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Alyssa’s Story
Alyssa wanted a job with a clothing store. She loved clothes. She loved selling. She loved helping women combine an outfit with accessories to create the perfect look. She identified all the women’s clothiers in her community and began her campaign to prove she could help them achieve their sales goals.
She made 10 phone calls a day talking to friends and acquaintances about where they bought clothes. She discovered the names of their favorite sales clerks. She even scheduled shopping trips with her friends so they could introduce her to the staff. She counted each sales trip as 2-4 meetings depending on how many clerks or managers she met. She also visited stores on her own to talk to the staff.
She used her professional introduction that established her as a woman who loved helping other women create the perfect look and made stores money. She asked the staff questions about what they liked about working at the store. She discussed the typical client, how the store captured client information for future sales, and what sales quotas management set. She would casually ask what they liked about the store’s manager, their management style, goals for the store, etc. She shared appropriate home runs as the discussion presented opportunity. All of her questions and statements established a rapport with the staff. They established her as a true professional in their eyes. She kept her visits very short, once again proving she was a professional. She visited some staff several times to gather more information. She always finished with “Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. Who else would you suggest I talk to?”
She met with the manager only when she knew enough to impress the manager. Her referred to both the names of the staff and some of the information she gathered in her introduction. She focused not on getting a job, but what the manager wanted to achieve with the store. She verified that the information she received was accurate and presented her home runs establishing she could do what the manager wanted and make sales for the store. The managers usually asked her questions to clarify or explain what she said. She ended the conversation by saying “Thank you for spending time with me. I really want to work for you. May I remain in touch?”
She made mistakes the first few stores she visited. Sometimes she pushed too hard. Other times she failed to impress them. The more people she met, however, they better she did.
Unfortunately, she made some mistakes with the manager of one of the stores she really wanted to work for She did not give up. She visited that store each week for five weeks. She revisited the staff and spent 2 minutes with the manager trying to overcome her previous mistakes and demonstrate her gentle persistence. Those visits counted as 1 of her 10 meetings a week.
Her hard work paid off. That store manager offered her a job during her fifth follow-up visit.
Purpose of the meetings
- You meet with 4-6 people a week to do your due diligence in preparation…
- …to meet with 2-3 decision makers a week to prove you can help them achieve their goals or resolve their challenges
- Follow-up on previous meetings to continue to make the hiring authority feel wonderful (we’ll discuss this next week)
Some Final Tips to Enhance your 10 Meetings a Week
- Set appointments to meet with people in office or industrial setting.
- Set meetings when convenient with the person you meet. Avoid peak work times.
- Limit your meeting to 10-15 minutes unless eating, golfing, or similar venue
- Prepare 10-12 questions to ask people during meetings. Do not ask all of them at any one meeting
- Treat everyone you talk to—especially the secretary—with respect and kindness
- Meet with others before you meet with the hiring authority or decision maker until you know what their goals, challenges, and projects
- Use your professional introduction to impress them. Do not begin the conversation with anything close to “I’m looking for a job. Are you hiring right now?”
- Change your approach if they refer to you human resources. You came across as a job seeker, not a professional
- Notice how people dress, so that you can dress one step higher when you meet with the manager
- Meet people at professional or business association meetings, the Chamber of Commerce, service organizations, and other meetings. Identify friends who cant take you as their guest. Offer to pay for your costs and maybe theirs.
In Conclusion
Sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day sending emails and resumes depresses you.
Meeting 10 people a week to network, follow-up, and impress the manager accelerates your job search. Your enthusiasm grows. Your ability grows (because you will make mistakes with the first 7-10). Your confidence grows. You get the information you need. You get jobs faster. You get higher salary offers.
So, meet 10 people, face-to-face, a week
Join us next week when we discuss creating a professional introduction to impress people
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