Are You a Superhero in Training?

I'm delighted that some of my ideas were selected to help shape the theme of the 2008 Career Directors International Conference in Seattle.

Job Search Portfolios

I'm reading a book on business-to-business sales called "Why Leave $100,000 On the Table?" by Mark Bonkiewicz. The author lives in Omaha (where I live), and I came across the book a few weeks back on my bookshelf and decided to read it.

He outlines an interesting strategy for sales professionals to transform themselves from "Peddler to Consultant" and outlines a sales funnel not unlike CJ Hayden's Get Clients Now model. As part of the Demonstration Phase, Bonkiewicz talks about the "Demonstration Book":
"This valuable sales tool allows a consultant to deliver a complete company story to any prospect at any time. Photographs will paint the picture clearly. Testimonial letters will prove that customers from a multiplicity of industries were satisfied with my abilities and the performance of my teammates. Performance evaluations on specific projects will display customer answers on all types of criteria."

It brought me back to a presentation by Phyllis Shabad in October 1999 at the NRWA Conference on the subject of career portfolios. This was one of the earliest -- and I still think, the best -- workshops on this topic I've heard.

Phyllis asserted that you can "control 50% of questions in an interview with a portfolio," adding that it "opens the chemistry of the interviews." She called it the client's "secret marketing tool."

She recommended including no more than 25-30 pages of documentation, beginning with the resume and comprised of five sections, linked thematically. It can include things like "Accomplishments," "Projects" "Relationships" "Credentials" and "Media."

She has clients collect items they feel good about, and put them in a storage box. Then, she and the client brainstorm to come up with categories to organize the materials.

It's amazing to me that this was an idea I first learned more about more than eight years ago -- and I still don't think clients (or resume writers) use these to their full advantage. And it's too bad, because I'm guessing we're leaving more than $100,000 on the table.

Guest Author: If You Want to Get Clients…

...You'll Have to Talk to Them

By C.J. Hayden, MCC
Author, Get Clients Now

"I've done everything I can think of to get clients," a desperate self-employed professional writes. "I printed a brochure, I have a web site, and I've placed ads. But no one is hiring me. What am I doing wrong?"

This unhappy business owner has made a common mistake. He seems to believe that investing money in placing ads and creating marketing materials will somehow produce clients without the direct involvement of the business owner.

Perhaps professionals who make this mistake are trying to follow a big business model. They hide behind a company name, expensive marketing literature, and a web site. They spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on ads, directory listings, and trade show booths. Far too many self-employed professionals don't even disclose their own name in their marketing.

But people don't buy professional and personal services from an anonymous company; they buy them from individual people they have learned to know, like, and trust. The more personal -- or the more expensive -- the service you offer is, the more likely this is to be true.

If you are a career counselor, life coach, or massage therapist, you are asking people to trust you with the most personal areas of their lives. If you are a web designer, IT consultant, or corporate trainer, you are asking your clients to trust you enough to spend thousands of dollars with you. You don't earn people's trust by sending them a brochure.

Here are the five things that work best for most professionals to get clients:
1. Meeting people in person -- at events or by appointment
2. Talking to people on the phone
3. Sending personal letters and emails
4. Following up personally over time
5. Speaking to groups at meetings and conferences

And here are the five things self-employed professionals most often try that don't work:
1. Placing ads in the Yellow Pages or local newspaper (Editor's Note: Yellow Pages ads still work for resume writers, depending on the clientele and geographic market you are targeting.)
2. Distributing flyers around their community
3. Mailing mass-produced letters or brochures to strangers
4. Sending their newsletter to people who haven't asked for it
5. Posting their brochure on the Internet and calling that a web site

The main difference between these two lists is that the first list requires you to talk to people. On the second list are anonymous activities that allow you to hide out and never meet the people you are in business to serve.

If you want people to become your clients, they need to get to know you, learn to like you, and believe they can trust you. And for that, they really do need to meet you.

It is understandable why so many business owners gravitate to the least effective marketing tactics -- they are so much easier! To buy an ad, all you have to do is put up the money. To send a letter, all you need is an address and a stamp. It's much more challenging to go out and meet strangers, or to call people on the phone and ask for their business.

But the reality is that this is what it takes. Even if you have the world's best web site, it's a rare client who finds their way to it, reads it, and decides then and there to work with you. The same is true for a brochure. Both of these marketing tools are simply that -- tools. Just like a pair of pliers, they need a person holding them in order for them to work.

What clients want is to get a sense of who you are as a person. They want to see your face or hear your voice, to get to know you over time. If you don't have enough confidence in your business to speak to people in person about it, how will they ever have enough confidence in you to hire you?

What you'll discover if you begin to meet clients in person, talk to them on the phone, and ask directly for their business, is that it gets easier the more you do it. It will build your confidence in yourself -- and the confidence your prospective clients have in you -- at the same time.

If you're in the business of serving people, your best marketing tool is your own voice. So put it to work and start talking to them.

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
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Do You Think Visually?

I came across this neat, unique resource: A "Visual Thesaurus."

Designed for people who "think visually," it creates a visual "picture" of words to help you find the one you're looking for. You can try it for free -- but then you have to subscribe ($2.95/month or $19.95/year).



Try it for free for 14 days -- click on this banner: