Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Success in Work 2: He Gave Them a Reason to Meet Him

Retail managementI share stories of people who find success in work to inspire your success. I change the names to protect their identity.

Rejection, Despair, & Hopelessness

Chuck spent 12 years in upper management when the stress cost him his health. He had to leave the job to recuperate. Chuck’s story emphasizes that you must give potential employers good reasons to let you in their office.

Chuck called 10 people a day to schedule interviews. No one accepted. Five weeks later, after calling 250+ people, after receiving 250+ rejections; he asked for help. The rejections led to despair and feelings of hopelessness.

Give Them a Reason to Let You into Their Office

He met with an employment advisor. This advisor asked Chuck who he wanted to work for. Chuck replied with the name of a prominent national retail chain.

The advisor responded “Pretend I’m in charge of hiring for the store. What would you say?” He lifted his thumb and finger to his ear and said “John Manes, how may I help you?”

Chuck stammered a very poor phone call. The advisor asked “What reason did you give me that would make me want to let you into my office?

Chuck answered “I’m looking for a job and I had filled out the on line application.”

“That explains why you want into my office, but what reason did you give that would make me want to let you in?”

Success within 4 Days

Chuck realized he had not shared any of his retail accomplishments:

  • Increased sales by $14,000 a week
  • Increased turns on his soft good racks from 26 to 28 in one year
  • Reduced inventory shrinkage by $300 a week

He shared his accomplishments in the next phone call. He started at his first choice retail outlet on the next Monday. They hired him on Black Friday, the most distracting and busiest day of the retail year. He got the job because he gave them very good reasons to let him into their offices.

Come back on Friday for the next story of success in work.

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