Sales Strategies for Managing Your Career
Did you just say Sales Strategies to manage my career?
Yes, you need sales
strategies where your career is concerned.
I am going to make the
assumption that you are not a sales person. So, I am going to start with some
basics.
There are basically two types of sales persons.
1. Hunter
2. Farmer
Hunter
The hunter is the one who
goes out and does the research of who will buy your product (in this case it is
you.) Once the target is identified, the hunter will find prospective leads,
make the pitch, negotiate pricing, terms, and conditions and finally close the
deal. They then move on to the next deal.
Hunters are a rare breed.
Good ones make a lot of money!
Their sales strategies
involve locating the prey, taking aim and capturing the deal.
Here is the kicker. This is
how we have traditionally looked for jobs.
Hunter
Career Sales Strategies
We scour the job boards and
ask around about who is hiring.
Next step is to identify an
open position and submit our application or resume.
We go into sales mode when
we get the phone interview and then move through the interview process.
We get the offer, and
negotiate salary and benefits, and close the deal by signing the offer letter.
The problem is this is
we use this strategy when we have been let go or when we are unhappy in
our current position. In both of these circumstances, we want to close the deal
as fast as we can. Very often the deal we will close will be suboptimal because
we either need to get a job or want out of our current position.
Farmer
Farmers are often referred
to as account managers. They
have an existing customer that they get to know well and cultivate the
relationship with the customer. They are there to help the customer solve their
problems and sell over and over again. There is a lot of repeat business.
The idea is the customer knows who to turn to when they have an issue … You!
The farmer’s sales’
strategies revolve around relationships and trust. Farmers tend not to make as
much money, but it is far less stressful.
Most baby boomers were taught that
once you were hired you were loyal to your employer until you retired.
Boy
those days are gone!
Farmer
Career Sales Strategies
Look at the image at the
beginning of the post.
We will start out like a
hunter. We will want to identify the potential audience. Who can hire you?
Think of yourself like a
consultant. You solve problems for your employer. You clearly identify those
problems that you know how to solve. Your next step is to find the employers
that have those problems. These are the companies that are capable of hiring
you.
That is when we put on our
farmer’s hat. We will want to carefully cultivate key relationships with
management from those employers. This might be through networking meetings,
asking for introductions or through social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, or
Twitter.
We will want to understand
their problems and issues. We will want them to know that we are capable of
solving those problems and issues. When they are ready to buy (make a hiring
decision), they will come to you.
Timing
The big difference between
these two sales strategies is timing.
As a hunter, you can move
as slow or fast as you want. Well … when you are employed and acting like a
hunter timing is not an issue. If you are unemployed you will want to go as
fast as you can go. Time is money.
The other issue is that
this is hard work!
As a farmer, you are
building the relationships and playing a waiting game. You have little to no
control over the timing, but it is a lot less work.
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