: “Absolutely.”Candidate: “Well, those are the types of things that have enabled me to be

successful thus far, and that’s what I would bring to the table inthis position as well.”

You’re hired! The interviewer would be jumping up and down intheir chair if the first impression they formed was, “Wow, this personreally understands the type of person I’m looking for!”

Notice in the dialogue that the candidate’s response allows him totell about himself, but in the context of goals and issues that would beimportant to the customer. That’s very different from just launching into adiatribe about yourself. You don’t even have to claim that you are extraor-dinarily equipped in all of these areas. The pure fact that you are pre-emptive in raising these issues says a lot about your strategic thoughtprocess and your potential value to an organization.

Be aware that you are not likely to win the sale in the first fewminutes of the conversation. Your success in a formal job interview (orsales call) is not just about the initial impression that gets formed. Therewill be plenty of opportunity to talk about yourself or your solutions, andI will lay out an entire strategy for Positioning Your Solutions in Chapter9. For now, let’s just acknowledge that the first impression someone formsabout you or your product sets the tone for the rest of the meeting. If youget the meeting off to a good start, there will be plenty of opportunities tohave more in-depth conversation about your qualifications and how theymatch up to the opportunity being offered.

Please note that our intent here is not to trick or fool the inter-viewer, or to dodge the interviewer’s initial question. There’s nothing

covert or manipulative about focusing on those things that are mostimportant to your customers. However, we do want to be very mindful ofthe fact that a job interview is a competitive situation, and we absolutelywant to ‘wow’ the hiring manager in a way that differentiates us from theother candidates being considered.

Making this one small adjustment is relatively simple. Justremember to focus on whatever happens to be most important to thecustomer—their goals, objectives, needs, wants, desires, problems, issues,and concerns. Customers are focused on their own needs first andforemost. That’s why the idea of selling yourself has to be about under-standing what’s important to the customer (first) in order to cause themto perceive maximum value from the attributes you bring to the table.

Of course, the more goals, objectives, needs, wants, and desiresyou are able to identify, the more opportunities you will have to createand provide perceived value to the customer. That raises anotherquestion. How can a salesperson or jobapplicant know what's mostimportant to the customer if you aremeeting them for the first time?

That's what we talk about next.

Excerpt from Tom Freese’s new book,The Complete Guide to Selling yourself,to be released Spring ‘09.

© QBS Research, Inc. | www.QBSresearch.com | QBS is a registered trademark of QBS Research, Inc.

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