5 Steps To Interview Success

You have done everything right so far. Great resume, strong phone interview, made it past the internal recruiter and now you are scheduled for your first in-person interview with the hiring manager. It is at this point that the well prepared candidate can differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. That's what you want to do, right? Blow away the competition for this job! You are going to sit down in front of your soon to be new boss and wow them with your wit, personality and expertise. You are going to get this job! Confident? Ready? Not completely? Well, follow these five steps and you will be:

1) Research the industry and company: Everything you need to learn about your next employer is on the world wide web. Amazing! Look into the industry the company serves, how they are positioned, what market share they hold. Become familiar with the company's  services and products so you can refer to them in the flow of the interview. Be ready to present their product or service if asked. Smart candidates walk in to the interview knowing how to sell or market what they will be selling or marketing for the company they want to join. Type up several pithy and insightful questions that are relevant to the industry, company or role to ask during the interview. 

2) Image is everything: Present yourself in the most professional manner possible. When you aren't sure what to wear to the interview, think conservative dress. Leave the jeans, sandals, short skirt and lounge wear for the weekends. (Believe me... at TVG Executive Search...just when we thought we had seen it all...). Be well groomed and rested. Don't go out on a bender the night before. When you greet the hiring manager for the first time, step forward confidently, look them square in the eye and shake their hand firmly without fracturing their index finger. Positive first impressions create lasting impressions. Make the introduction count!

3) Don't get too personal: Establishing a solid rapport is essential. Elaborating on you recent vacation or bragging about your kids (or parrot) isn't a way to accomplish this. Certainly, you would have researched the hiring manager's background on LinkedIn and identified a few commonalities. If so, reference them discretely and indirectly in the conversation. Don't try to lay on the secret hand shake if you just happen fraternity brothers. You goal isn't to become BFFs in the interview. Your job is to get the job. Eight five percent or more of the conversation should be devoted to the opportunity. Fifteen percent or less should be about your personal life. If they ask you about your interests and hobbies, provide an answer without great detail. You will have plenty of time to get acquainted AFTER they hire you.

4) Ask for the job: These days, there is no such thing as an "informational interview".  If you are there interviewing, the assumption is that you want this job! If not, what the heck are you there for and why are you wasting their time! Therefore, as the interview is coming to a close, take the lead and say "based on everything we have discussed, I feel I am extremely qualified for this role and know I will be an outstanding contributor to the company's success. I very interested in joining your team. What are the next steps in the process?" They can answer any number of ways. The point is to ACT as though you are the "IT" and assume they will want you. Confidence is attractive. Ambivalence is not.

5) Follow up: Within 24 hours but not within the first hour, send the hiring manager an email thanking them for the opportunity to meet and recapping 3-5 reasons why you are the right person for the job. Call them within 48 hours to inquire about the next steps. If you don't hear back within a day after your call, call them again. I see nothing wrong with demonstrating a keen desire and consistent follow up until you get the answer that, a) you are moving forward in the process or, b) for some reason they went in a different direction. Either way, invite the hiring manager to connect on LinkedIn. You never know how that introduction could be of benefit in the future.

Act on these 5 points and you will stand out from the other candidates who didn't have the good fortune of reading my blog!

Mike Vanneman

Founder - TVG Executive Search

Learning From Jeremy Lin

You have to be living on Mars if you haven't heard about Jeremy Lin, a rising NBA star playing for the New York Knicks. Waived by two previous NBA teams, this Harvard educated point guard was playing for an NBA D-League team in some podunk city when he was called up to the Knicks due to a raft of injuries to their staring players.

I don't know about you but Jeremy's success has struck a cord in me as well as in a zillion other people on the planet. It has become a personal story, a story we can be inspired by and a phenomenon we can learn from.

So, what can you learn from Jeremy Lin? You don't have to improve your outside shot, lower your turnover ratio or even go to the gym. What you need to do is think about how you will respond to new challenges, impact your organization and adapt to change. Let's see how Jeremy responded to the opportunity to play under the ultimate sports microscope in New York City.

Seize the moment: Jeremy wasted no time in making an impact for his new team. As soon as Jeremy hit the hardwood at Madison Square Garden, he began to post numbers few players have ever put up. He joined an exclusive club of 15 players since 1985 that have posted at least 20 points, seven assists and a steal for six games in a row. This club includes Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Chris Paul ... and now it's newest member Jeremy Lin.

Think about when you started a new sales job or took the reigns of a sales organization. How quickly did you make an impact? In today's environment you had better hit the bricks running. This means quickly building a pipeline, landing a large deal or making necessary organizational shifts. Move fast, take advantage of the opportunity, make an impact. You don't have a long run way so you had better blast off!

Improve others around you: After the Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers and Lin scored 38 points, the Knicks locker room was giddy with excitement. Jeremy's consistent performance has changed the team chemistry and how the other players react on and off the court. The Knicks are revitalized, focused and loose.

There are daily opportunities to impact your team's chemistry and the performance of your peers. Are you lifting up your group through leading by example? Are you demonstrating focused consistency in your sales strategy and activities? A former CEO of mine Al Sisto often said that "sales is an event driven process". It's the ability to string together a series of meaningful events that bring value to the potential customer which ultimately results in a sale. It is executing the fundamentals. There is no short cut. Jeremy's success is largely due to his ability to pass first, shoot second, find the open player and not be selfish with the ball. Your success is directly linked to the activities you consistently execute in the sales process and helping others in your organization do the same. When everyone executes the same plan at a high level, quotas are exceeded and customers win.

Embrace change: Lin entered the NBA on July 21, 2010 by signing with the Golden State Warriors. The Bay Area was thrilled almost as much as Jeremy was. Raised in Palo Alto, CA Jeremy attended Palo Alto High School where he led them to and won the State Basketball Title his senior year. With no scholarship offers, Jeremy attended Harvard University and elevated the Crimson to national basketball prominence. He won in high school, he won in college and entered the NBA expecting to win. Then, change happened. The Warriors waived him. The Houston Rockets picked him up and quickly cut him. The Knicks signed him on the cheap and promptly sent him to their D-League team. With each new transition Jeremy practiced hard, kept focused on his goal and overcame discouragement. Then another change occurred. He got the call up to the Big Show and took full advantage of it.

Change is a constant in all of our lives. Organizational shifts occur all around us, like it or not. Your ability to embrace the change, even when it temporarily may not be to your advantage, could lead to professional growth and new opportunities. Fighting change and resisting the inevitable will only lead to frustration and may not work to your benefit. Of course, there are some decisions that should be challenged or issues that require push back. I will leave it to you to decide when you should fight for a different outcome. Maybe the change is too much to take and you decide to leave the team. That happens. However, most of the time we are faced with changes in role, strategy or personnel and need adjust. If so, see the change as an opportunity and find a way to make it work for you and your company.

If you haven't already jumped on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon, hop on board! You will not only watch some great basketball and be a part of something special but might just learn some valuable life lessons watching the kid from Harvard.

No More "Good Meetings"!

One of my professional pet peeves as a Sales Executives was hearing one of my sales people tell me they had a real "good" meeting with a prospect. When I inquire "why"? as my blood begins to boil, I would be answered with much hand waving, vague examples of what was accomplished and little in the way of next steps. This reminds me of something a former boss of mine would bemoan. Mike Boich, the founder and former CEO of Radius had a favorite saying, "When all was said and done, more was said than done".

I recall unloading on a Senior Director of Business Development after I was again told how "good" his meeting was with a strategic partner with little to show for it other than a lengthy intellectual discourse and supposed alignment with the partner's strategy. After I peeled myself off the ceiling, I sat this individual down and outlined the essential characteristics of a highly productive sales call.

The stage for a highly productive sales call is set well in advance of the actual meeting. Every encounter with a prospective customer must be well thought out. You want to prove the value of your time (and theirs) at each engagement. Some sales people are notoriously known for "winging it" on a sales call and guess what, it comes through loud and clear to the prospect. Know exactly what you want to accomplish BEFORE the meeting and then develop a plan as to how this will be accomplished. Do you want to present the concept of a pilot program? Gain an introduction to a newly identified decision maker? Whatever it is, be very clear in your mind what you want to derive from the meeting.

In turn, know exactly what you want to communicate to the prospect(s) as to how your product or service will solve their problem. Every interaction with the decision maker or influencer is an opportunity to demonstrate and prove your value. Take advantage of it!

Another key attribute of a highly productive sales call are the definitive action items and next steps that are agreed to by both parties BEFORE you leave the room. If the next step is to initiate a pilot program, then the key participants must be identified and contact information obtained. Second, the start date of the pilot must be determined. Third, specific assignments and responsibilities must be outlined. Who is going to do what and by when. Four, the potential customer agrees to this and off you go.

Through out the discussions, always seek out opportunities to affirm what your company can do for the customer. This can be done by presenting a quantified R.O.I. analysis or a proforma estimate of costs reduced or even better yet a forecast for incremental revenue. Promises are not what prospects want. They want proof.

So, let's recap:

1) Conduct a pre-call planning session: Know exactly what you want to accomplish in the meeting and what outcome(s) you need.
2) Determine the all important NEXT STEPS. This includes dates, times, targets, actions, owners, participants, duration and costs. Get buy-in from the prospect.
3) Prove your worth on every sales call: Every interaction with the prospect must advance the relationship toward the ultimate objective--win them as a customer!

Do yourself and your boss a favor. Expunge the term "good sales call" from your company lexicon and from your consciousness. Focus instead on proving your company's value, adding value to your prospect's business and advancing the deal along at each engagement point. When you do this, you will be not only highly productive but you will close more sales.

Happy hunting!

Mike Vanneman
www.tvgsearch.com