Closing the sale

When you are in job search mode, you are in effect "selling" your skills and talents.  Your resume and cover letter are your brochure and sales material and your interview is your sales call.

Now, all of the salespeople reading this know that the next step is to find out where the process is going.  Some people will tell you that they have to think about your presentation or discuss it with a partner or supervisor.  If that is happening, you know that the next question is "When would be a good time to follow-up?" and then you put that on your calendar.

If you aren't fortunate enough to have someone who is that forthright with you, then you need to take the bull by the horns and figure out how to close the sale or ask for the sale.

You must be careful in an interview not to appear needy or pushy.  Stating that you would love to work for the company is great but must be conveyed in a sincere unassuming manor or the interviewer could interpret the statement incorrectly.

Closing the sale is typically about overcoming objections, but in an interview you must be careful about how you ask the question - go for the open-ended question that allows the interviewer to share concerns about whether you are a good corporate fit, or how you might be able to handle the job.

Asking for feedback about how you did on the interview could potentially backfire, but by asking how you compare to the other candidates you may find out that you rank well among the competition.  If it isn't among the highest, you may ask how you might improve to become the best fit or to improve your skills (interviewing or actual) for a future interview at this company or another. 

When you leave an interview, knowing if you are in the running for a position allows you to plan for your job search next steps.  If you are confident that you did well and the feedback is positive, you may not have to be looking for long.

Networking for Introverts

This is the discussion from the today's tweetchat about Networking for Introverts.  The answers are copied from the twitter feed.  In some cases they are in twitter shorthand.

Q1: Whats the most difficult thing about networking?

• For me it was always how to break into a group already chatting.
• Finding relevant contacts. Even though every contact can have a silver lining.
• when at a networking event joining in a convo. I sometimes feel like I am butting in
• I would say just gaining enough confidence to actually start. It can be sort of intimidating at times.
• Finding a group that seems open and inviting, not closed is the key.
• Starting a conversation with a total stranger.
• The most difficult thing in regards to networking is having to step outside of your comfort zone. You'll be glad you did.
• Making new contacts without going to mix and mingle events.
• The initial starting of the conversation is the toughest for me
• Telling your elevator speech over and over again
• identifying the quality, decision making contacts or those who can connect you with them
• Getting in and getting out are the hardest part.
• walking up to the first person. After that the ice is broken. I look for someone standing off by themself.
• Networking is more about how you can help them vs. how they can help YOU. Provide value first, then ask for help.
• The dreaded elevator pitch. Saying who you are & what you do clearly and concisely.
• When you do find a contact, it's hard to bridge the gap between personal and professional conversation
• Identifying a networking group that can maximize your chances of securing a job.
• Just jumping in and getting started with a conversation can be one of the hardest for me
• getting your message across in an effective but non obtrusive way
• Fearing rejection and feeling like you're bothering people are two big networking worries
• Here's an article that might help you with networking: 11 Rules for Networking http://wp.me/pObyU-A 
• Discipline to keep networking. It's easy to get to a 'comfortable place' and think you're done.
• Being nervous and talking too fast!
• Your industry knowledge is key. At a networking event, you need to have something to offer others!

Q2: What are some ice-breakers that have worked for you?

• Icebreaker? Ask them to tell you about themselves. People love to talk. You listen & learn, then add to the conversation.
• Good to have some ice breakers already prepared. My favorite: Is this your first time here? If not what makes you keep coming bk
• I stand by the food table so I can always eat if they r mean:)
• The first icebreaker is your smile. - And a firm handshake!
• Ice breaker: where are you originally from? 
• Networking tip: While there's typically food there, eat before. You'll have free hands to shake & provide resumes!
• 'playing host' by making introductions or passing out name tags is a great ice-breaker. it takes pressure off. 
• ask them about their company and what they do for them
• Once you meet someone, introduce them to another and then form your own "group."
• Great ice-breaker there--talk about the food!
• Make sure to emphasize what you can do for them instead of what they can do for you. Be your own salesperson. Show your skills.
• I think a good ice-breaker is showing genuine interest in the other person's life during the conversation
• Say, "Hi," and smile. Think more about how to listen vs. what to say.
• Focus on local common ground. "Man those Seahawks were bad last weekend" or "did you hear about XZY downtown last week?"
• Icebreaker: What are you seeing as industry/profession trends right now?
• Reading their nametag and introducing yourself, easy!
• having group ambassadors like in the chambers help with introductions. After that it is up to your conversation
• a simple question like what is the last good movie you saw has always helped me
• People love to talk about themselves. Just start with a simple question.
• Listening happens in three stages- Receiving / Processing / Responding - 3 keys to good networking practice
• I always look for someone who seems to be "lost" or lonely-looking...invite them in
• sign up as a volunteer at the registration guest or a greeter at the event.
• ask what people are passionate about, not what they do
• My usual opening line: "Bride or groom?" 
• ask how they like their iphone/android/blackberry or other gadget!
• Networking is almost like that first initial date. Get to know the person you are talking to. Figure out their interests 
• Dont look distracted with whos coming in the room, remember the person in front of you!

Q2A Where do you find networking events?

• LinkedIn has an application "Networking Events" that you can use to find local meetings.
• Places to look for networking events - meetup.com/LinkedIn events & groups/local yahoogoups/Social Networking site
• check meetup.com and look for networking events, chamber mixers, organization postings in community calendars.
• Meetup.com, Yahoo Groups (professional associations), even community news sites/papers to find networking events

Q3: What are tips for smart schmoozing?

• It's nice to go with a friend, but don't just talk to people you already know all night.
• Do your research! Show excitement for previous accomplishments and seek to gain more understanding about them
• Keep your hands and mouth free to talk... hard to create a good first impression with your hands and mouth full! 
• Networking- shut your phone off unless you are waiting for a call from the president or your expecting wife
• what can you offer to do to help the person with whom you are networking.
• networking is like sales ~ 1st build relationship, then find out their needs, sell yourself as the solution
• Be natural and go with the flow. You don't want to sound fake and/or insincere.
• Smart Schmoozers respect others time - are precise, to the point and do not overdo
• Smart schmoozing has to include diligent follow up. No connection established if there is no follow through.
• If you did your homework on attendees, you know their background. State their point & casually agree with it
• Here's an article we did on smart schmoozing. http://www.bizme.biz/bizclass/smart-schmoozing-big-tips-for-small-talk/
• When in doubt, ask questions -- people like to talk about themselves!
• Make the conversation about them before you make it about you.
• Always have something to offer. Be willing to pay it forward!!! Don't be a taker!!!
• Be genuinely interested. No canned conversation. Get him/her talking about something s/he's excited about.  
• Another huge part of schmoozing is really listening to the other person. They can tell you a lot if you pay attention
• Also - in schmoozing - don't make promises you can't follow up on
• Tips for smart schmoozing: eye contact, avoid alcohol, and listen more than you talk!
• Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth, LISTEN more..talk less. Let people know you're truly interested.
• Don't lead w/ what u want, start by finding out about them~what they do~find out if your exp./background would fit their needs
• Collaborative conversation is good schmoozing - find what you both value and discuss key points/solutions.
• Challenge yourself NOT to ask someone "What do you do?" You'll stay curious longer and make a better connection.
• Be patient and be prepared to build a real relationship. Don't expect someone to offer you a job then and there.
• Have found this article to be very helpful. 10 tips for successful business networking. http://bit.ly/BFFAT
• The key to schmoozing at a networking event is to mingle. Make sure you circle the room. You may meet some really great people.
• Dont hit and run, nurture the relationship!

Q4: Just for fun--what are some networking horror stories?

• Ever been stuck talking to someone who WON'T stop even to breathe, so you can't exit the conversation? It's the worst!
• Once showed up at a networking event 45 min late, and everyone was drunk!
• not a personal one but spilling your drink or food on someone would be awful
• don't forget the breath mints!
• Be PRESENT!!! Don't be checking your BlackBerry while trying to have a convo!!!
• had a "close talker" back me up over 12 feet into a wall without realizing it!!! Pay attention to cues!
• have been to networking events that was more like a new form of match.com . Not good.
• be sure you know who your speaking w. - person call me Ken for 15 mins before I corrected
• Had a person follow me after the conversation was clearly over.

Q5: Have you or someone you know successfully networked your way to a job?

• That is how I got my current job!
• My husband got a job offer outside his field through networking.
• Client called former co-worker to do "Whassup." Colleague had just changed jobs. Client now has his job. 
• Networked through a current job to stir up offers in related fields (through vendor contacts, publishers, 3rd parties)
• Started with a cold email based on shared background. 2 months later ended up with an out of the blue job offer
• Definitly, and the common theme was that the person made an effort to keep a relationship with the other
• I have networked into a new job - several times. Key is to add value, share solutions and stay in contact appropriately! 
• I worked a job fair at my college for my last position. Spoke with Dir. Career Services, who introduced me to current co-worker.
• Soulsearched w/client, she told network what she wanted and she landed her dream job by referral
• Cultivated friendship @ weekly job seekers mtg. Then invited 2 another netwkg grp who gave me lead to my current job
• I have actually gotten many positions through my alumni listserve! (That's networking indirectly, though, no?)

 Do you have any other advice to add to the questions?

Soft skills include dealing with relationships and conflict

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS & CONFLICT RESOLUTION – Interpersonal relationships are, in effect, how you get along with your co-workers. For some people you spend more of your waking hours with your co-workers than you do with your family. Therefore, it becomes extremely important that your interpersonal communication with your co-workers is at its best. Several things that you can do to improve your relationships include:


1. Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain about people – instead ask questions about what and how the person is doing something. Provide a helpful alternative that is a benefit to their performance.

2. Appreciate people – genuinely provide appreciation for the good things that employees or co-workers do. This adage applies to both of these first two points “If you can’t say something nice, don’t saying anything at all.”

3. Solve your own problems by solving other people’s problems – especially in a sales situation; if you ask questions of the person you are interacting with to find out how you may solve their problem, you may in fact end up solving your own. In another way, if a co-worker is not completed with a task that is holding you up from completing your own, you may ask them questions to figure out how what you want might benefit him or her.

4. Be genuinely interested in others – most people’s favorite subject is themselves. Use this to your advantage.

5. Smile – it helps you and everyone around you feel better.

6. Be a good listener – listen more than you speak. It helps you gain insight and build relationships.

7. Make others feel important – Be sincere when you tell others, including your family and friends, that they are important to you.

8. Understand that you really aren’t always right – arguing results in neither person listening to what the other is saying. Remain calm, listen to the other person’s perspective, be tactful, and consider feelings including how you would feel if you were in the other person’s position.

9. Accept responsibility – if you are wrong, made a mistake or misspoke, help rebuild trust and admit to your error.

10. Anger breeds defensiveness – approach a person calmly and ask to discuss a problem amicably. This approach can deter someone from immediately going on the defensive and putting up a wall to communication.

11. Suggest, don’t tell – short of implementing procedures, people react more favorably when given an option to consider than being told how to think or do something.

Now that you have established a great interpersonal relationship, what happens if you do encounter a conflict? This will depend upon the actual relationship between the people in the relationship. Is it a superior/subordinate, co-worker, customer/vendor, union/management sort of relationship? Whatever the case there are a few basic things to consider:

Deal with the issue – things will fester and become worse if an issue is prolonged. By learning how someone gives feedback or deals with feedback, you can sometimes avoid the conflict in the first place.

Listen – feelings aren’t always apparent when someone is in the middle of a conflict. By listening effectively, you may become aware of anger or resentment in the other person. Learning to bridge the gap between the two sides of an issue is accomplished with active listening skills and trying to understand the other person’s perspective. If you do need to express your feelings use the “I feel” statements in a clear non- confrontational manner to avoid inflaming a situation.

Solutions – is there a happy medium that can satisfy both sides of the conflict. Does one person “win” this time and concede an issue the next, or is it a situation where you just must agree to disagree?

Limits – have the limits of the relationship been reached or breached? In some situations, there may come a time when the boundaries established have been exceeded and the conflict causes a relationship to “go their separate ways”. Being able to recognize if a relationship, whether work or personal, is able to overcome a conflict is the key.

Customer Service - A necessary soft skill

Many people think that customer service is what happens in situations where you are purchasing something or have a contract with someone like your phone service or a waiter/waitress in a restaurant, or the salesperson in a retail location. But customer service is inherent in almost any job that a person could have.

 

Customers are the lifeblood of a business, winning new customers is important, but retaining customers is even more important. Customer service and quality products are the two factors to retention. If a product has a quality control issue, it is the customer service that can help rectify the situation. There is too much competition in today’s marketplace to not be concerned with customer service.

 

External Customers – Since this is the most common form of customer service, we can begin with our discussion here.

 

In the days preceding social media, customer service was how you gained and maintained your customer base. If a customer was treated well they may tell two people. If they were treated poorly, they told ten people. With the expansion of social media, the numbers of people who are being informed of the customer service of a particular organization can reach into the thousands and millions. For example the case of the guitar player who had his expensive guitar banged up and a particular airline only wanted to reimburse him with the standard luggage rates. After a posting by the musician on YouTube, and over 8 million views later, the airline conceded to paying the full cost of the guitar.

 

There are different kinds of customers. Some want to be left alone, others want to know that you are close by if they need you, some want to be directed, others want you to take them by the hand and guide them through the entire purchasing experience. Knowing the difference between those types of customers and employing the proper techniques for each of them is a skill. Being able to determine expectations that a customer has is key to winning the sale and possibly a devoted customer. BUT if you make the wrong choice, say the wrong thing, aren’t available or don’t respond in a timely fashion, you could alienate the customer and potentially end up with bad press on YouTube, Twitter or Facebook.

 

Some key components to good customer service are:

 

• Making a good impression – You are representing your organization. You may be the very first contact this customer has with your company. Are you dressed according to company guidelines? Is your grooming within standards? Are you smiling? Do you say hello or welcome when a new customer enters your work area? Most companies will have a “prescribed” greeting to use that may include current specials or promotions that are taking place – use it.
• Accentuate the positive – Find out the benefits of the product or service you are working with and convey those to the customer. A half-full attitude is always more appealing than a half-empty one. If you are required to provide comparisons between your product and the competitors, avoid being negative. Stay with the facts.
• Good communication skills – The biggest factor here is: are you hearing what is being said or are you LISTENING? Ask leading questions to determine what you can do to help the customer. Speak clearly. Practice active listening skills that require the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they heard. This also helps alleviate having to resolve conflict later.
• Dealing with a difficult customer – just do an internet search of this phrase and the results bring up over 16 million links. This can be the most frustrating part of providing excellent customer service, but being able to accomplish it, is the most rewarding. Most of the time you will find the difficulties in a return/refund situation or the redemption of a promotion. Implementing active listening skills and providing a timely response or action will help diffuse the situation. You could also employ non-defensive communication tactics:
• Focus on the situation or issue
• Empathize
• Strive to remain calm in the interaction
• Take responsibility
• Be assertive, not aggressive or passive
• Depersonalize the situation
• Ask what you can do to rectify the situation (if you are empowered to do so)
• Phone etiquette – This topic depends upon the type of customer service you are doing. If you are in a call center, there are guidelines to which you must adhere. If you are working at a carry-out pizza place, your customer service will depend upon you getting the order correct and providing the right cost and delivery/pick-up time to the customer. In general, several key components come into play:
• Diction and tone – people need to understand you. Not everyone will speak the same language, so you may need to speak more slowly, more clearly, you may need to repeat yourself, or you may need to ask a caller to repeat themselves. Because you are not speaking face to face, your tone is how someone will interpret your words. Unless you know someone personally, you should maintain a neutral/positive tone.
• Polite – ask someone if they are able to hold. If you don’t know the answer to a question or have to reference something out of the reach of phone, ask someone if they have the time to hold. If not ask for their number and give them a time frame for a return call from you. And then, call them back. The Golden Rule applies here – treat others as you want to be treated. If you need to transfer a caller, know how to complete the task, let the caller know that you are doing it and if possible stay with the call until someone answers.
• Listening skills – (notice a theme here) it is difficult to hear what someone is saying if you are speaking at the time. It is compounded when using a telephone for that conversation. Employ the active listening skills, wait until someone is finished speaking before you begin.

 

Internal Customer Service – you may not work for a company that deals with sales or service, or you may not work in a department that deals with anyone outside your company. A good example of this is the benefits division of a human resources department, the IT department for a call center, or the vehicle mechanics for a delivery company. You have customers - the other employees of your company. You still need to employ the same techniques to keep your customers happy. The key components here are cooperation, coordination, and teamwork. Again, active listening can help if you need to be “cross-trained” in other areas of your company. Sometimes good customer service is nothing more than knowing who to call to obtain an answer or knowing what the responsibilities of another division of your company are.

 

In general, no one likes to feel neglected or an inconvenience if they need to ask for something. Be proactive with your outreach in your customer service and you will win them every time.

What is your best or worst customer service experience?  What did you learn from it?