It's a Sales Job!
A while back when I was placed in charge of training others to sell, I came across a great and memorable quote. It went something like this: When two people want to do business together, the details will never get in the way. When two people do not want to do business together, the details will always get in the way. That told me that selling is about being liked and even when it looks and sounds like an objection, it’s a delay tactic and the prospect may just not want the thing from you.
So here’s a question: When we sell, ought we “fake it until we make it”? Do we spend time up front getting our prospects to like us, taking them small tokens of our attentiveness in hopes of “winning them over”? Or do we remain authentic and risk the possibility that we might lose some sales along the way, just because someone did not take to us? But what if we really know our stuff and they really do need what we are selling?
Particularly in the context of a job search, our self-promotion, self-marketing does have to stay real. If we fake something just to get the job, perhaps when we’re “found out,” the ones we duped might not be too happy. They may feel “taken,” consider our disingenuousness a real deal breaker. What might we expect from that exchange?
I find it helpful that a sales analogy is used in the job search because that is exactly what we are doing and when we do it well, market ourselves with authenticity and self-confidence, the end result is as it ought to be—a match with a solid chance of mutual benefit. Let those “details” serve their purpose: it is likely that sometimes not getting a job is probably as good for us as it is for the other guy!
About the author, Saleh
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