SALES PITCH IS A JOB INTERVIEW. DOES YOURS GET YOU HIRED?

Recently I have just done a series of phone interviews to fill a Sales Manager position. Remember, keyword here is sales, the main responsibility if they’re hired will be to SELL. Here’s a good example of the conversation I had. Me: “Why do you think you’d be perfect for the position?”. Them: “It’s not my place to say if I’d be a good fit or not”. Not your place? This is your only place to convince me that you and you alone would be perfect for the job! An interview is a sales pitch, candidates are supposed to sell themselves to you. Needless to say, that candidate did not sell me over.

Sales pitch is an interview. Does it get you hired?

We’ve all applied for a job at one point, we’ve all been in the position of being an interviewee. Some of us, an interviewer. For those of us who have interviewed people can share that the most important thing to do in an interview is to WOW them. A sales pitch is a sales executive’s job interview with a prospect client. They are applying for a job in the client’s company for their services. Like an interview, you need to wow your prospect in a sales presentation. Does your sales pitch get you hired?

Can your sales pitch land you a job? Here are a few pointers that we can learn…

1. First impressions. First impressions are crucial, the first 10 seconds of a meeting can make or break a deal. So always dress well and never look frumpy to a meeting. Put a smile on your face, carry your most delightful personality. Be excited about the meeting.
2. A firm handshake. In a career class at college, my classmates and I were given tools to prepare us for a new phase in our lives: working world. The instructor insist that a handshake is a telling if you’re a confident person or not. I won’t forget we were lined up to shake hands with him 5 times, just to make sure we knew to give a firm one.
3. Lasting impressions. First impressions are the immediate assessment a prospect client will give you. But you need to leave them with a lasting impression. Your meeting can last a few minutes or a few hours. Make sure your personality shine the whole time and your energy stays high.
4. Know your product! You can’t fake your lack of knowledge by being cute and nice – it doesn’t work.
5. Be distinct. Do research and give them something they’ve never heard or seen before, especially from your competitors. Don’t bore them with a generic answer. Make it hard for them to compare you with others.
6. Be clear. When an interviewee says “what’s unique about me is that I’m hardworking”, you’ll think “that’s not at all different”. But if he says “I’m hardworking. I paid for my own college tuition and got a double degree in math and psychology” – now that’s unique! Find examples, testimonies, surveys, articles, researches of why your company / product is unique.
7. Always come prepared. Like when you’re applying for a job, you find out what the position is, what kind of background they’re looking for in a candidate, what kind of company it is etc. In a sales pitch, you need to acquire all that information as well as to how and why your product / company would be a great fit to their needs.
8. Presentation skill is key. Sometimes the content of the presentation is secondary to how it is presented. Know your material and make it interesting. The worst thing that can happen in a presentation is to bore your listeners.

If a sales call is analogous to a job interview, then in order to sell, your sales people had better knock those interviewers out of the park! Always come prepared and remember to wow them and leave a lasting impression. If your sales execs can master the art, rest assured they’re one step closer to the hiring table.

BAMBOO: The Future of Green Construction

One construction material that’s worth venturing in is bamboo. Bamboo is known to be one of the most strong and at the same time flexible, versatile plants in the world. It’s been used for centuries for food, medicine, construction, furniture, textile, paper, musical instrument, water processing and many more. Findings report that bamboo suspension bridges in China were found to have been built in the 3^rd century B.C. It’s not odd to find bamboo in structure, supplemental as well as decorative element of a modern construction.

As the 2011 winner of the Architectural Design Award for our 1000 m² pillarless Great Hall on Eco Campus, constructed entirely of bamboo, we can say that bamboo is a superb material. The Great Hall is a 45 meter in diameter and 17 meter arch oval dome-shaped building, that is naturally lit by a 24 m² polycarbonate sky light, and uses over 8000 bamboos, thatched roof and natural stone flooring. Bamboo’s strong, flexible, durable and versatile nature is enough reason for researchers, architects and engineers around the world to study the plant. It is a superb material for sustainable constructions.

The facts of Bamboo and why it’s a superior material for construction:

• Bamboo is a very robust grass, very low (or none) maintenance and spreads easily
• Bamboo is the fastest growing grass, some species have been recorded as growing up to 100cm (39in) within 24 hours –which makes it a very cheap resource
• The hollow tube shape gives a strength factor of 1.9 times more than an equivalent solid wood beam
• After being treated, bamboo is a very hard wood, but it’s also light and very tough
• Bamboo is the best eco-friendly alternative to building with timber from a green standpoint
• It can grow very high, some 60 feet high
• Certain bamboos has twice the compression strength of concrete and roughly the same strength-to-weight ratio of mild steel
• Various structural shapes may be made by training the bamboo to assume them as it grows
  

  My column on BritCham's UpDate Magazine

Your staff’s new year’s resolutions can boost your business

It is that time of year again where resolutions are big on people’s agenda. We like to take advantage of the new year spirit to start fresh and set out new goals. We think of resolutions to be a way to improve the quality of our lives. They are things that we set out to accomplish (that we may have not got around to do). It’s never too late, too young or too old to create one, it is good for anyone, at any age, for any goal and purpose in life.

Like a personal resolution, companies can create one too. It’s true that in the corporate world, the known term for it is goal/target/vision/mission. They typically cover the big items, are non-negotiable and works top-down, for example sales target, KPI, performance etc; and unfortunately leave out the small ones that sometimes are what matter most to your people, for example appreciation for their work well done. As a leader, you can do a year-exercise that involves acts of kindness, such as a smile and a greeting, a thank you, an apology, replying to emails promptly. The key result of this exercise is your staff feeling a respectful and positive work environment in the office. Remember, happy employees work better and harder.

Gather up your people and set the tone for the year. First ask yourself, what kind of behavior and attitude you’d like your people to have? Ask them to think about what kind of environment will help them be more productive this year? What kind of acts of kindness would they like to see exhibited more in the office? Then, they can all decide on the top 5 things they are willing to commit doing the whole year.

This may seem trivial, but respect is the bread and butter of positive culture in a company, boosts staff’s morale and goes a long way in improving business.