If One More Out-of-Work Sales Person Calls Me…

OK…so the headline might be a little harsh (and maybe I’m a bit grumpy tonight). But I must tell you — that while I’m happy to help out-of-work sales people network, I’m frustrated with their general lack of creativity when it comes to job hunting.

Let me see if I understand this…you fancy yourself as a great sales person…and you’re looking for a job…and you network with me…and you expect ME to hand over my database and go out of my way to call my contacts to ‘see if they’re hiring’ — and all you can do is hand me a resume?

That’s the extent of your salesmanship?

You Can Do Better Than That

As I’ve said before in this blog, the sales person of the future MUST be a good marketer–not just a good closer. And the best way to demonstrate your marketing prowess is in how you position yourself when hunting for a job. Yet most are clueless.

My Great Idea…Met With Luke Warmness

So, I got called the other day by a friend of a friend who was “networking.” I told her to go to LinkedIn (she was all over LinkedIn) and put up a Google app that allows you to create a PowerPoint presentation to exhibit your know-how.

As soon as I made the recommendation, she changed the subject to “who I knew” who could help her. Why wasn’t she open to this? Answer: Too much work.

She would have to think…and create…and ask for advice…and burn some night-time oil. And she wasn’t willing to do that. She might actually have to spend $100 on it and I guess her lifetime value (the money she’ll make in her next job) wasn’t worth it.

So, all she could provide me was a resume. No blog that demonstrates how she thinks and writes. No LinkedIn app to demonstrate communication skills. No video to help me see how she expresses herself. No ‘experience portfolio’ so I could see what projects she’d been involved in–and so I could sample her work. Nothing.

Except the ole standby–the resume. (That thing that every job seeker labors over–but no one else reads–or believes).

People Are Hiring

Virtually every company I know of is looking for good people. But they’re looking for smart, forward thinking, culturally wise, internet savvy people. They are NOT looking for people with good resumes.

And if you’re in sales and looking…or know someone that is…send them this article. And tell them to get creative. Get referrable…get network-able…get creative…so that people like me WANT to send you to our database because your value is so demonstrat-able.

But don’t send me a resume.