Tea with my failure(By Tony Green)

Recently I had yet another sales interview on my quest to enter technical sales. Why at this point of my career? Quite simply, I am a people person and most sales positions can pay the money I want.
During this quest I have interviewed with some people who told me that I had no previous sales experience. Sales are about overcoming objections and in my estimation, if I could not overcome the interviews objection then I did not deserve to be in sales.
When the interviewer pointed to my lack of sales experience I tried to sell him about some of my pre and post application support and account manager experience. After a good dialog we agreed these were sales related but not exactly sales.
I told him I dabbled in sales and was looking for the opportunity to fully immerse myself. In an attempt to persuade him I told him I was ready to take the plunge.
Unfortunately, he not looking for a dabbler, he was looking for tea, in other words an experienced sales person whom we agreed I was not. In the end, even though, I made a good accounting of myself I was not what this company was looking for. Therefore the question was since I have been identified as dabbling in sales, and the goal was to fully enter the sales profession did I want sugar or lemon with my tea (failure)?
As I thought about it I was temporary glum but I could only be sad for a short time. In true sales fashion toward my quest to get into sales I had get mentally ready for the next interview. Tea anyone?

Selling this pen again by Tony Green

I described the scenario in an earlier entry when I asked to ‘sell the pen’ question during an interview. As you may recall from my previous entry I was on a quest obtain a sales position. The question is a good question to ask because it tests a potential salesperson persistence to overcome rejection and their listening skills, key components of any successful salesperson.

When I was asked the question I failed miserably as I stumbled to describe how this was the pen that they wanted. I resolved that would never happen again reading everything I could get my hands on how to answer the question. Now that I was prepared for the question I figured that I would never be asked again.

Of course, I was asked. Since I had learned from my previous nightmare I was going to jump all over the question. I remembered that I needed to focus on the benefits and not the features and if I got an objection, naturally the interviewer would make it challenging, so I tried to convince the interviewer that a pen was what he wanted regardless of how many times he objected. Once I finished I took a breath.

After I answered the question I thought I was in good shape until the interviewer asked me had you considered whether he wanted a pen? The wind went out of my sails as clumsily tried to recover. I guess I will be asked the question until I get it right.

Selling this Pen by Tony Green

I was in an interview for a technical sales position at a company a few months back. I have never been a salesman and was trying to earn my first opportunity to enter the world of professional selling.

After the interview I was optimistic about hearing when a second interview could be scheduled.
I followed up with the recruiter I was working with to try and get some feedback. I never heard anything from her or the company so I assumed that they decided to not go any further. I was slightly curious as to why.

Later I was reviewing Martin Yate’s book “Hiring the Best” in preparation for another sales interview and when I read the following passage I discovered why my interview was a failure. In his words,”At the root of a successful sale is the sales person’s ability to identify a need and subsequently demonstrate how the product will fill that need. This is commonly known a feature/benefit selling. Here is the feature, and this is what it can do for you. This questions test your candidate’s awareness of an essential sales skill and his or her quick thinking. A salesperson is no good if he or she gives up after your first objection.”

I flashed back to the interview and remembered when I was asked by the interviewer to sell the pen that was on his desk. I was surprised by the question and caught totally off guard. My scattered nature of my response must have reflected that. I rambled about the pen and about its features, how well it writes the color of its case, etc. and failed to mention the benefits that he got out of using the pen.

It was then not surprising why I never got a call back. As I am still looking to enter the world selling this was available lesson that I am sure I will not forget anytime soon. The key is to not make same error again……