MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog » interview

Dawg Bites Marketing Headhunter

Harry Joiner — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:34:41 +0000

In response to yesterday’s post about mock sales presentation interviews, my brother Eric, who writes the popular FreightDawg logistics blog, takes me to task.

Eric’s comments were so spot-on that I thought you’d benefit from knowing how misguided I can be sometimes. He’s known this for years.

Harry,

From my point of view, [mock sales presentation interviews such as the ones you describe] are ineffective relative to real life. It forces a salesperson to pitch benefits to a client he has little to no idea about — rather than to test his capability to probe and do proper discovery in order to present a solution. If you are hiring a song and dance man, that idea works fine — but not in professional selling where complex products are involved and you are trying to get a customer to buy a big ticket item.

I would prefer a scenario where you tell the candidate that this is their SECOND visit. During the first visit you probed and found out the following details. (Whatever.) The scenario then changes to asking the sales professional to present a solution based on client needs and situation. That is a much more realistic scenario.

If I were the candidate, even in the current scenario, I’d start the meeting and refer to an imaginary previous meeting then carry on with presentation of a solution based on developed client need.

-Eric

Okay, so I got carried away. Kudos as well to Jim Cundiff who flagged me for missing the mark on this post.

Everyone Sells

Harry Joiner — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:55:12 +0000

A friend of mine is interviewing for a new sales job. Today he received the following instructions for his upcoming interview. As both a sales manager and a marketing recruiter, I like this format a lot. Take a look …

Instructions to Candidates for "Mock Sales Presentation"

Assignment: Select a product or service you know well or have sold before. The product need not be related to our product or industry. It is best to select a topic that enables you to demonstrate strong product knowledge and confidence.

Prepare a 15-minute presentation intended to educate and convince prospective customers about the benefits of using your product/service.

As part of our selection process, you will deliver a mock sales presentation to an audience of 2-3 members of the Senior Sales Management Team, who will play the role of your prospective customers.

Note: Please come ready to present. You will not have time to prepare for this during your visit.

Objective: This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your skill at presenting product or service information in small group settings. You will be assessed on your performance in six dimensions:

Builds rapport and engages others
Demonstrates product knowledge and personal confidence
Educates the customer
Presents in a focused and succinct manner
Effectively handles objections
Conveys a professional image

Try to close the deal.

Guidelines: Your presentation cannot exceed 15 minutes, so carefully select and narrow your topic. Your presentation will conclude at 15 minutes, whether you are finished or not. There is no separate Question and Answer period, so you will want to build some time for this into your presentation. Seek opportunities for give-and-take with your customers rather than a straight presentation.

At a minimum, please provide your audience an agenda for your presentation. You may use a product sample if demonstration is necessary to your presentation. You may also prepare and use up to two handouts (e.g., related notes or charts) if you wish. Other materials, such as flipcharts or professionally printed brochures, are not allowed. You may NOT use Power Point presentations.

My Two Cents: I’d be interested to see how every candidate who applies for any job would do with this exercise. At Disney, all employees are called "cast members." When they clock-in, all employees are "in character." In a sense, everyone sells.

Would your accounting people know how to cross-sell or up-sell your company’s products and services if the occasion arose? What about your truckers? All things being equal, wouldn’t you rather work for a company that understands the importance of appropriate yet opportunistic selling?

In a tough economy, my money’s on the companies that know how to engage the client across every customer touch point. You know I’m right. Now …

Can I get you anything else?

How to Protect Yourself from Being Misquoted

BL Ochman — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:59:10 +0000

Howard Kurtz’s article about interviews in yesterday’s Washington Post got me thinking about how we can protect ourselves from being misquoted. The bottom line: often you can’t. The best defense is not to say anything stupid, but, as we all know, that’s not always possible. :>)

What should you do to protect yourself from being misquoted when you are interviewed? I’ve been misquoted, and I’m sure most people who’ve been interviewed have been surprised at how little of what they said was used, or the context in which is was used.
Here are some tips on protecting yourself in interviews, in which I consider both mainstream reporters and bloggers to be journalists:

- It’s ok to turn down an interview as long as you don’t say, “No Comment.”

Don’t agree to be quoted if you’re angry, extremely emotional or not up to speed on an issue. It’s fine to say, “I may not be the best person to interview on this topic.”

- feel free to tape your interviews so you have a transcript if you believe there an accuracy issue is possible or likely.
- ask the reporter to fact check your quotes. Just yesterday I caught an error in the fact check on an upcoming article in which I’m quoted, even though the original interview was done via email.

That’s not the same as asking to see the story in advance, which few reporters would agree to. It’s just asking that your quotes be accurate. You can’t control the context.

- ask the reporter the premise to her/his story. They’ll almost always tell you. That gives you a chance to say no, or to shape your comments to how they might be used.

The waters are dangerous, nonetheless. “I was not misquoted. I was used to make a point Rutenberg wanted to make before he talked to me.” Jay Rosen, writing about being quoted in the NY Times.

- if you are worried about the topic or the reporter’s bias, stick to email.
- ask the reporter to publish his/her notes as background to the story. Some Businessweek reporters do this, and so do increasing numbers of mainstream media.
- don’t say anything you wouldn’t want quoted when you talk to a reporter. (Sounds easier than it is!)
- recognize that anything you say in email to a reporter is fair game these days for being included in a story
Beware the stealth interview
- Everything you say can come back to haunt you. Online, everything is forever. Comments you make on blogs, in forums, in social media groups, etc., will all show up in searches on your name. Think twice before you hit “submit” or “send.”

There IS such a thing as bad publicity.