In May 1998 I went for a job interview with a small computer-engineering firm. I got the job.
My interviewer told me that, after three days of interviewing, I was the first person he’d met who actually knew what I was talking about.
That was quite funny.
Because I knew next to nothing about computers at the time.
Here’s what happened:
Up to that point I was working for a very small engineering firm for about two months. Before that I worked for six weeks for another firm – for nothing – just to get some experience.
Anyway, while I was at this firm, a friend called from an I.T. recruitment firm and asked if I wanted to work for Sun Microsystems.
Like he had to ask. Of course I did.
It turned out this engineering firm had an account with Sun Micro.
He told me what the job would entail, and what they expected me to know for the interview.
The interview would be in a week’s time.
And I knew absolutely nothing about the things he mentioned.
So, over the next few days, I started to read.
I read everything I could get my hands on related to the particular topics.
I read on the train home. I read on the train to work. I read during my short breaks. I read at home.
In fact, I read everywhere… all the time.
By the time I got to the interview, I knew a heck of a lot more than I needed to.
And the questions the interviewer threw at me were, by then, relatively easy.
I’d thought about all the different questions he’d ask me based on what I’d read. I thought about all the objections he’d throw my way. And I prepared the answers in my head.
Come to think of it, I could have written a letter… a sales letter… based on everything I had prepared and thought of.
Just as in a sales letter you have to enter the conversation your prospect has been having with himself (who said that?), I had to think of everything my interviewer may have been thinking.
It turned out I was pretty much on the button as I’d taken the time to do the research and prepare properly.
As he asked my one question after another, all through the interview I was getting hints I may be getting the job.
He started of by saying something like, “If you get the job what would you..?”
The it went to, “Assuming you’re successful..?”
Then it was, “When you get the job..?”
Finally it was, “When you start working for us..?”
Subtle hints like that.
He finished off by saying, as they all do, that I would hear by the end of the week whether or not I was successful.
And then he asked me if I had any questions for him.
Having paid attention to the clues, I said I had none… except one…
“Is there any reason you can think of why you would not give me this job… right now?”
He smiled.
And said he couldn’t think of any reasons, then congratulated me.
I got the job, there and then.
What I learned pretty early on is this: Sometimes you have to be direct. You have to ask for the sale.
It’s no use going through a brilliant sales spiel, only to lose the sale at the end because you’re afraid to ask for it.
I’ve been direct throughout my life. Sometimes I got the ‘job’. Most times I did not.
However, when I did get it, I got it BIG.
That was the highest earning job I’ve had in my life.
Let’s face it: When you write a sales letter, or send out an email, how often do you get a 100% conversion rate?
Come to think of it, how often do you get 50%? Or 20%? Or even 10%?
Using my direct approach in life I’ve probably managed about a 25% conversion.
And it’s always been the biggies.
Now that ain’t bad, is it?
Best,
Rezbi
