The Job Nobody Dreams Of

I Love This Guy

I recently learned about Gary Vaynerchuk. He took over his family's winery and built it from two million dollars a year to fifty million dollars, mostly on the heels of his Wine Library TV. He has become famous for his passion about "monetizing your passion."

Gary wrote a book last year called "Crush It!" and it details how to promote yourself using social media. He calls it "building your personal brand." Basically this is it in a nutshell:

1. Identify your passion.

2. Learn as much about your passion as you can.

3. Start blogging about it (including video blogs like Gary did).

4. Find other blogs that deal with your passion and leave comments.

5. Find Facebook pages about your passion, become a friend and contribute.

6. Search Twitter to find other passionate people and communicate with them.

7. Repeat steps 2 thru 6 over and over and over.

I highly recommend the book! I have also posted one of Gary's talks. Just a heads up..he can be a little salty!

Happy Selling!

Challenge Yourself: Why You Need to Set Big Goals - RainToday

While I have posted videos on this blog in the past I have never had a "guest author." Today I came across an article by Jill Kanrath that I wanted to share with you. Jill writes about selling to large organizations and nailed this article of changing the way you do business - Challenge Yourself: Why You Need to Set Big Goals - RainToday.

Laugh Your Way to a Job?

Job interviews are the most important moments of your life. You need to be on top of your game and while you can practice "interviewing" there are other ways to perfect your sales pitch (remember you are selling yourself!)...such as Improv!

Now I am not suggesting you head out to your local comedy club on open mike night (actually THAT would help) but there are techniques you can practice that would hone your conversational skills and be extremely helpful during a job interview.

Improv isn't necessarily about being funny...it's about reacting and how your react in a job interview determines whether or not you get hired. CNN had an article about Improv, along with another article on "The Improv Trick."

Several years ago I went to Darren LaCroix for mentoring. He was the 2001 World Champion speaker and focused on humor. One of the things I remember from his different books and seminars was a technique called "Make a C-Store Clerk Laugh." Basically when you interacted with the person at your local convenience store you needed to try and make them laugh. React to something they did or said and throw some humor back at them.

People like to laugh and they are impressed when someone reacts well on his or her feet. Practicing Improv can help you with both! If you want to get really serious about this you can find a local Improv class and/or join Toastmasters. Part of each Toastmasters meeting includes "Table Topics" where you have to speak for two minutes on a subject you were just given.

Working on your improvisational skills might not get you on Letterman, but it very well could land you you the job of your dreams!

Happy Selling!

If You Get Around To It...

One of the best books I've read over the years cannot be found in a book store or at Amazon.com. The Motivated Mind by Jason Garcia is a self-published work available only online. I am on Jason's email list for his newsletter and he recently offered up "The Procrastination Report" which deals with a problem most of us have...putting things off.

I especially like the section on "shrink the gap" where you chart the difference between when you hope things are done and when they actually get finished.

It's a great report and it's free. Don't put off downloading it!

Happy Selling!

Idiot Consultants

You know what the definition of a consultant is? Someone who will take your watch and tell you what time it is. I remember when I was in the radio business...almost every single station consultant was an out of work Program Director. It never made any sense to me that you would hire someone to tell you how to program your radio station when they didn't have a job doing it themselves.

It's the same story in sales...most "consultants" are out of work salespeople. Seriously! If you are that great of a salesperson...why aren't you selling for a company???? You could do the "consulting" work on the side...nights and weekends.

I think I have found the most galling example of "consultants gone bad." Ever since I joined Linkedin I have seen this ad off to the side called "Never Cold Call Again." I knew it was some huckster trying to peddle his snake oil. Tonight I got bored clicked over to the site. The guy admits he has been fired from several sales jobs!!

Not only does he advocate not cold calling...because it demeans you in the eyes of prospects but he also suggests persistence means you are desperate! WTF? All this insight from a guy who has failed repeatedly. Wow!

Just so you don't think advocating cold calling is my opinion only, here is a recently article from Inc. Magazine on how important cold calling can be to a business. Remember, cold calling is NOT about selling over the phone, but instead uncovering needs that your product or service might help.

Finally, here's my take on consultants. I think most are well meaning scam artists. They are trying to earn a living offering advice that didn't work for them in their career. Obviously you can learn from others...that is why I advised people to go out and talk to people who are currently doing what you want to do. If you want to become a salesperson...take one to lunch. If you want to get into Human Resources, buy a HR Director breakfast or meet for coffee. This knowledge will only cost you a few bucks and you'll learn from the real pros...not someone who couldn't make it themselves.

Happy Selling!

Volunteer Your Way to a New Job

Great advice from author Harvey MacKay about how to network your way to a new job while volunteering for your favorite cause.

Part-time Sales Redux

Back in January of last year I wrote about getting into sales as a part-time or 2nd gig. Maybe you are looking for a few extra hours a week to supplement your main income. Perhaps you want to "try sales" on a project basis or just need to bring in a few extra bucks for your kid's band fees (trust me they add up!).

There are several sites where you can bid on freelance sales and marketing jobs. Started with IT gigs in mind, these sites have expanded their offering to include telemarketing, lead generation, proposal writing and other sales activities.

Elance is probably the best know job bidding site. Other sites include Freelancer and Guru. You can also do this locally...maybe even on a barter basis. I know one person who wanted a $400 blender from a kitchen specialty store (my $30 blender seems to work fine). He offered to work a couple weekends, got his blender in lieu of pay and made a few extra bucks commission.

The limits to how you approach this idea is simply your imagination.

Happy Selling!

Open Mouth Insert Foot

I found this article about stupid things sales people say. I can't think of something I've said to a client that is worthy of mentioning but I do remember a screw up involving my manager at a company I used to work for.

I had emailed a peer in another city bitching about my boss and the recipient emailed back an idea for me to use in my day to day selling. As is often the case I keep old emails to refer back at a later date and about two months later I was reviewing this email and was excited about the idea my colleague had shared with me. I was so excited...yep you guessed it...that I wanted to share with my boss so I forwarded the email!

I didn't realize what I'd done at first and was initially confused by his reply...then it dawned on me! I didn't get fired (my complaint wasn't that bad) but he did give me crap for not keeping my gripes in-house. Luckily that has been the only mistake I've made in my career...NOT!

Happy Selling

Job Hunting Video

I found this CNN interview on getting an interview with a potential employer without relying on submitting your resume...which doesn't work anymore anyway. When he talks about "Six Degrees of Separation" think of bacon...Kevin Bacon!

Never Give Up

There's a lot written about the mind and sales success...basically whatever you think will happen...it will. If you think you won't make any sales during the holidays...you probably won't. If you think no one is around on Friday afternoons...you probably will not sell that much at the end of each week.

I was faced with my own similar situation at work. Spring Break is coming up the week of March 15-19 and not only are a lot of people going to be on vacation, my two main tech instructors are going to be in Vegas at a "convention"...how convenient!

When I was presented with this situation several weeks ago I got upset and just figured that I lost 25% of my month. About two weeks ago I said ..."To hell with it!"...and decided I would schedule some classes we COULD run with other instructors...even those I would have to bring from out of town. 

I am happy to announce that the week of March 15th is already a great week revenue wise! I have several classes book with instructors who are available that week...including one who will teach several students across the country from his home in Cincinnati using our "remote attendance" technology.

I am sorry I doubted myself...

Happy Selling!