Key Take Away:  To succeed with job interviewing, approach it iteratively so you control each step till you get the job offer.

The main purpose of an interview is not to hire you but to eliminate you from consideration, since everyone can’t get the job.  Only one person will get the job and others will be eliminated through what is commonly referred as the interview process.  Using a sport analogy, this is no different than one NFL team winning a Super Bowl.

Competition may be good in sports but not when it comes to looking for a job. You would not be eliminated or even have to compete if an employer knew you well and knew that you could do the job well.  How much time do you think the employer will spend interviewing you?  Not much, unless the employer has to make it look like it’s a fair process.

How do you approach an interview when you have to compete?  

You have to change the game and turn the interview into an “Iterview.”  This is a word I like to use where you go through an iterative process that results in a formal job offer at the end of the fifth iteration (at the maximum). This process puts you in control rather than being controlled by the employer’s interview process.


Why “Iterview”?

Unless the employer has seen you doing the job, the interview is doing the job.  You need to develop a game plan on how to do that job.  If the potential employer does not understand this, then you are likely dealing with an employer who views interview as a dating game.  If you suspect this, then you definitely don’t want to play this game since dating is unpredictable and you have no control over what the employer will ask and like.  Your chances will not be very good of getting the job if the interview turns into a dating game.

To increase your chances, you must learn to turn an interview into an iterative process where you know exactly what to expect and are not blindsided by anything that is essentially designed to eliminate you.  In this process, you and the employer both get to decide jointly whether you both want to move to the next iterative step.

Let’s take a look at the five iterative steps you are likely to go through during an “iterview.”

First Iteration - Introductory Call
Medium: Phone

The first call should be nothing more than an introductory call. It should not be more than 20 minutes and the purpose of the call is to find out in the interviewers word the following things:

What is the job?  
What is the compelling reason to hire?  
What is the interview/decision making process?
What is their perfect candidate look like?
What is the salary?

How much time should you spend preparing for this “iterview”?

Not much, since it is an introductory call. You only want to know the basic since if you do a lot of preparation you will come across too scripted and make lot of assumptions that you don’t want to make this early in the iterative process.  Let the interviewer tell you what really matters.

What’s the next step?

You want to schedule a next call where the interviewer sends you three questions that he wants you to address. This way you are prepared to address things that help them get to what matters rather than answering questions that are irrelevant.

Note, the first step is the most important since it sets the overall tone of the iterative process.  This is the step where you are most likely  to be eliminated since the employer may not be  looking for someone creative and effective at taking initiative like you but is probably more comfortable with a drone type.  If this is the case, then this is not the job you should waste time pursuing unless you are desperate and need something as a stop gap.  

Second Iteration
Medium: Phone

In this iteration, after you receive the three questions that matter to the interviewer that you want to prepare for the interview.  You should go back to the interviewer to make sure you are absolutely clear on what he is looking for.  There is no point making any assumptions.  You have seized control of the process so keep the ball and drive it home iteratively. 

In addition, during your preparation, you should come up with three questions that you would like the interviewer to address during the phone interview.  Remember, when you are "iterviewing," you and the interview both have to agree that you want to move to the next step.  

One of the key things to pay attention to during the phone interview is make sure the interviewer clearly articulates what they are looking for you to do and whether you are interested in doing that.  There is no point in moving forward in this "iterview" process if there is no alignment on this.  You don't want to waste time with the interview and. more important, you don't want to take a job that you will end up hating.

A good example of this is when James Green, CEO of Magnetc, was talked into taking a job by Steve Jobs that he did not want and ended up eventually resigning.  He describes this episode in his blog in Fast Company titled, "What  Steve Jobs Taught Me After I said 'No' to Him." 

If the call goes well and both of you are aligned and still interested,  then you are ready to move to the next iteration where you should talk to two or three other people in the company by phone.

Again, request questions ahead of time and send each interviewer questions you want them to address during the phone interview.  

The purpose of sending in the questions is that an interview is not a test; it is showing the potential employer how you do the job, which in this case is interviewing.   

Third Iteration
Medium: Phone

Go through the iteration you went through in iteration step two but make sure that there is consistency is what each of the interviewers are conveying to you.  You want to see that all of them are on the same page and have prepared to interview you instead of going through the motion of interviewing.  

Fourth Iteration - Video Call
Medium: Google+ Hangout

You want to address any objections you or the interviewers have over Google+ Hangout since this is a neutral site so both you and the interviewer have to bring your “A” game and then if after this step both of you are convinced that there is a mutual fit and a strong interest, then schedule a face-to-face meeting to go over the job.

You may want to check out the blog I wrote on this titled, “How Google+ Hangout has leveled the playing field for job interviewing.“

Fifth and Final Iteration
Medium: Face-to-face

Before you agree to this, make sure you know clearly what the expectations are and that it is going to focus on the future, specifically the job so you can get started on day one.  Though this is the last chance for either of you to reject each other, you want to make sure that you know what reservation they may still have and what issues you also want to get clarified.

If everything goes as expected, then both of you should make a go decision and work toward negotiating a salary and get started ASAP. 

Congratulations! You got a job. 

Final Thoughts

An interview is not a test. It is a sales process, thus you are the salesman and you are the product and solution that you are selling.  The employer is the prospect and through iterative process, your job is to turn the prospect into a customer.  

One of the most important skill to keep in mind is that the employer is using interview as a way to reject you, thus, your best tool to counteract this is negotiation.  If you can’t negotiate then you are not likely to get the job since you are not showing how you would actually do the job. And they are going to hire without ever seeing you do the job, so how you iterview is the only way you can differentiate yourself from others.

Good Luck!

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Questions

1. Have you ever tried "iterviewing" instead of interviewing and how did it go?

2. Is it important to seize control of the interview process?

3. Is it better to get rejected early than later?

4. Do you enjoy interviewing for a job?  

Let's keep the conversation going so share your thoughts.  

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Complex sales has changed today with buyers and customers both playing on the level playing field.

So what do you do to succeed.?

Think Marriage.  If you can't say it then you can't get committed to your prospects.

How committed are you?

Gone are the days when selling was like friendship.

Gone are the days when selling was like dating.

Gone are the days when selling was like hanging out.

Gone are the days when selling was like hooking up

Gone are the days when selling was like living together.

Gone are the days when selling was like being engaged forever.

Selling is marrying today, but you can't take too long to make a commitment.

Make sure you are cut out for each other since divorce is quite painful.

Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today! 

I was watching the Players Championship over the weekend and I saw something Tiger Woods do that we can all learn from when we are interviewing for a job or in our profession to get out of trouble.

Tiger was running away with the championship on the back nine on Sunday and then disaster struck.  On the 14th hole he made a double bogey and was tied for the lead.  On the 15th hole, he hit a good drive but pulled his fairway shot slightly to the left of the green into the green side rough that was sloping down below the hole.  To make matters worse, he short sided himself, meaning that the hole was close to the edge of the green on the side where his ball lay.  He had no room to work with to run the ball.  His options were limited so he had to hit a perfect shot.  

Tiger Woods would have to hit it out of the rough with an awkward on a downward slope and hit it out of the rough so the ball would come out of the rough and then stop quickly as it scoots past the hole. This is a very difficult shot but especially on the back nine on Sunday to win a championship.  This is, to put it mildly, a pressure shot that can win or lose Tiger the championship. 

Tiger, as he often does, pulled this shot off masterfully.  

We may not be able to hit the shot Tiger hit, but what he did right after he struck the ball we can certainly learn from.  He closely followed the line of the ball as it approached the hole and did not react as it came very close to going in the hole but continued to follow the line till it came to stop several feet from the hole.  He was tracking the line of the ball  so he can follow that line and make the putt and escape with a par.

This is exactly what he did and went on to win the Players Championship that is referred to as the "Fifth Major" on the PGA tour.   I think he won the tournament on the 15th hole by doing something that had nothing to do with golf: don't take your eye of the ball and continue to follow the line till it stops to give you a chance to escape out of trouble on the next shot.

What is the lesson for us?

When you are interviewing, you can also do the same by  “following the line” of the interviewer on each of the question you are answering. Gauge the reaction closely so you can address it right away before you move on to the next question.   You, like Tiger Woods, can make the comeback putt and escape with a par id you don't answer the question well.   If you fail to follow the line, you can easily “bogey” the question and lose getting the job.  

Like golf, your success in interviewing comes down to your ability to scramble (get out of trouble).  You can’t always, as we all dream about,  play golf from tee to fairway to green.  Occasionally you are going to place yourself in a difficult spot where you have to use all your skills to try to get as close to the hole and recover with a par and move on to the next hole.  

If you play, think and execute like Tiger Woods in interviewing for a job, then you too can win the “Players Championship” in interviewing and get the job you will have earned.  

Good Luck!

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Questions

1. Do you "follow the line" like Tiger Woods when you are interviewing?

2. Do you think you have to "scramble" like a golfer when you are interviewing?

3. Do you think that how you do during the interview will decide whether you get the job or not?

Let's keep the conversation going, so let me know what you think.


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Key Takeaway:  You need to know the profile of a previous hire to determine which way the company is going to go and whether you meet that profile.

We all go through interviews thinking that we have the experience, education, know-how to get the job.  When we don’t we are very discouraged thinking what we could have done better?


Often there is nothing you could have done.  Often a decision to hire is based on who the previous hire was like.  If the person you are replacing was a good employee and moved on to a different position or left the company, the company will most certainly hire the person who fits that profile. Conversely, if the person you are replacing did not work out for whatever reason, then the company is going to want to go in a different direction.

It is very important that you probe deeper early on in the interview since this is the fingerprint that provides lots of clues on which way the company is likely to go in filling the vacant position and whether you fit that profile.

The reason for this is very simple since if the manager makes the mistake then the manager will be viewed as incompetent and in a hot seat.  So to avoid that the manager will have to either stay the course since there is no compelling reason to change or have to make a change to save his job.  

Often, during an interview, we just ask a simple question such as “what happened to the previous hire?”  We don’t probe deeper and ask the manager or other interviewers to describe the profile of the previous hire to gauge whether the company is comfortable in staying the course or go in a different direction. Companies do not like to make changes unless they absolutely have to.

A good example of this is when a CEO is hired by companies.  For example when IBM was in trouble in 1993, they went outside and hired Lou Gerstner from RJR Nabisco.  When he retired in 2002, IBM was doing well so they stayed the course by hiring Sam Palmisano within the company.  When Palmisano retired in 2012, IBM was still doing well, so again they stayed the course and promoted Ginni Rometty within the company.

Conversely, HP and Yahoo are good examples of companies that have run into problems in the last few years and every time they have gone outside to find new CEOs.  They were looking for a different profile.  HP today has Meg Whitman, ex CEO of Ebay and Yahoo hired Marissa Mayer from Google. 

So next time when you are interviewing, spend some time probing and understanding the profile of the person you are replacing.  This can tell you everything you need to know whether you are a good fit for the position based on company’s change tolerance.

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Questions

1. Do you think companies think this way when they hire?

2. Do you ever probe into the profile of a person you are replacing?

3. Would you interview differently if you had more information about the person you are replacing?

Let's keep the conversation going and let me know what you think.  Thanks.

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This is one of my favorite quote from President  Lyndon Johnson.   In 1960 Democratic convention when Johnson was being considering as JFK's Vice President, he made few telephone calls to see what others thought of it. When others raised an objection that he would be moving from a position of power (Senate Majority Leader) to one with less power (Vice President), to which Johnson replied, “power is where power goes.”

What does this have to do with looking for a job?

One young woman called me recently to inform me that she got a position as a Treasurer in a college organization but wasn’t sure if she was going to accept it since she was more interested in the social media position that she did not get.  

So to explain to her, I modified the LBJ quote with the following: “Initiative is where initiative goes.”  Though it doesn't have the same ring to it, but, nevertheless, it makes the point, which is not to let title limit your ability to take initiatives at work or anything in life.  

I suggested to her to take the job and do the work that is required of her but also use the opportunity to remake the position to what she wants it to be. I told her  if you take initiatives that add value to the organization, then that is what matters. Furthermore, job title is not important to her future career or any future employers, but her ability to take initiatives is more important to her future success.  To succeed in anything, you have to learn how to “think outside the box.”  This would be a good place to put this into practice and learn from it.  

I suggested to her that the position of a Treasurer will allow her to  learn about handling money, which is an important skill to have.  Who knows, perhaps it may put her on the path to be a CFO someday? But the important thing to remember is that once you are part of an organization you can start doing work in social media such as blogs, podcasts and videos.  The toughest part of a job is getting the job;  once you get the job, it is up to you to make the most of it.  This is under your control.  

I left her with the following quote: “Don’t get hung up on titles; initiative is where initiative goes.”

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Questions

1. Do you focus on titles or ignore it and look for initiatives?

2. What is the best way to take an initiative at work?

3. Do you think companies want to limit yourself to the title they gave you?

4. Do you think there are risks in taking initiatives or risks for not taking them?

Let's keep the conversation going to so we can learn from each other. 
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Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today! 

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”–Benjamin Franklin


I once had an interview with a major IT company who after couple of phone interviews invited me for a face-to-face interview. During the face-to-face interview, I quickly discovered that I was not what the company was looking for since the interviewers showed no interest in selling the position to me. Though I did not get the job but what upset me more was that I wasted an entire day and, to make matters worse, the company wouldn't reimburse me for my travel expense.

From that experience I learned a very important lesson that I hope will help others: Qualify the opportunity further using Google+ Hangout (or any other similar video conferencing tool like Skype) before you agree to a face-to-face interview.

If I was faced with a similar situation, I would not agree to a face-to-face interview until I had done a Google+ Hangout interview with the interviewers individually or as a group.  I want to find out if there is a genuine interest in hiring me or are they just going through the motion of interviewing which seems to be quite common as companies are looking for a "perfect" candidate.  The main purpose of doing a Google+ Hangout interview is to gauge the employer's level of interest in your candidacy. 

Here are the 5 main reasons why you should want to do an interview over Google+ Hangout:

1. Neutrality  
Whenever you are interviewing you want to play on a neutral turf until you you believe you have a very good chance of getting the job offer.  There is little pressure on you since you are on your home turf and the interviewers do not have the advantage of being on their home turf  that they enjoy during a face-to-face interview. Why do you think Super Bowl is played at a neutral site? 

2. Fit
It will allow you to determine whether the company is a good cultural fit for you.  The more opportunity you have to talk to the potential employer, the better position you will be in to determine whether the position and the organization are good fit for you.  

3. Control
Since it is a neutral site, you will have control over the interview.  Often in a face-to-face interviews the interviewers ask lot of questions and leave you with very little time at the end.  It should be a fairly even split so you are giving the employer a good chance to sell the position to you.  Also, this format lends itself to having more of a conversation rather than a typical Q&A session which is designed to eliminate you from consideration.

4. Time
One of the good thing about Google+ Hangout is that you are not wasting lot of time.  You don't have to do an exhaustive preparation but just sufficient enough to focus on one or two areas to explore jointly with the interviewers.  Also, you avoid the cost and time of travel. 

5. Skills
One of the keys to success in business is communication skills.  There is no better way to demonstrate this than over Google+ Hangout.  Companies may often hire for technical skills but realize that it is the communication skills that they say is very important for companies' success.  

How do you become proficient at doing a Google+ Hangout job interview?

1. Practice

This goes without saying. But you do have to master how to use Google+ Hangout since if you are going to request to do the interview over Hangout it is important that you know how to use it well.  Also, you should go through mock interviews and record them so you can review them to see how you come across and what improvements you need to make.

2. Preparation
Though this is an interview over Google+ Hangout, you should prepare like you would for a face-to-face interview.  This part of it does not change.  You want to do this since you want to come across as being very professional; as someone who is ready to do the job from day one.


3. Message
Once you have gone through your preparation, make sure you have one message that you want the interviewers to take away.  You will say a lot which they may not remember so make it easy for them and keep repeating your main message and stick to it.


Google+ Hangout is a great tool that you must start leveraging immediately.  It can save you lot of time and aggravation.  With this tool, you now have the option to agree to a face-to-face interview if you are 80% to 90% certain that it will help you close the deal.  You have the power to decide whether you want to make the investment of time and resources to go to a face-to-face interview.  

Google+ Hangout has leveled the playing field when it comes to interviewing.  You don’t have to play by companies’ rules anymore.  With Google+ Hangout, you can play by your own rules.  Use it and increase your chances of getting the job you want.  

Good Luck!
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Questions

1. Do you think Google+ Hangout has leveled the playing field?

2. Do you think Google+ Hangout helps candidates more than companies?

3. Would you push for a Google+ Hangout interview or a face-to-face interview?

4. Have you used Google+ Hangout for an interview yet and what have been your experience?

Let's keep the conversation going so we can all learn from each other.  
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Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today! 

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” - Walt Disney


Rejection.

One of things we hate most is being rejected,  whether it is trying to get a date, job, sale, etc.  We don’t like it; we don’t handle it well; we blame ourselves for failing; thus, we often stop trying and, occasionally, give up altogether.  Rejection is not fun.
This tends to  happen a lot to college students when they are looking for a job, so what to do while you are in college getting ready to enter the uncertain real world? Study hard and get “A’s” so you can land a good job? This is what we have been told will help you land a good job.  But today there are no guarantees that a college education will result in a good job, let alone a job.

So what should you be doing?  Practice the art of rejection while in college.

Learning how to handle rejection is an important skill you should learn while you are in college when the risks and costs are very low.  By practicing rejection early, often and smartly, you can get over your fear of rejection before you are ready enter the real world.  

Colleges are very good at teaching you how to succeed in the real world (by learning, studying and through achievement), but are not good at teaching you how to deal with rejections (through failing, analyzing and persisting). This is a lost opportunity; learning how to deal with rejection in college will prove to be valuable, if not more, as any subject you are learning.  

Confidence is so critical for success and to have confidence, you have to develop the ability to rebound quickly from rejection and persist.  As we all know, no one bats a 1,000 in baseball.  Sooner or later your success will depend on how deal with making outs (rejections).

Unless you can handle rejection well, you will avoid putting yourself in situations where you can potentially succeed.  Until you become comfortable at handling rejections, you will be afraid to take risks, which means you will have to settle for a date,  job, career, or in whatever you want to accomplish.  

How do you get over this fear?

There are no shortcuts to overcoming your fear of rejection but, unfortunately, through rejections.  I recently gave this advice to a young woman, a sophomore in college, who was very upset since she was rejected for a job that she interviewed.  She was so upset that she wanted to cancel other interviews she had scheduled. She was not handling rejection well and it hurt her confidence and motivation.

To help her, I scheduled a Google+ Hangout session.  Once I learned that she was not looking at rejection as a learning opportunity but viewing herself a failure,  I offered her some advice. First, I told her that it would be a big mistake to cancel other interviews. You don’t want to give that kind of control to others who don’t know you or care about you.  

I told her she should "suck it up" and not cancel any interviews.  Even though she may not get the job, getting rejected is a win in the long term, though how painful it is in the short term. I added that the more rejection she goes through easier it will get to deal with it if she approaches each rejection with the right mindset.

Practice Smart Rejection

The right mindset is not to go to an interview with the idea of being rejected, but go with the purpose of securing a job offer.  In order to do that, you have to work hard at  preparation, practice, execution, post interview analysis, modulation and repetition.  I refer to this as practicing smart rejection to achieve the following three objectives; conquer your fear of rejection, develop a learning mindset from rejection and enhance your confidence.

She did as I recommended and she went through few more rejections but did finally land a job.  This exercise, I believe, will not only let her handle rejections better in the future but will help her succeed since she will be more willing to take risks and not avoid pursuing opportunities because of her fear of rejection.  Fear of rejection prevents us from knowing about potential lost opportunities.

Though she has a job, I advised her to keep interviewing since the fear of rejection can return anytime and the more she practices in college the stronger her “anti-rejection muscle” will become.  I told her to keep on exercising that “muscle” to keep it strong so you don't lose your edge. 

So if you are in college, don’t just focus on just acing courses you are taking.  Also work hard on acing rejections; it will payoff  later.  You will learn to develop an instinct to take chances and  mitigate the fear of rejection.  This will not only help you become more confident, but also help you get the job you want, the date you want, the career you want and, most important, the life you want. 

Unfortunately, colleges do not offer courses on this.  You have to create this course yourself.  Besides focusing on the curriculum, students should also focus on getting a “BA” in the practice of smart rejection.  There is no better place to learn and practice this than while you are in college.  It will payoff big time later.

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Questions

1. Do you agree that college is a great place to learn how to handle job rejection?

2. Do you think it can make a students tougher or have the opposite effect?

3. Can one learn from rejections?

4. Should colleges be teaching you about rejections and how to handle them?  

Let's keep the conversation going.  
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Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today! 

Key Takeaway:  Don't wait to get drafted; draft yourself to do what you love. 


The 2013 NFL Draft concluded over the weekend and some college football players were very happy that they fulfilled their lifelong dream of being drafted by an NFL team and getting a shot to play on Sundays.  Unfortunately, there were many players who were left disappointed of not being drafted and now have a real long shot of fulfilling their dream of playing on Sundays.

NFL is often used as a metaphor for lot of things that can help you in politics, business, life and other things, but one metaphor that you want to avoid is the NFL draft. This reminds us of the days when corporations of government officials had all the power to pick people they wanted and all you could do was to hope and pray that you get picked 

You don’t want to go through what you saw on a draft day.  These outstanding college athletes had no control over which team picked them. They relinquished the power of choice to the NFL teams to determine their future of being a professional football player.  They accepted the NFL’s rules. These tough, strong, smart athletes accepted NFL’s proposition of "take it or leave it."  Since they wanted to be in the NFL so badly, they took it.  

Do you want to play by other people’s rules so they might pick you or would you rather pick yourself so you get to play by your rules?

Many players who did not get drafted by the NFL have been playing football since childhood.  They have put in their 10,000 hours to be considered bona fide experts (according to Malcolm Gladwell's theory of 10,000 hour rule in his book “Outliers: The Story of Success”),  yet because there are so few positions available in the NFL, many of these college players will not become professionals and end up feeling like failures.

It does not have to be this way for you  if you pick yourself to determine your success; you don’t want to give this power to someone else.   

Lot of students who are in college have been studying from childhood, through high school and college and are still studying after college but still act like college football players waiting to be picked by some company to get a job.  Many will be disappointed when there will be no one picking them for a job and will feel like failures.  

What to do? 

If you love what you want to do, then go do it. You don’t need others to pick you.  Learn the skill well and contact companies directly yourself on how you can help them.  It is not safe, but any time you do something unconventional it never is, otherwise everyone would be doing it. You have to condition yourself of picking yourself just like we have been conditioned over the years of letting others pick us.  

If you want to succeed, define your own rules and pick yourself.  When you try to do something that is uncomfortable, it is hard, but at least you will control  your own destiny and enjoy what you are doing.  If you stick to it, you can even end up making a good liveing doing it, too.   

Seth Godin,  an American entrepreneur, author and speaker, make this point real well in his blog titled, “Reject the Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself”:

"If you're hoping that the HR people you sent your resume to are about to pick you, it's going to be a long wait. Once you understand that there are problems just waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities to contribute abound. 

No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself.”

The lesson to learn from the NFL Draft is that you want to have control over your future, you must, as Set Godin suggests, pick yourself.  You don't want to give this power to anyone.  Today, you don't have to.   

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Questions

1. Do you think NFL Draft is a good metaphor for non-college football palyers?

2. Do you have a better future getting picked or picking yourself?

3. Do you think today it is easier to pick yourself?

4. Are we in a "pick yourself" economy today?

Let's keep the conversation going.  Thanks.
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Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today! 

“Until I get back my five thousand dollars, you're gonna get more than you bargained for. I'm your goddamn partner!” - Marion telling Indiana Jones from the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Salespeople will tell you how much they care about customers,  but they conveniently forget to mention that customers come distant second to the numbers they have to hit.  Sales to most salespeople  is only about numbers.  

We all remember in the movie "Jerry Maguire" when he tried to sell with a noble purpose gets ridiculed  and eventually fired.  The message was very clear: Sales is not what you like it to be, but what it is, i.e making your numbers anyway you can.   

Jerry Maguire had enough of this type of selling and discovered that  it is tough to sell with a noble purpose but at the end he had satisfaction and by taking care of his customer, earned a friend.

I too tried to pull “Jerry Maguire” when I went for an interview for a sales position.  I came up with this great idea on how I plan to make employer’s customers successful and thinking they will be so impressed and hire me.

This was for an interview with the largest IT company to sell their application lifecycle management (ALM) products.   I was all excited since it was an ideal position for me since I enjoy selling where creativity is required in explaining how technology will help customers achieve their business objectives.  

During the interview I was asked how I would help drive sales of their ALM products.  There were two sales managers present during the interview and I will paraphrase what happened next.

Since ALM products and solutions are highly technical, I mentioned that it has to be sold at multiple levels, both at an executive level and at the developer level.  I referred to something that was very successful at a previous company where we involved developers early in the sales process.  

I explained that what we did was that if a prospect was serious about making a change to gain a competitive advantage, then we would recommend to their executives that they send two to three of their technical people for training at a discounted price. This way the technical people can get more familiar with the product and understand how they can use the technology before making a purchase.  Since the technical people would be the main users, it was important that they be involved in evaluating the product.  This way we would both be making a joint commitment.

This seemed like a simple suggestion that any salesperson would make to ensure that he is not just selling the product,  but want the customer to get educated before making a purchase so they would be successful.

The two sales managers in the room simultaneously started shaking their head,  obviously indicating they did not agree with what I had just  said.  I was not sure why they were reacting so negatively.  One of the manager stopped my explanation and exclaimed, “You don’t ever want to sell to the developers.”

I asked, “Why?  Aren’t the developers an important stakeholders?”

The manager replied, “No!  You don’t want to do that because they will prolong the sales cycle.”  The other manager agreed.  I did not argue and asked for clarification which was not very convincing.

It goes without saying but I did not get the job.

After reflecting on it later, I was asking myself whether I was naive about my sales approach or were the managers out of touch on why they were in sales in the first place?   I kind of learned what Jerry Maguire went through in the movie that salespeople after a while forget why they are in sales.  They believe that sales is all about winning by making your numbers and customers just get in the way from achieving that quickly and smoothly..

According to  Lisa Earle McCleod's book “Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud,”  she says that based on her research that selling with noble purpose is not only successful but profitable. But it also creates satisfaction and provides value to customers.  But why is it so difficult to find salespeople who follow that?  Is there a disconnect between the sales the way it ought to be versus the sales the way it is?  

Things are changing.  

Customers today are more sophisticated with easy access to information. According to Dan Pink in his book, “To Sell is Human,” this has caused a change from caveat emptor to caveat venditor, meaning that salespeople better change their approach since customers may know just as much, if not more, than the salesperson.

The customers today don’t have to deal with salespeople who don’t genuinely have their interest in mind.  Customers understand that salespeople have to make a living but that should happen by providing value to customers.  Hopefully this change will result in fewer Bob Sugars and more of Jerry Maguires out there making a good living selling with noble purpose.    

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Questions

1. Do sales organization promote selling with noble purpose?

2. Is it even possible to sell with noble purpose when you are trying to make your numbers?

3. Do you sell with noble purpose?

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Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today! 

Key Takeaway:  Focus on what you control.

People are constantly swamped with all kinds of tips on how to ace a job interview.  All of those tips are given with good intention but will not help much if you don’t focus on one thing that is important to your success: Focus on what you can control.  

This sounds very simple but think about it.  You can only control what you do. You have no control over what your competition does or how a  company makes its decision. Your chances of getting a job are a long shot (unless you have an inside track)  so why worry about things that you don’t have any control over?

So what do you do?

Become a better you at what you do.

You do this by constantly experimenting, striving for excellence and being passionate about your work and hobbies.

Experimentation

You have to experiment in what you are doing to become a better you whether it is programming language skills, social media skills, writing skills, foreign language skills, etc.

Similarly, you have to do the same with approaching an interview.  You have to experiment here too. You don’t want to look and sound like others. When a company is looking at plenty of candidates, one that often sticks out is one that is different so you want to differentiate yourself from others.

Excellence

The one thing you don’t control is getting the job; however, the one thing you do control is being best at what you do or are interested in.  You may not get the job, but it should not be because you don’t excel in a skill that they are interested in.  You own that.  You control how good you are at a particular skill and try to be the best at that so you can go to an interview with total confidence.

Passion

The one thing you have to show in an interview is that you are passionate in not only your work but on hobbies that you pursue.  You don’t have to be good at hobbies but you have to be genuinely passionate about them.  It could be jogging, yoga, music, traveling, reading, writing, etc.  No matter what it is you should be able to talk about it and show your passion for it.  It will make you look very interesting to a potential employer.

Interviews are a total crap-shoot  but no matter how the interview goes, the three thing that should define you are the following: You are a person who likes to experiment, who is striving for excellence and who is not only passionate about work but about hobbies, too. .

Good Luck!

Jay Oza is a founder and senior innovation business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and established firms bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation.  We believe that to succeed today, you have to continuously look for ways to do lot more with lot less. This is the only way to win today!