StormStaff

By Andrew C. Abraham

I was always very ambivalent to the advantages of entering into a sales position upon graduation, but I soon realised how these skills are applicable to all aspects of my life. I remember shortly after being promoted to sales manager, I was training a group of newbies on the sales methodology of our company, citing different non-professional life situations where sales acumen was advantageous to succeed – picking up the opposite sex in a bar, meeting your in-laws for the first time, negotiating a pay rise, pitching to investors…the list is endless. Job hunting is no different, and job-seekers can learn many qualities that successful salespeople possess.

1.   Salespeople create value: If you were to ask many people what they believe to be the most important characteristic of a salesperson, they might say “persuasion” or the “gift of the gab” or “persistence”. While these are important, the fundamental ingredient is creating value for the client. A great salesperson creates a perceived value that justifies purchasing their product or service. Job-seekers need to do the same and demonstrate they can add value to a company that outweighs the cost of purchasing their labor. After all, a position is available so the company can solve a problem, not because they want to increase their headcount.

2.   Salespeople focus on benefits, not features: Creating value therefore switches the focus from yourself to the employer. The product that I used to sell was a media monitoring service that helped companies track press mentions online. The software came with some fancy analysis and distribution tools that were useful also. One of my colleagues was a master salesman. He consistently exceeded his monthly targets and appeared in the top ten list of salespeople within the company globally. If you ever listened to him on the phone, you’d understand why so many clients had bought from him. He never focused on the myriad of great features, but rather the benefits that one or two of them would add to the client’s operation. As a job-seeker it’s important you don’t just list your achievements to future employers, but focus on a specialized skill-set that will unequivocally benefit them.

3.   Salespeople handle objections: I don’t recall one sale I ever made where everything ran completely smoothly and the customer didn’t require any convincing whatsoever – “Yes Sir, your product is great, don’t bother about telling me the rest, I’m sold”. If only life was so simple. The truth is that in every sale and every interview, you’ll face objections. The customer is always looking for reasons not to purchase something and the best salespeople overcome these objections resoundingly. Objections should not be viewed as a negative sign though! Oh no, on the contrary, objections are a “buying signal.” It usually means that the customer is considering your offer but needs to be assured before proceeding. Therefore, if your interviewer ever confronts you about your lack of experience, or apparent job hopping, be ready to smash the objection back over the net!

4.   Salespeople are succinct: They don’t ramble, they articulate value in the fewest words possible. Do I really need to say much more about this one?

5.   Sales people are persuasive: Yes, the power of persuasion works! A great salesperson is able to clinch a deal, just when the customer is about to walk away. Through solid arguments or sound reasoning, they can coax a customer into a purchase at the very last minute or when doubt tops confidence. We used to have job-seekers undertake a little exercise when they were interviewing for our International Management Trainee program. At the end of the personal interview we’d ask candidates to stand up and convince us in thirty seconds why they were the best person for the job. Often, if the candidate was persuasive enough, we would overlook other indiscretions that occurred beforehand.

6.   Salespeople are good story-tellers: Nothing beats anecdotal advice when it comes to convincing others of your argument. If you’re selling skincare products for example, you can praise the effects of clearer, moister skin, or you can tell buyers the story about how one of your regular customers is often confused as her daughter’s older sister. As a job-seeker, telling a hiring manager that you’re a team-player might help your cause, but telling them about the time you worked 28 hours straight with a team to meet a deadline has so much more impact. People don’t just want to hear about what you can do but rather how you’ve done it before. Stories are the best way to communicate your message.

7.   Salespeople are good conversationalists: You might have heard the saying, “People buy People first”, well it’s true when you consider consumer psychology. It doesn’t matter how great your product is, if people don’t like you, they won’t buy from you. Salespeople have a knack for building a rapport with people by getting to know them. There were so many times where I was demonstrating our website on the phone to people and the pages would take ages to load. In these times I needed to be equipped with enough conversational material to get me through to the continuation of the demonstration. A good conversation illustrates that you care about bonding with the person on more than just a business level. Job-seekers should be able to make smalltalk with hiring managers in the same regard, such as immediately prior to and after the interview. Once you leave, the interviewer should be left with a feeling of “Hey I liked that guy!”

8.   Salespeople can take rejection: Let’s face it, you’re probably not going to get the first job that you applied for. I remember I was rejected from McDonalds when I was 15 (I still don’t know why, but that’s besides the point anyway) and there have been many other instances where I wasn’t the lucky candidate. Salespeople understand that it’s a numbers game, and success will elude us unless we persevere. For every sale you make, you’ll face at least 9 rejections. The odds are just as bad for job-seekers. Staying motivated when every employer so far has declined your candidature is difficult, but necessary. Conveying a sense of desperation comes across as too strong, so it’s important to be resilient and understand rejection is a part of the game.

Overall, sales skills aren’t just useful for job hunting but they transcend to other areas also. Perhaps I should recommend job-seekers to pursue sales positions initially to be armed with these skills for subsequent career moves?

What other skills can we learn from salespeople that also aid job-seekers? Interested to hear your thoughts too. Cheers.

About the author: Andrew is Founder of Gradkin, a Branding and Networking platform to connect Candidates with Employers. Please share your thoughts on his careers blog at http://blog.gradkin.com. He offers a unique perspective on Gen-Y, being one himself and having recruited and managed this generation. His previous positions in Sales, Communications and Human Resources have given him an insight into understanding what truly motivates this new generation of Millennials.