Archive for October, 2011
Your job search is one of the most significant tasks you’ll ever have. What job you end up with determines how you’ll spend the majority of hours in your day, how much money you’ll have, and how satisfied you are with your life. It’s worth making the effort to end up where you’ll be happy. Whether you’re currently employed or not, here’s how to put everything you’ve got into your job search-and it will bring you great results, whether you’re in laboratory sales, medical device sales, pharmaceutical sales, or any other health care sales arena:
1. Create a great elevator pitch. You need to be able to summarize what you are bringing to the table. Make it short and sweet, but compelling enough to capture the attention of your listener/reader. Not only can you use it at networking events or casual meetings, you can use it in place of a traditional objective statement, and you can use it in your LinkedIn profile.
2. Write a killer resume. You must tailor your resume for what’s relevant to the jobs you’re applying for. You shouldn’t have to rewrite the whole thing…just tweak it according to the job description. Organize it so that it’s clear and easy-to-read-bullet points and white space are fantastic things. Keep it down to 1-2 pages, and fill it with keywords that will get it noticed by computerized tracking systems as well as sales numbers and other performance statistics that show you’ve been able to make (or save) money for the company.
3. Create a professional LinkedIn profile. You MUST utilize social media in your job search. There’s just no other way around it. Facebook and Twitter are also useful, but LinkedIn is the most important place to be for business networking. A great profile includes your job history, a business professional picture, and a summary of who you are and what you do.
4. Use your LinkedIn membership. Don’t just create the profile. Participate. One of the things that makes LinkedIn so powerful is the connections you can make and the recommendations you can acquire. You make connections by joining groups (like Sales Cafe), participating in discussions, and getting introductions to people you need to know. Your recommendations say that other people think you’re great, too, and give another perspective on your talents. But remember to give good recommendations to others as well. LinkedIn is also an amazing resource for information on companies, hiring managers, and industry trends-and you can contact hiring managers directly for jobs.
5. Develop your online brand. Your online reputation is the sum total of what an employer will find out about you when they Google your name. It’s the comments you make on LinkedIn, Facebook, and blog articles. It’s your Tweets. If you’re really serious, seek out opportunities to guest post on blogs or write articles for online newsletters. Make sure that every time you say something online, that it’s professional and relevant.
6. Network the old-fashioned way, too. Get out there and meet people. Attend networking events and tradeshows. Keep up with your contacts with the occasional email (it’s more personalized than a Tweet) and give them something: a bit of information, a job lead, a great website, or an article you found. You can absolutely let them know what’s going on with you, and ask them to keep an eye out for job leads you’d be interested in. Most people are happy to help.
7. Spend some time and effort prepping for your interview. I don’t think it’s possible to over-prepare for a job interview. Research the company. Know what their issues and challenges are in the marketplace. Make an effort to dress properly and project friendliness and enthusiasm with your body language. Have stories ready that demonstrate how you’ve handled difficult situations or met a challenge. Practice your answers to interview questions, and seriously consider role-playing interview questions with a coach. If pro athletes use coaches to gain a few extra seconds that make the difference between first and second place, you should, too.
8. Bring a 30/60/90-Day Plan. There’s no better way to show how you’ll be able to hit the ground running and contribute to the company than by creating a 30/60/90-day plan. A well-written plan is divided into 3 parts: the first 30 days, you’ll focus on training and settling in (the more specific you can be, the better); the 60-day part expands your duties (say, by getting to know all your accounts and orienting yourself); and the last 30 days (the 90-day part) is your plan for bringing in new business (which you’ll know because you’ve researched and analyzed the company’s position in the marketplace). This plan is impressive because it shows the hiring manager your drive, commitment, enthusiasm, and knowledge of what it takes to be successful.
9. Ask questions during the interview. Here’s another sure-fire method to impress your interviewer. Be interested in the job. Asking questions in the interview shows that you can think strategically and it also gets you quite a bit of information you can use while answering questions and in your follow-up. It turns the interview into a conversation and highlights your confidence and appeal.
10. Follow up. A great follow up plan can cover everything from providing great references to writing a substantial, timely thank you note. The best references are past managers or other high-level people, but they should all be willing to speak to the interviewer. Make sure you prep them for the call by giving them the information they need to speak intelligently about you. Thank you notes should be sent as quickly as possible (within 24 hours, so send it by email) and should refer back to what you discussed in the interview if you have something great to say, or it should add something new to the discussion. It’s also a great opportunity to revise your 30/60/90-day plan based on what you talked about, and you can attach it to your thank you note.
Peggy McKee is the Medical Sales Recruiter. She has been placing top talent in all areas of medical sales for over 10 years as the owner and chief recruiter for PHC Consulting. Check out her blog for hundreds of articles on how to stand out from the crowd in your job search at => http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress.
Losing a job involuntarily at any time isn’t fun. Been there, done that and have the emotional scars to prove it. Losing a job due to company cut backs during a tough economy is even worse. And if you’re a sales person there might not be a silver lining, but there is good reason to have a lot more hope for your short and long term future prospects than the average worker.
After all, you see it on the news quite often. Job cuts, unemployment rising, and right now the economy is, despite what a lot of us would like to believe, still consuming jobs at an alarming rate. It’s arguable whether we are pulling out of the recession or not. To some economists it’s arguable as to whether or not we ever pulled out of the down turn created by the Dot Com bubble nearly a decade ago. Still, the headlines on TV and in the paper tend to focus on the labor force and the manufacturing jobs at the hardworking all American companies who produce the goods and services our economy consumes. Yes, I know those are the larger numbers and it makes for better headlines and helps to sell papers and advertising. In most cases though, the news of the day never mentions and systematically seems to forget guys and girls who make the cash register ring and the shipping departments bustle. No matter how you explain this oversight, perhaps the truth of the matter is that people in the sales force are in a better position than the average non-sales person who loses their job.
The other day while talking to a friend, who has been in sales and executive leadership positions for the better part of the past two decades, he made the following statement. “There are a lot of really great people out there who are really hurting; people I never thought wouldn’t be able to find a good job.”
We both went on, stating how grateful we are for the jobs and security we have. It was one of those things that really makes you think. It could have been any of us. Sure, a recession is a chance to cut some dead weight. Sorry to be cold about it, but it makes any sensible business look at improving efficiency and cost control. Perhaps these are things that should get done more often enough, but don’t with such a discerning eye when everything is going well. It also makes sales management look at people who are truly underperformers and forces us to make difficult and often unpleasant decisions. Though, this time around it’s not just folks that are below the proverbial sales line that have been affected. This time around the downward economic swing is hitting the top performers, the award winners, and the sales people who seem to have it all. Looking down the list of people who have knocked on my door looking for an opportunity in the last 10 months, there were some truly talented people. Sales people who were for years and years, bankable top performers.
That’s the bad news. It is what it is and there is no sense on dwelling on it now. It’s time to focus on the upside of the conversation. It’s time to take action. Whether you’re one of the unfortunate souls who are out on the street knocking on doors looking for work, or one of the lucky ones still gainfully employed, hitting your numbers and hoping to stay that way while knocking on doors looking for new sales.
The good news is this that:
1) Sales skills translate across companies and even industries much better than most of the labor force. Unlike Autoworkers, Electricians and Carpenters (who despite being skilled labor) has a very specific set of skills. An autoworker, for example, probably can’t walk out the door after losing their job and with a minimal learning curve become a Brick Layer. In sales though it’s different. If you’ve been a good student of the art and science of selling, then you know how to sell a variety of products and services even if you don’t realize you do. Think of how often you introduce a new product of service. You can walk out the door at one company and have not only the fundamentals required to be successful at another place, but that place doesn’t have to be limited to what you’ve always done. Changing industries can be intimidating, but take it down to the most basic level. Think about how you had to understand the nuances and the offer of what you were selling. So you might learn some new products, but the basics of selling are the same. Keep in mind that with industries they buying motivators and decision makes vary but the same fundamental skills apply. Find a customer with a need, uncover the pain, offer a solution that helps solve that problem and eases that pain.
2) Your Track record is a marketable quality – Awards are nice, but depending on who you talk to they may or may not matter. So be prepared to talk about how you won those awards and the type of things that helped you hit those professional heights. Be honest, but also be proud and take credit for what you have accomplished. I once had a rep that was showing me copies of his sales reports from a previous employer, which showed him at the top of the sales charts for months on end. When I asked him how he got there, he said “oh my account XYZ hit a buying cycle and drove the numbers over the top.” Me, in general not being an idiot, I realized from looking at the reports he had furnished me with, that someone else hadn’t sold more. Ultimately, he lost the opportunity to sell me. What I heard is the equivalent of he had won the lottery. Instead of the rep setting the stage with, “I had called on them for years and did the following things to get the business or I unhinged the incumbent supplier by doing…,” whatever the answer was. This individual gave me the impression that it was dumb luck and not sales skills. And when it came to hiring them, their dumb luck ended with me. So be prepared to discuss your accomplishments and really understand what you did to make it work. Did you grow a territory or set of accounts? Did you find new business at a greater rate than your peers? Be ready to hit the highlights and then if asked, provide the details and comparison of how you stacked up against the competition. Doing this will lay the foundation for why you will be successful in your next role.
3) You have an established network- So no matter what your circumstances, if you’ve been in sales and know your market and accounts you have an established network of people. So use your network of competitors, co workers, clients and even former clients to help you find openings. Don’t ask for work unless they are the hiring manager and have an open position, but do ask for referrals and opportunities. Practice good follow up and use each opportunity as a way to expand your own network. So guard your rolodex with your life, but use it to help others along the way. After all, you may be the resource a former customer calls to help them out if they are looking for a new gig as well. Unlike other people, it was your job to go out and meet people. If you’re like most good sales professionals, you met as many as possible, kept in touch with them and have a pretty good idea of who is where. Now it’s time to put those contacts to work.
4) Good Sales People are Hard to Find – Despite the down turn, finding people who can hunt business is always a challenge. Past greatness isn’t an indicator of future performance, but it sure helps. A great reputation in your industry and with your clients is invaluable. If you feel the sweat starting to form because you were a farmer and not a hunter, then it might be a little more challenging. But there are some other things to think about. Did you manage a challenging account or territory? There are a myriad of specialties within the general heading of sales person. Identify those unique skills and map out what type of companies might benefit from that perspective.
5) You know how to sell, so think about how to sell yourself. Look at how to job hunt just like you would how to find new business. It’s going to take a lot of contacts to find an opportunity, and it’s going to take several real opportunities to find a great opportunity. When times are tough those opportunities are even scarcer. It’s going to take more effort to uncover them and longer to close them.
Again, it’s not all sunshine and roses. But with a good plan and an open mind there is no doubt that just like in day to day business, where sales people through their actions and effort can control their own destiny, that when looking for work sales people on average are far better off when it comes to finding a new job. After all, finding new opportunities is a sales person’s profession.
Tim Kubiak is a self proclaimed Sales Geek and Social Media addict. By day he continues to be lucky enough to work in sales and sales management just as he has for the past 20 years. At night Tim is the co founder and a regular contributor at the The UnNatural Salesman. He is currently doing data collection for the upcoming Sales Career Resource Guide that is designed to assist both novice and season sales professionals in evaluating sales career opportunities.
The compensation plan changed again. The revolving door of company executives spins out of control. You look at the corporate direction and you’d like to give the CEO a compass so he can find his way. Concerned, you’ve decided that today is the day that you will peek your head over the cubicle wall and see what other opportunities are out there. After all, you’ve been successful. No need to go down with the ship.
The morning you wake up with the inspiration to begin a job search is a little scary. There is the factor of the unknown. Yet, you pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone to open the doors to new opportunity. It’s been a while since you last looked for a new sales home. How do you go from where you are today to a new, fresh opportunity?
Know what you want. In sales, you often work with the profile of your ideal client. The same applies when looking for a job. You need to know what the ideal fit is for your sales pedigree. If you don’t know what you are looking for, how will you know when you find it? This introspective exercise is the subject of another article of mine titled, “Finding the Right Home For Your Sales Skills.” That article walks you through the exercise of defining your ideal sales role. Don’t go another step in the process until you have read that article.
Develop your marketing tools. Marketing tools? Yes, that is what a cover letter and resume are all about. When you think of marketing, you also think of messaging. Many forget this when they develop their cover letter and resume. However, these marketing tools communicate a message, a story. The key is to make sure they convey the story you intend.
While the easy thing to do is to create one cover letter and one resume, it is not the most effective way to pursue a new job. As someone who has screened thousands of these documents from sales candidates, I can share with you a little nugget of insight. Hiring managers ask themselves a simple question when they first peruse your cover letter and resume. “Do they want my job or just a job?” We know when you are mass emailing your marketing tools just like prospects know when you mass email them.
In sales, you are taught to make sure your message matches your audience. Sales is not taught as a one-size-fits-all, but rather a template that is adjusted to match the need and circumstance. When prospects feel that they are the sales call of the day, they don’t respond. The same applies to hiring managers. Hiring managers are looking to hire people that want to work in their organization. They can feel when someone just wants a job, not necessarily theirs. Thus, when they get that feeling, your candidacy for the job goes into the trash.
The cover letter is one of the first ways it becomes obvious that you are treating this as a mass event. The sales person applies for a specific job, but the cover letter communicates a message that says they want a different job. It is not intentional on the part of the sales person. After all, they paid a copywriter a thousand dollars to create this masterpiece. Copywriters are very helpful to those in need of assistance in creating the story of their background. However, the effective cover letter recipe has three ingredients to it, making it somewhat difficult for the copywriter to unilaterally assist you.
1. Share what you know about the company. Hiring managers want to see that you have at least done a little research about them. This is easily done by visiting their website, performing an online search, and studying them on Hoover’s.
2. Present your relevant qualifications/accomplishments. The keyword here is “relevant.” We’ve all done a lot of things in our lives. Pick the ones that you feel are most relevant to the reader based on what you read when you researched the company. You can also ascertain this from the job posting.
3. Show the synergy between the opportunity and your background. Connect the dots for the reader. If the company is looking for a sales person that has developed a new territory and you are an expert at doing that, make sure the message comes out in the cover letter. Don’t expect the reader to see the synergy. You need to map it out just like you do for sales prospects. When presenting the synergies, use their language. If they call the position “a hunter,” refer to yourself as one. If they call bringing in new accounts as “territory development,” you are in expert in territory development, not hunting.
When the objective, isn’t the objective. The same holds true for the resume. Many sales people write an objective at the top of their resume. Yet, they fail to adjust the title based on the position for which they are applying. My favorite is when someone writes as an objective, “To get a sales or sales management position.” I can assure you that approach is a guaranteed way to get yourself removed from consideration in an instant. Those are two completely different jobs. “I want to be a pitcher or the manager of the team. It doesn’t matter to me.” Again, I just heard you want a job, not necessarily my job.
What you’ve done. The resume is an extension of the cover letter. The message should be the same. Highlight the results and areas of expertise that are most relevant to this opportunity. I’m not suggesting that you leave certain jobs or employment off your resume. However, package each one as best as you can to convey the synergy between you and the company.
From the job posting, you can usually infer what is most important to the sales manager. Those usually can be found in the section of the job description that highlights the candidate requirements for the job. Include bulleted descriptions and statistics that map back to those elements.
While the work to customize these marketing tools may seem huge and painful, it really isn’t. Earlier, I mentioned that you should start the search process by identifying the right home for your sales skills. The reason for that recommendation was to give focus to your search. It allows you to laser-in on those opportunities that best match you. Thus, isn’t it worth the time investment to customize your marketing tools for those job prospects that are best suited for you? Wouldn’t you do the same thing in pursuit of a major prospect? I certainly hope so.
Lee B. Salz is the CEO of Business Expert Webinars, President of Sales Dodo, and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” Known as “The Sales Dodo,” Lee specializes in helping companies and their sales organizations adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world of business. He is an online columnist for Sales and Marketing Management Magazine and the host of the Internet radio show, “Secrets of Business Gurus.” Look for Lee’s new book in 2009 titled, “The Sales Marriage… How to Hire the Right Sales People.” He is a passionate, dynamic speaker and a business consultant. Lee can be reached via email at lsalz@salesdodo.com or by phone at 763.416.4321.
So, you want to start a career in selling. Here’s what you can do to secure a high-paying sales job:
1. Create a powerful, impressive resume. If you want your prospective employers to pay attention to your resume, you need to make sure that it’s impressive and extra powerful. Aside from putting your best, most friendly-looking photo, you must also load it with information that will speak volumes about your skills and abilities. Write down relevant educational background, experiences, and trainings. You can also attach recommendations, if there are any, from other people or industry leaders.
2. Prepare for your interview. If your resume is truly impressive, you can be assured that you will be called in for an interview. You want to do this right as this might be your only chance. Dress for the occasion and make sure that you look presentable. It would be best if you dress like a professional sales man to easily create a great impression. Before you show up for your interview, I recommend that you anticipate all the questions that might be thrown at you. Prepare the best answers and memorize them by heart. Make good eye contact all throughout the interview and project a confidence image — it will surely make a difference.
3. Ask questions. Interviewers are most likely to be impressed if you ask them questions about the job and about their company. This will send a strong message that you did your research about their organization and that you are truly interested in working for them. This can surely increase your chances of being hired.
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As a former pharmaceutical sales rep, I understand what it is like to be completely entrenched in the corporate world. Having spent well over a decade in corporate America and almost ten years directly in pharmaceutical sales, I found myself at the end of my rope so to speak towards the end. Why? My frustration came primarily from two sources:
1) I knew that if I didn’t have my pharmaceutical sales job, I would have absolutely no way to pay my mortgage, taxes, personal bills and so on.
2) I also realized that the only one getting rich was my employer! Sure, I was making a pretty hefty annual income compared to most people, but I wasn’t getting rich.
Besides all that, I was fed up with having to get up when my employer told me to, come home when they told me to, and leave my family for seemingly unending and non-essential pharmaceutical meetings. The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was last year when ‘Big Pharma’ decided I would have to leave my wife and daughter for almost 2 months within a 3 month period! Enough was enough. I decided to take matters into my own hands and start my own business.
For most pharmaceutical sales reps looking for a job right, the economy has really changed things in a bad way. I can’t tell you how many former pharmaceutical representatives who are out there looking for employment, yet can’t find a single thing. If you are still in pharmaceuticals, consider yourself to be one of the few remaining. Quite honestly, for those who have been let go, it could be the best thing that ever happened to you because you are now in a position where you can call the shots. You can decide how much money you are worth, and you decide when you will work, how much you will work, and from where you will work.
The best part about not being in pharmaceutical sales anymore for me is the fact that I have 100% control over my own business-not someone else.
If you would like more information about how to break free from pharmaceuticals, then contact me through the resource box below. I’d love to share my experiences with you.
Brian Magnosi is one of the top Network Marketing Coaches online, who combines a uniquely powerful style of grass roots online relationship building, social media, and web 2.0 techniques to create a magical combination of rapid growth, duplication, and massive success online. If you want Brian’s formula for success, visit Brian’s Marketing Secrets now.
While most of the industries are becoming a bit destabilized due to the current state of the economy, the medical device industry still stands unscathed! The reason is simple – the industry deals with stuffs that are essential for the well being of people.
While most of the industries are becoming a bit destabilized due to the current state of the economy, the medical device industry still stands unscathed! The reason is simple- Hence, people will keep spending money here. And this isn’t just me rambling, there are stats that can prove this and they can easily be looked up in the search engines. While medical device sales jobs are really lucrative, they are fiercely competitive as well. And what is more, they at times require people to be much more subtle in their promotions.
There however is a much better way to promote these sales jobs and that is by taking it up as a business! This may seem unrealistic initially but there is a way through which this can actually replace your full time income.
The method is simple- you do not promote a single device or even a certain number of device that appeal to a particular group of people. What you actually do is promote all the unique devices that are there!
Heck, now this may seem even more unrealistic to you isn’t it? I mean who can promote all these devices, all by themselves? Well this is where something else comes in, something that you are actually using right now. This is your internet connection.
The internet connection has broken all barriers when it comes down to communication. So, how can you use this to your advantage? Well that can be explained simply. You can do your business online. And you can promote all the products that you know well about.
There are many companies who actually recruit active affiliates who would promote their devices and they offer a percentage of the share. So, all that you need to do is look up for these companies by typing into the search engines exactly the type of device + affiliate program.
If you even consider the fact that you do not have any tech skills to help you out then, you should really forget your problems because with the arrival of web2.0 all such difficulties were resolved. In fact, you can actually begin your business without any investment at all after you cross the learning curve.
There you go! Now you might be even more skeptic because you see that their actually is a learning curve involved! Well, I will definitely not lie to you and will not say that the learning curve is too easy to cross. No, it isn’t too easy to cross the learning curve but it isn’t rocket science either.
All that you need to learn is how to use the free platforms that are available and how to drive traffic to them. But here is one little tip that can actually mean the world to you if you start using it- you do not need to learn each and every method that exists. In fact, you just need to stick to one method! And as soon as you master it, you can actually have a great business.
the industry deals with stuffs that are essential for the well being of people.
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