Three Interviewing Mistakes – And How To Avoid Them By Mike Brooks
As the economy slowly recovers, companies are beginning to expand and hire sales reps again. If you’re looking for a job, or looking to change jobs, no doubt you will be sending your resume out, talking to hiring managers, and, if you’re lucky enough to get picked, even going on interviews.
Over the years, I’ve looked at thousands of resumes and interviewed thousands of sales reps. In fact, right now, I’m recruiting for several companies, and I’m amazed by how sales reps keep making basic, horrible mistakes that often times immediately disqualify them for any chance at landing a position. Often times, these mistakes even prevent them from getting an interview!
Here are the 3 worst interviewing mistakes sales reps are making, and what you can do to avoid them:
#1) Filling your resume with every job you’ve worked at for the last 10 years. The first mistake sales reps make – and that hiring managers look for first – is listing five to seven jobs (or more!) on their resume within an eight to ten year time frame.
Nothing will disqualify you faster than a history of job hopping, or a history of staying at jobs for less than a year. (One resume I saw last week listed 3 jobs this year alone!)
Obviously, the reason this is a red flag for companies is that they see themselves investing thousands of dollars hiring and training you only to think that their company will be the next one on your resume.
The Solution: Omit jobs you’ve stayed at less than a year, and never list more than four jobs in a ten year period (it’s better to have only three).
You can disclose other positions once you move forward during the interview process – in person – after you’ve earned a change to wow them with your personality, experience, and obvious qualifications for the job.
#2) Talking for too long when asked a question. Whenever a hiring manager calls you and begins asking questions, make sure your answers are direct and short. You’d be amazed at how so many sales reps will go on and on and on…..
What the hiring manager is thinking is that you are a sales rep who will talk past the close, never listen to your prospects, and never close any business. “No wonder they’re looking for a job,” frequently goes through my mind…
The Solution: Listen carefully to what you’re being asked, think about how to answer it directly, then answer it and shut up! This one technique will separate you from 80% of the sales reps interviewing for the same position.
#3) Don’t interview or interrogate the hiring manager. I know that you have questions about the job, and you should ask a few, but don’t interrogate the hiring manager! Nothing makes us more irritated than being grilled about every aspect of the job, especially about the pay and comp plan. You’re the one being interviewed, not the other way around.
The Solution: Ask some basic questions but save the majority of them for the END of the in person interview. Believe me, the hiring manager will appreciate it and be much more likely to bring you in.
If you’re serious about getting a new position or moving up in your sales career, then avoid these 3 interviewing mistakes. Your chance of getting the new job will increase 100% if you do!
Good luck and happy job hunting!
If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s bestselling book on Inside Sales and his Complete Book of Telephone Scripts
Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps throughout the US teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. He offers a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone, as well as an internationally acclaimed FREE ezine. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by
visiting: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Monday 26 October 2009
Understanding Unconscious Bias
By Carolyn Sheppard
At a seminar I attended a short while ago (on the subject of Leadership During Challenging Times), all of the four speakers, from very different backgrounds, mentioned the issue of unconscious bias and the effects it has on leadership, followership and the organisation. Unconscious bias is the underlying, subconscious prejudices that every single person has, due to nature, nurture and experience.
As an illustration of this, one of the speakers (an eloquent and impressive French IT Director), recounted a particularly relevant story regarding her employment at a company in the US. She said that no matter how good her performance and results, she could never succeed because of the culture of the organisation. She struggled in the company for three years. The company talked a good ‘diversity and inclusion policy’, but the behaviour of the employees (right down to the woman who assumed that any other female in the organisation must also be a PA), set the culture based on their own unconscious biases. Changing the entire culture of a huge, Texas-based heavy industry company was not a task she desired to take on (and probably not an achievable one) so, with no sense of failure but a great deal more understanding, she moved on.
That’s the negative side of unconscious bias – acting out a bias that is discriminatory or prejudiced. But the positive side of unconscious bias is that it is a basic survival instinct. Our brains recognise situations or scenarios that get right down to the ‘flight or fight’ principle. However in these times, for most of us, there is much less need for these responses – there is not the physical danger that required us to develop these instincts. We can transfer them from physical to verbal or even intellectual responses – but your brain is still crying out for a reaction of some kind. Our biases are there for a reason, your brain has learned to react in a certain way because of an experience or learned behaviour (eg prejudice demonstrated by parents, culture or other external influences).
Your experience may include, for example, knowing an extremely argumentative red headed person (whatever example I use, it will demonstrate a bias!). You automatically, therefore, are on your guard when you talk to any red head, no matter what their personality.
Unfortunately instinct is not discriminatory – and it takes a lot of training to overcome those gut reactions (take for example being a fire-fighter – deliberately moving towards a threat that you would naturally wish to flee).
Can you train the bias out of an individual? The answer is probably no, you can’t easily ‘undo’ the conditioning or personal preferences of an individual, but you can educate them to recognise unconscious bias in themselves and in others, and to consider the consequences of their actions and reactions in the context of their bias. By making individuals and teams aware of the biases that operate personally and in their culture or organisation, they can make a tangible difference in changing behaviour (if not beliefs) and increasing the opportunities for diversity and inclusion. As a result the organisation can tap into the broad range of talent that may be within their reach that they otherwise may have ignored.
A good example of this is the ‘selling more toothpaste’ story. Instead of just sitting in the boardroom wondering how they could sell more toothpaste, the MD asked everyone in the factory what ideas they had. One shop floor worker put his hand up and said ‘make the hole bigger’. There was the answer they needed – and it wasn’t in the marketing team or in product research. It was right there on the shop floor. This story is many years old, from a time when there were far more class distinctions in society and in the workplace. By disregarding their bias (which was perhaps not so unconscious then, admittedly), the owners of that toothpaste factory achieved a very positive result and sold more.
When you are next in a training room – look around at the people you are with. What unconscious biases have you already applied just in looking at those people? What assumptions have you made about the place you are in, the behaviour of others, the likely outcome of the day? Whether you are a delegate or a trainer – consider those unconscious biases you hold that will be positive or negative be aware how they could affect your behaviour and the results you will get.
Resources:
On-line Implicit Association Testing: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Training on unconscious bias: www.angela-peacock.com/unconsciousbias.html
At a seminar I attended a short while ago (on the subject of Leadership During Challenging Times), all of the four speakers, from very different backgrounds, mentioned the issue of unconscious bias and the effects it has on leadership, followership and the organisation. Unconscious bias is the underlying, subconscious prejudices that every single person has, due to nature, nurture and experience.
As an illustration of this, one of the speakers (an eloquent and impressive French IT Director), recounted a particularly relevant story regarding her employment at a company in the US. She said that no matter how good her performance and results, she could never succeed because of the culture of the organisation. She struggled in the company for three years. The company talked a good ‘diversity and inclusion policy’, but the behaviour of the employees (right down to the woman who assumed that any other female in the organisation must also be a PA), set the culture based on their own unconscious biases. Changing the entire culture of a huge, Texas-based heavy industry company was not a task she desired to take on (and probably not an achievable one) so, with no sense of failure but a great deal more understanding, she moved on.
That’s the negative side of unconscious bias – acting out a bias that is discriminatory or prejudiced. But the positive side of unconscious bias is that it is a basic survival instinct. Our brains recognise situations or scenarios that get right down to the ‘flight or fight’ principle. However in these times, for most of us, there is much less need for these responses – there is not the physical danger that required us to develop these instincts. We can transfer them from physical to verbal or even intellectual responses – but your brain is still crying out for a reaction of some kind. Our biases are there for a reason, your brain has learned to react in a certain way because of an experience or learned behaviour (eg prejudice demonstrated by parents, culture or other external influences).
Your experience may include, for example, knowing an extremely argumentative red headed person (whatever example I use, it will demonstrate a bias!). You automatically, therefore, are on your guard when you talk to any red head, no matter what their personality.
Unfortunately instinct is not discriminatory – and it takes a lot of training to overcome those gut reactions (take for example being a fire-fighter – deliberately moving towards a threat that you would naturally wish to flee).
Can you train the bias out of an individual? The answer is probably no, you can’t easily ‘undo’ the conditioning or personal preferences of an individual, but you can educate them to recognise unconscious bias in themselves and in others, and to consider the consequences of their actions and reactions in the context of their bias. By making individuals and teams aware of the biases that operate personally and in their culture or organisation, they can make a tangible difference in changing behaviour (if not beliefs) and increasing the opportunities for diversity and inclusion. As a result the organisation can tap into the broad range of talent that may be within their reach that they otherwise may have ignored.
A good example of this is the ‘selling more toothpaste’ story. Instead of just sitting in the boardroom wondering how they could sell more toothpaste, the MD asked everyone in the factory what ideas they had. One shop floor worker put his hand up and said ‘make the hole bigger’. There was the answer they needed – and it wasn’t in the marketing team or in product research. It was right there on the shop floor. This story is many years old, from a time when there were far more class distinctions in society and in the workplace. By disregarding their bias (which was perhaps not so unconscious then, admittedly), the owners of that toothpaste factory achieved a very positive result and sold more.
When you are next in a training room – look around at the people you are with. What unconscious biases have you already applied just in looking at those people? What assumptions have you made about the place you are in, the behaviour of others, the likely outcome of the day? Whether you are a delegate or a trainer – consider those unconscious biases you hold that will be positive or negative be aware how they could affect your behaviour and the results you will get.
Resources:
On-line Implicit Association Testing: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Training on unconscious bias: www.angela-peacock.com/unconsciousbias.html
Monday 19 October 2009
Trainers need psychology like a fish needs a bicycle
‘Trainers need psychology like a fish needs a bicycle’: true or false?
What would a training programme designed in complete ignorance of human psychology be like? Maybe something like this…
The 29 participants filed one by one into the windowless room, at the front stood the trainer, behind a dark oak lectern. The tables were in lines across the room, and name cards indicated who was to sit where. At each place was a thick file full of dense typescript. On the front of the file was the title of the training course the participants were about to receive: ‘The basic management skills’. The course was to last five days.
The trainer waited until everyone was seated. Then she started:
‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this programme in basic management skills. I shall be describing the 10 main theories of management and indicating the strengths and limitations of each. You may think you already know the basics of management, but I can assure you plenty of managers make elementary mistakes all the time. That is why this programme has been designed.
'Now, if you would turn to page 32(a) of your file, we will begin with the origins and development of the situational leadership model. The list of points that I have put up on the overhead shows you…’
And so on.
How many ‘deliberate mistakes’ did you spot in that happily fictitious account? ...
This is an excerpt from the book 'Psychology for Trainers'. Click here to download and entire chapter free. To buy the book, click here.
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Time Termites
The Top 10 Time Termites and How to Exterminate Them - by Anne Alexander
Did you know that “time termites” eat up as much as 25 – 50% of your time? It’s true, and in this article I’ll discuss what a time termite is, as well as what the top 10 time termites are, and - most importantly! – how you can exterminate them and take back a huge amount of your time and your life.
Time termites are activities and people that “eat up” your time and destroy the beautiful design of your life. In my Time Architect™ model of time management, we design a life that is grounded solidly in the four cornerstones – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. We protect these areas by understanding and applying the storm proofing principles.
Just like you design your home to withstand intruders (such as termites), you must design your life to strongly protect against the situations and people that will run right over you and eat up your life - if you let them.
Let’s look at the top ten time termites, based on my unscientific experience with hundreds of clients.
1. Wasting time on trivial items – computer games, gossip, etc.
2. Waiting around to talk with the boss or manager
3. Meetings without a good agenda and/or good facilitation
4. Too many unnecessary reports to write
5. Problems in locating documents or other needed items
6. Answering unimportant phone calls & email
7. People with a negative attitude - complainers and whiners
8. Inability to say "No." That is, saying "Yes" to too many people
9. Interruptions
10. Add your own: What’s your biggest time termite?
Time termites vary depending on whether you work in a huge Fortune 500 type business, or a small company or organization, or are a solo entrepreneur, but these are a representation of what steals most people’s time.
As a business and executive coach I work with hundreds of high achieving business owners and professionals. In my experience, only a very energetic, intelligent and vigilant approach will work to protect your time.
Extermination tactics:
1. Values & vision: Get crystal clear on your personal values and vision. You must know what matters most to you and where you are going in order to be able to make choices that support the best use of your time.
2. Planning: When you create annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals, plan with your values and vision clearly in mind. This way, you will focus in on your highest value activities.
3. Systems: Get good systems in place. Be able to find immediately any information or tools you need in your business or organization. These systems are highly individual. Feel free to contact me for information on resources to help you get organized.
4. Boundaries: Erect strong barriers around yourself – you can think of this as a sturdy fence with an electronic gate around your house (and life) that only grants access to those people and activities that fit in with your priorities. This is a challenge to anyone who likes to think of themselves as a “nice person,” which is many of us. It takes some practice to regroove our neural pathways to hold a new belief that having boundaries is not only OK, but downright healthy. (For more on strong boundaries, email me for an article that goes into more depth on that topic.)
So get crystal clear on your values and vision, create a good plan, install excellent systems, and erect strong boundaries. When you implement just one of these suggestions each month, in a year you will have 12 awesome new habits that will help you take back 25-50% of your time…and your life. Congratulations: your time termites will have been exterminated.
Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com/
Did you know that “time termites” eat up as much as 25 – 50% of your time? It’s true, and in this article I’ll discuss what a time termite is, as well as what the top 10 time termites are, and - most importantly! – how you can exterminate them and take back a huge amount of your time and your life.Time termites are activities and people that “eat up” your time and destroy the beautiful design of your life. In my Time Architect™ model of time management, we design a life that is grounded solidly in the four cornerstones – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. We protect these areas by understanding and applying the storm proofing principles.
Just like you design your home to withstand intruders (such as termites), you must design your life to strongly protect against the situations and people that will run right over you and eat up your life - if you let them.
Let’s look at the top ten time termites, based on my unscientific experience with hundreds of clients.
1. Wasting time on trivial items – computer games, gossip, etc.
2. Waiting around to talk with the boss or manager
3. Meetings without a good agenda and/or good facilitation
4. Too many unnecessary reports to write
5. Problems in locating documents or other needed items
6. Answering unimportant phone calls & email
7. People with a negative attitude - complainers and whiners
8. Inability to say "No." That is, saying "Yes" to too many people
9. Interruptions
10. Add your own: What’s your biggest time termite?
Time termites vary depending on whether you work in a huge Fortune 500 type business, or a small company or organization, or are a solo entrepreneur, but these are a representation of what steals most people’s time.
As a business and executive coach I work with hundreds of high achieving business owners and professionals. In my experience, only a very energetic, intelligent and vigilant approach will work to protect your time.
Extermination tactics:
1. Values & vision: Get crystal clear on your personal values and vision. You must know what matters most to you and where you are going in order to be able to make choices that support the best use of your time.
2. Planning: When you create annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals, plan with your values and vision clearly in mind. This way, you will focus in on your highest value activities.
3. Systems: Get good systems in place. Be able to find immediately any information or tools you need in your business or organization. These systems are highly individual. Feel free to contact me for information on resources to help you get organized.
4. Boundaries: Erect strong barriers around yourself – you can think of this as a sturdy fence with an electronic gate around your house (and life) that only grants access to those people and activities that fit in with your priorities. This is a challenge to anyone who likes to think of themselves as a “nice person,” which is many of us. It takes some practice to regroove our neural pathways to hold a new belief that having boundaries is not only OK, but downright healthy. (For more on strong boundaries, email me for an article that goes into more depth on that topic.)
So get crystal clear on your values and vision, create a good plan, install excellent systems, and erect strong boundaries. When you implement just one of these suggestions each month, in a year you will have 12 awesome new habits that will help you take back 25-50% of your time…and your life. Congratulations: your time termites will have been exterminated.
Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com/
Thursday 1 October 2009
Latest UK HR and Government Update
Taxes, returns & payroll
The Companies Act 2006 is changing the law for companies. Passed in 2006, the Act reaches the final stage of implementation on 1 October 2009. More information here
Directors' addresses: all companies will need to provide a service address for every director in their register of directors and keep a record of their directors' residential addresses separate from their register of directors.
Company and business names: measures will be introduced to enable the public to easily find a business name and prevent business names being misleading.
Memorandums and articles of association: where a business incorporates on or after 1 October 2009, it will be able to use - if it so chooses - model memorandum and articles of association. Check the Companies House website, for updates/templates.
Company particulars in correspondence: a company will have to include its name in all forms of business documentation, including electronic documents.
Place for keeping key company records: every company will be able to have a single alternative inspection location (SAIL) as an alternative to its registered office, at which it must make its key records available for public inspection. This site will have to be in the same part of the UK as its registered office. Companies will have to notify Companies House of their SAIL, the records they keep there and of any change in their SAIL's address.
Inspection of company records: a person wishing to inspect a private company's records will have to give advance notice of the date and time they wish to carry out the inspection. In addition, companies will not be able to prevent the person from copying all or part of a record they are entitled to inspect.
Providing copies of company records: if a person requests a hard copy of a company record, the company must provide a hard copy even if the record is held electronically. If a person requests an electronic copy, the company must do so if the record is held electronically.
Notification of particulars of share capital: in an application for a new company, the particular of share capital will be included in a new 'statement of capital', rather than being included in the memorandum. Any changes in capital will be notified to Companies House through a new statement of capital.
Reduction of share capital: as an alternative to the current process requiring court approval, private companies will be able to choose to reduce their capital by special resolution, supported by a solvency statement by each of the directors.
Overseas companies with a business establishment in the UK: there will be a single regime for the registration by overseas companies of the particulars of their UK establishments. There will also be a new regime for the registration of charges over property in the UK created by such companies.
Merger of Companies Registry in Northern Ireland with Companies House: there will be a single register of companies for the entire UK. As a result, companies incorporated in Northern Ireland wishing to establish a place of business elsewhere in the UK will no longer have to register as an overseas company. See our regulation update on the merger of Great Britain and Northern Ireland company registers.
Record-keeping requirements for limited liability partnerships (LLPs): new record-keeping requirements will be introduced for LLPs.
The above outlines key changes for the final implementation of the Companies Act 2006. Find detailed information about Companies Act changes on the Companies House website
Regulation of community interest companies (CICs): new provisions will enable a CIC to convert to the asset-locked form of a community benefit society and a Scottish charity to convert to a CIC. In addition, requirements relating to the appointment and removal of directors, alternate directors and casting votes will be removed and a reasonable-persons test will be added to the community aspect section of the community interest test.
Formation of limited partnerships: on registration, Companies House will officially confirm that a limited partnership has been formed. Limited partnerships will also have to include in their name an indication of their legal status.
Employing people
The national minimum wage (NMW): the NMW for eligible workers will increase. It will rise to £5.80 an hour for workers aged 22 and above and to £4.83 an hour to workers aged 18-21. The rate for those under 18 but above compulsory school age rises to £3.57 an hour. See our regulation update on the increase in the national minimum wage rate.
Tips, service charges, etc and the NMW: bars, restaurants, hotels, etc will no longer be able to count service charges, tips, gratuities and cover charges paid to a worker through the employer's payroll as part of the NMW.
Redundancy payments and certain employment tribunal awards: the limit on a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy payments, and tribunal awards that use a week's pay as the basis for calculation, will increase from £350 to £380.
Source: (C) Businesslink
The Companies Act 2006 is changing the law for companies. Passed in 2006, the Act reaches the final stage of implementation on 1 October 2009. More information here
Directors' addresses: all companies will need to provide a service address for every director in their register of directors and keep a record of their directors' residential addresses separate from their register of directors.
Company and business names: measures will be introduced to enable the public to easily find a business name and prevent business names being misleading.
Memorandums and articles of association: where a business incorporates on or after 1 October 2009, it will be able to use - if it so chooses - model memorandum and articles of association. Check the Companies House website, for updates/templates.
Company particulars in correspondence: a company will have to include its name in all forms of business documentation, including electronic documents.
Place for keeping key company records: every company will be able to have a single alternative inspection location (SAIL) as an alternative to its registered office, at which it must make its key records available for public inspection. This site will have to be in the same part of the UK as its registered office. Companies will have to notify Companies House of their SAIL, the records they keep there and of any change in their SAIL's address.
Inspection of company records: a person wishing to inspect a private company's records will have to give advance notice of the date and time they wish to carry out the inspection. In addition, companies will not be able to prevent the person from copying all or part of a record they are entitled to inspect.
Providing copies of company records: if a person requests a hard copy of a company record, the company must provide a hard copy even if the record is held electronically. If a person requests an electronic copy, the company must do so if the record is held electronically.
Notification of particulars of share capital: in an application for a new company, the particular of share capital will be included in a new 'statement of capital', rather than being included in the memorandum. Any changes in capital will be notified to Companies House through a new statement of capital.
Reduction of share capital: as an alternative to the current process requiring court approval, private companies will be able to choose to reduce their capital by special resolution, supported by a solvency statement by each of the directors.
Overseas companies with a business establishment in the UK: there will be a single regime for the registration by overseas companies of the particulars of their UK establishments. There will also be a new regime for the registration of charges over property in the UK created by such companies.
Merger of Companies Registry in Northern Ireland with Companies House: there will be a single register of companies for the entire UK. As a result, companies incorporated in Northern Ireland wishing to establish a place of business elsewhere in the UK will no longer have to register as an overseas company. See our regulation update on the merger of Great Britain and Northern Ireland company registers.
Record-keeping requirements for limited liability partnerships (LLPs): new record-keeping requirements will be introduced for LLPs.
The above outlines key changes for the final implementation of the Companies Act 2006. Find detailed information about Companies Act changes on the Companies House website
Regulation of community interest companies (CICs): new provisions will enable a CIC to convert to the asset-locked form of a community benefit society and a Scottish charity to convert to a CIC. In addition, requirements relating to the appointment and removal of directors, alternate directors and casting votes will be removed and a reasonable-persons test will be added to the community aspect section of the community interest test.
Formation of limited partnerships: on registration, Companies House will officially confirm that a limited partnership has been formed. Limited partnerships will also have to include in their name an indication of their legal status.
Employing people
The national minimum wage (NMW): the NMW for eligible workers will increase. It will rise to £5.80 an hour for workers aged 22 and above and to £4.83 an hour to workers aged 18-21. The rate for those under 18 but above compulsory school age rises to £3.57 an hour. See our regulation update on the increase in the national minimum wage rate.
Tips, service charges, etc and the NMW: bars, restaurants, hotels, etc will no longer be able to count service charges, tips, gratuities and cover charges paid to a worker through the employer's payroll as part of the NMW.
Redundancy payments and certain employment tribunal awards: the limit on a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy payments, and tribunal awards that use a week's pay as the basis for calculation, will increase from £350 to £380.
Source: (C) Businesslink
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