Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category
Posted on September 9, 2009 - by Alex
Risk Management & Having Options
I’ve made this mistake many times before. I’m talking about applying for a slew of jobs, getting a couple offers and taking one. It’s probably what most people do, but increasingly, I’m seeing something wrong with this approach. It’s easy for one to make a decision when one has little choice—but is it the right one?
Don’t Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I hear this a lot in conversations about investing and risk management and think to myself, why should this be different with careers? I’ll be exchanging eight hours (sometimes more) of my daily time—a limited commodity to be sure—for money. Ergo, I’ll want to make sure I have options (no investing pun intended).
Controlling Your Choices
Two offers isn’t enough. I think having 10 would be nice, but 4-6 would be realistic. I’ve got a bit of time before I start my new job, but in the meantime, I’m amassing my pipeline of applications again. My goal is to have at least two additional offers to consider before starting an new job. Consider this: there are employers out there right now, waiting to extend you a kick-ass job offer for work you actually want to do—likewise there are employers that will suck years of life and vitality right out of you (if you let them). Having the foresight to discern one from the other is paramount.
Posted on September 1, 2009 - by Alex
Selling Yourself & Hiring Your Employer
photo by Aaron Nace
I mentioned in my last post that the offer I signed was just the beginning. Life is about working with what you’ve got and creating additional opportunities. The best example I can give of this is the same one that inspired me to start this blog as part of my plan to become more marketable: Susan Hires A Boss. Susan is a first-rate marketing professional who studied under the great Seth Godin. In my unhumble opinion, Susan exemplifies the way smart people ought to seek meaningful work—define what you want, then get them to apply to hire you.
What I’m Selling (Myself)
If I wanted to market myself like Susan, I’d start by defining my abilities-for-hire. Evolved over nearly a quarter of a century, my expertise can be categorized as follows:
- Internet Marketing / Social Media
- Project Management & Productivity
- Graphic Design & Web Development
- Finance & Credit (especially Real Estate)
- Sales Psychology
- Computer Hardware & Software
- New Technologies & Media
- Writing & Speaking
I’d encourage my readers out there to make a similar list—one even more specific—because we seldom give ourselves any credit for the abilities we have, especially when we use them regularly. A humbling question I ask myself often is: what good am I?
My Strategy
Rather than explain it, this should give you a visual representation of my scheme. This mind-map was created in a software program called Mindjet Mindmanager.
Selling Myself Strategic Outposts
Now that I’ve negotiated and secured employment, I’m focusing on the self-employment and social media channels to improve my visibility as a marketable sales professional. Later this week, I’ll tell you about some tools I’ve been exploring in the social media branch of my strategy. In the mean time, use the comments box below tell me some of the ways you’ve used social media to find work.
Posted on August 28, 2009 - by Alex
Do Yourself a Favor and Negotiate Wages
Totally Worth It
Keep this in mind: a $2/hour increase is equivalent to $4,160 in added annual income. If you can spend 30 minutes of your time (planning and phone conversation) in exchange for $4,160 additional wages, why wouldn’t you negotiate the first offer? In some countries it’s considered rude not to! Some people—like me—even take a sick pleasure in it.
The Set Up
I mentioned in my previous post that I had 2 interviews. The second interview on Wednesday went great—so great in fact, that the “panel” of sales managers all said they’d like me to come on board right at the end of the interview. They said the HR person would get in touch with me ASAP to extend the offer. Not more than 30 minutes later, I got the call. I wrote down all the information regarding hourly wage, benefits, etc—all while sounds as lukewarm in tone as possible to the offer. After detailing the whole offer the conversation went something like:
HR Lady: Do you have any questions?
Me: Nope, you’ve answered them, thank you.
HR Lady: …<dramatic pause>… So does that sound good to you?
Me: Well, I’m not going to accept just yet… As I mentioned to the folks that interviewed me, I’m looking at a number of offers and working with some other companies. I’m very interested in <name of company redacted>, but I’d like to get back to you. When can I do that?
HR Lady: …<dramatic pause>… Um, I guess that would be OK. I’m out of the office tomorrow, so do you think you could get back to me by 4:00 today? I guess, how much time did you need?
Me: Hmm… well, I’m supposed to hear back on another offer either today or tomorrow. I don’t want to tell you that I’ll get back if to you today if I’m uncertain. I should hear back by Friday, though. Would that work?
HR Lady: …<dramatic pause>… If you don’t get back with me today, here is the phone number for <name redacted>, the manager you’d be reporting to if you came on board. Either way, let us know.
Me: Sounds great.
Planning How to Counter
As a salesman, how could they expect me not to negotiate? I deliberately didn’t call HR Lady back on Thursday, planning instead to call the sales manager—who by the way, is the authority behind the offer—on Friday. Here’s how that conversation went:
Me: Hi <name redacted>, I was asked to give you a call today since the HR representative is out of the office. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but she called me yesterday with an offer. I want to work for <company name redacted>, but the offer was lower than I expected…
Sales Manager: …Oh?
Me: …Yeah… when I spoke to human resources initially, the told me that starting pay for that position was <offered rate> and that it was based on experience.
Sales Manager: …Correct, however, the way people really make their money around here is on commission.
Me: I understand that—but the base pay will, at least initially, make up over 50% of my income. I feel that based on my 6 years of sales, management, and training experience, I am worth more than <offered figure>.
Sales Manager: …I see where you’re coming from. I actually authorized the offer to be more like <slightly higher figure>. If you could take some time and think about whether that would suit you, we can take it from there…
Me: My previous employer paid me <figure I’m looking for>. Admittedly, the commission structure was not as good as <company name redacted>’s but, as I said, this will be over 50% of my income starting out, and I feel the market can give me at least that number. I’m just not prepared to take a pay cut at this point.
[note: the commission structure this employer was offering was more lucrative, and in total, I would not be taking a pay cut even if I accepted the first offer]
Sales Manager: So <higher figure> is what you were making before, huh?
Me: Right. I want to “kill it” for <company name redacted> and I think you’re a great fit, but I also want to be paid what I’m worth.
Sales Manager: Let me see what I can do. Can we get back in touch with you Monday?
Alex: Certainly. I look forward to hearing from you then.
The Waiting Begins
Now I’ll wait and plan. I’m thinking if they offer me something lower than what I’m willing to settle for, I’ll tell them I’ll need to think about it, and perhaps, “may I have it in writing” and decide what to do from there. If anyone out there has any stories of a similar wages negotiation, please share them below.
Posted on August 26, 2009 - by Alex
Time For the Interview
2 Interviews This Week
My job hunt has yielded 2 interviews so far, and I’m writing this having just gotten out of one. No one referred me to this employer, rather, the company noticed I had worked with Dell in past, who is one of their key partners. Overall, I think the interview went rather well, especially with the two Senior Account Managers that spoke to me before forwarding me to the Sales Manager… but we’ll see.
How to Interview Well
Having been a student of the craft of selling for many years now, and I’ve learned that perhaps the most important things in an interview are first impressions (your confidence, eloquence and how you carry yourself), and selling the interviewer on howYOU—the sum of your experience and character—will best suit the vocation. Sounds logical, right? Well, the next thing I would ask you is: how do you do that?
- Determine the employer’s needs by reading and re-reading the job description. Print it out, highlight the key parts that you feel you’re strongest in, and prepare a punchy statement about how you can be an asset in that area. Circle the responsibilities/qualifications that you’re less competent in. Now figure out how you’re going to handle questions that the interviewer brings up them .
- Prepare all the materials you’re going to take with you. Typically those include: directions/map to the interview location, a folder with your resume and any questions you want to ask (always have questions—to the interviewer, not having questions about the organization means you don’t really care about working there).
- Get a good night’s rest.
- In the morning, prepare mentally for the interview and reassure yourself that you’ll do fine. Tell yourself often that you’re worthy of that job—even more, you’re an authority on that type of work. Vision yourself walking out of the interview having nailed it, with a smile on your face.
- Show up for the interview 10 Minutes early and ready with a smile, ready to go!
Example: When I was looking at the job description for this position, I noticed an emphasis on consultative selling and account planning. I refreshed my memory about the corporate definition of consultative approach and how that compares with other types of selling. Sure, enough, I was asked to give my definition of what that is. Also, drafting “account plans” was not my forte. I spent much of my prep time looking at examples of account plans and how to structure one so that I could speak confidently about them.
I’ve got another interview to do this afternoon, but this one I’m more confident about since I knew a few people working at this Telecommunications company. Wish me luck!
Posted on August 24, 2009 - by Alex
Defining an Outcome
Catching Up: Week of 17th-23rd
Last week I did a lot of strategic thinking about my next move in life. Project management 101: you must define an outcome before you start moving on it. Believe me, as obvious as this may seem, half the business meetings I’ve attended didn’t have a defined objective. If I’m successful in my job hunt, I will have:
Secured local, full time employment where I can be passionate about my work, operate somewhat independently, serve people, and be compensated proportionally to my productivity.
Additional Points
- If I sell a product or service, it sell must be something I can believe in and get behind
- It must be a company that has both short-term and long-term brand-building goals I can align with.
- There must be a creative element to the work.
- The employer must offer initial training if it is an industry I’m unfamiliar with.
- The person I report to must be approachable and genuine.
It would be nice if…
- The company’s marketing strategy was favorable to permission marketing.
- The job was location-independent or I could work from home
- It was heavily creative and knowledge-work oriented.
This definition pertains to the long-term objective of finding finding fulfilling work, however, I still have bills to pay in between. My first-priority is to at least is to replace the income I had, and I may have to make some concessions in order to do so. I’d like to ask the reader: what concessions have you made when accepting an offer for employment, especially when you were in a tough spot financially?
