For as much as I love the show The Office, there was one aspect of it that would make me cringe any time I thought about it too much: what business those folks were in. This fictional company, Dunder Mifflin, sold companies paper and paper-related products on a recurring basis via a customer relations salesperson. Yup, this is what your favorite characters Jim and Dwight did every single day.
Because when I think about a titillating career in selling something I'm passionate about, paper and paper-related products are the first thing I think about.
...I'm clearly dripping with sarcasm.
No, in reality, I think, "If this is what being a salesperson means, I think I'd die a slow and painful death." Dunder Mifflin aside, I don't think I could be a salesperson for anything. Cars, medical equipment, insurance, mutual funds. Those all just sound horrible to me.
But the more I got to think about it, the more I came to a realization... What if I told you we are all in sales? That we are all salespeople?
Let's think for a second what it means to sell something. Dictionary.com defines the word sell as "to transfer goods or render services for another in exchange of money". Okay, so we basically give something to get something back. Paper and everything else mentioned above definitely hold relevance here, but step beyond for a second. Think about "rendering services". Who renders services?
Actually, the answer lies in first word of that question: "who" denotes a person. "Well duh," you're probably thinking. But think about the implications behind that. Don't get too literal: I'm not talking at all about selling ourselves in terms of prostitution. (You dirty mind, you.)
I'm talking about getting a job.
When we write a resume or cover letter, we're really writing pieces of sales copy about ourselves. When we interview with hiring management, we are verbally (and frankly non-verbally) pitching ourselves on why we are the best fit for them. Why they should choose us over a "competing product" (aka another person).
This is why it is so important to present yourselves much in the same way you would sell somebody a car. You have to meet their needs and not spend time glorifying the aspects you like about yourself. Can those two align? Absolutely, but you should first start from the perspective of how you can meet that employer's need.
Resumes have gotten so botched in this regard. At some point in history, somebody thought it was a good idea for a person to simply list out everything they did in their last role. This is when we see things like "Assisted general manager in the coordination of regular assets." C'mon, what the heck does that even mean?? That's not even the worst I've seen. I've seen many people use acronyms that other people outside that organization would never guess. Not in a million years.
I'm clearly passionate about this because I don't know how many times I've seen great people fail to land a position or even an interview because of this. If a resume is your first opportunity to be seen by an employer, you're dead in the water with useless jargon.
(Side thought: You're probably already dead in the water if a resume is the first time an employer is hearing about you. We can talk about that another time.)
Anyway, a resume is just one example of your "sales strategy" regarding yourself. Of course, there are interviews, and if you're in the business of freelance, you're constantly pitching the specific service you can provide. I could write all day about these things. The point of this post is to get you thinking. How can you craft how you position yourself like a salesperson? How can you ensure your perspective is on the employer, not just yourself? Give these some thought and come back to me with what you think.
Comments
Post a Comment