What really separates candidates?

It is not what you think.

What sets candidates apart

Of course, you need a great resume and you have to have presence. You have to have your shoes shined, show up on time and answer all the questions correctly.

But you know what really makes a great candidate stand out from the others?

It is the questions that they ask.

The questions that show:

1. they have the confidence to ask the questions
2. they thought it through
3. they think strategically

Quick story

I had an entry level medical sales candidate last week call me right before she had her phone interview. She said, “Hey, I want to ask you a couple questions, do you mind? I want you to tell me, without  worrying about hurting my feelings, what are my weaknesses and what do you perceive are my strengths?”

I’ve never had a candidate ask me that!

Most candidates think they already know what I think, but we don’t really understand how anyone perceives us without first asking questions to find out.

The kinds of questions candidates should ask

Questions like:

• Tell me a little bit about what you are looking for in your candidate or new hire, tell me about the last one you hired, or why is the position open?
• What was it that you think held the other person back from being successful?
• What are the tasks in this job that are really going to define success for this person?
• What are the next steps?
• When will I hear from you?
• Do you have any reason why you would not consider moving me forward during the (hiring) process?
• Are there any other folks who will be interviewing me later?
• Will it be a panel interview?
• In the typical day, how many hours do you work on the road?
• How does the travel program work?
• With your clients, what do you think is the #1 obstacle to success?
• What do you see in the field with sales representatives that stops them from being successful?
• Which product line of yours is your lead line? (i.e. the one that everyone should buy)
• Which product line should they probably not buy?
• What do you like about working here?
• Among the other candidates, how do I rank?
• Are there any questions that you have for me?
• Do you see how my experience at XYZ (past company) translates well into this position?
• Do you agree with me that a Bachelor’s degree in Biology is not necessary for this position, that it seems like it’s a sales process that really requires someone that can understand the product well enough, but can also understand the customer and their business process?

What it takes to ask a question is:

1. Confidence
2. Thinking it through
3. Being strategic

Back to the story

I will tell you, that gal that asked me those questions, she set herself apart. I was impressed! And that does make a difference about my confidence in supporting her candidacy.

So when a manager called me and said that he was not quite sure if he was going to move forward with her, I insisted because I felt strongly about her. Since she had enough guts to ask me those questions when I interviewed her, she convinced me that she could probably do the job well.

She will probably ask the customers questions like:

• When can I expect you to order?
• When would you like the product to arrive?
• Is there any reason why we can’t move forward with this deal?
• How many pieces do you want to buy?
• Is there someone else I need to speak to?
• What is the purchasing process?

Get the point: QUESTIONS!

This is the key. I hope this video helps you and I wish you the best of luck.

I’ll see you at the top!

Peggy

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1.  Research the company.  There is no substitute for doing your homework.  Know what the company does, what its current issues are, and what the future plans include.  Your job is to find out what you can do for them.  Your research gives you material to talk about during the interview and a way to custom-fit your answers to their specific questions. 

2.  Build a brag book.  Click the link for the video and more explanation, but basically it’s a collection of awards, sales rankings, successful projects, letters from happy customers or managers, and so on.  When you present it during the interview, it showcases your presentation skills as well as your accomplishments.  Here’s a link to a podcast if you need it.

3.  Create a 30/60/90-day plan.  This kind of plan is a written demonstration of what you will do for the company in your first 3 months on the job–how you will get your training, how you will transition into being a contributing member of the sales team, and so on.  Here’s a link to a video and a blog post that explains them in more detail, but if you need more help, you can download samples and a template with audio coaching from the Sales Recruiter.  This kind of plan will definitely get the attention of the hiring manager.

4.  Read my Tips on How to Ace Your Medical Sales Interview.   The same principles are true for all kinds of sales jobs.  Also, here’s an article on Sales Interview Questions for you.  Think of your interview as a sales call, and act accordingly. 

5.  Consider custom coaching.  Most people need no more than an hour.  Ask the questions you need in a private, one-on-one conversation to improve your personal situation.  I’ve been a medical sales recruiter for over 10 years now, and I was in the medical sales area before that as a sales rep, regional manager, and national accounts manager.  The sales process, skills, and hiring issues are the same across the board.  I can go over your resume with you, critique your answers to interview questions and prepare you for the interview, give you insider tips, teach you how to negotiate and recognize a fair offer, build your personal brand, or even decide between job offers.  Career coaching works.

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To help you, here’s a link to a video that I made about how to handle behavioral interviews.  Some of the main things to keep in mind are to have lots of stories ready that highlight how skilled you are, and it’s important that you are able to quantify your examples whenever possible.  (What happened when you had an unhappy customer?  How did you increase sales and by how much?  How did you save the company X amount of dollars?)  I’ve also provided a link to How to Survive a Behavioral Interview for more tips, and a lengthy list of possible behavioral interview questions for you to think about. 

Important tip:  make sure you have a brag book and a 30/60/90-day plan ready to go.  A brag book will demonstrate how you handled particular situations, since you’ll hopefully include letters or e-mails from satisfied customers or happy managers, successfully completed projects, and lists/charts of how much money you’ve saved or made for the company.  A brag book covers what you’ve done in the past…a 30/60/90-day plan covers what you’ll do in the (immediate) future.  It’s a list, segmented in 30-day time spans, of what you’ll do to get trained and up-to-speed in your new company so that you can be a successful hire for them as fast as possible.  For more information, click here.  For a template of exactly how to do one, click here.

Good luck.

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What do you get for your $17.00?

• What a brag book is
• Why it definitely helps you shine in the interview and stand out over other candidates
• How to make one–with specific examples, in great detail
• When to introduce it in the interview–what to say, and how to say it, even if you’re not directly asked to show it

How important is your job interview?  BREAK THE GLASS!

PODCASTS

Polish Up Your Brag Book

Once you purchase the podcast, a link to it will be sent to your email.

See you at the top.

Peggy

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What you get:

• 10 minutes of top tips for scoring in the phone interview
• how to prepare for the phone interview
• what to ask the interviewer
• how to answer the questions
• how to clarify for understanding after you answer a question
• how to close for the next step in the process!!!

I just got this email from someone who listened to the podcast  – and got the job!

“I can’t believe I secured the position via telephone interview from Australia! The interview ‘close’ nailed it for me. I am certain. Thanks again for such great advise given in such a straight forward way. Hey, I’m an IT guy who just wants to get on with the job. But getting through the interviews is not always so easy.” – Phil J.

So, if you want a job, like Phil, break the glass and get insider secrets as to how to crush it in the job interview.

PODCASTS

Telephone Interview Prep

Once you purchase the podcast, a link to it will be sent to your email.

See you at the top.

Peggy

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In an ideal situation, you bring your 30-60-90-day plan to the interview and “wow” the hiring manager when you bring it out and present it during your conversation.  You ask the hiring manager for input during the interview, and in your follow-up thank you note, you should attach your sales plan with the changes that the hiring manager suggested. 

Less than ideal, but better than nothing:  you don’t get a chance to present your 30-60-90-day plan during the interview, but you realize that thank you notes can be second chances.  Either you attach your sales plan to your thank you note (which points out how the information you gained during the interview is included), or you put a shortened version of a 30-60-90-day plan in the body of the note if you think he might not open the attachment. 

What if you can’t even get the interview?

If you can’t even secure an interview, this might be a good time to e-mail your 30-60-90-day sales plan to the hiring manager with the subject heading of:

“This is how I can help your company”

Or

“Here’s my plan for increasing your sales”

You get the drift…

This is an attention-grabber.  It’s a way to entice the hiring manager into meeting with you.  You’ve probably already sent your resume, which hasn’t helped, so it’s another opportunity for contact with out seeming annoying.  Showing what you can do for the manager and the company from the first few days of employment is powerful, and has a decent chance of securing a meeting. 

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Aaron Stahl e-mailed me recently to bring my attention to his website (www.e-shadow.com) that prints interviews with people who work in particular fields.  He’s got one with a medical device sales rep and one with a pharmaceutical sales rep.  There’s some very candid, what’s-a-typical-day-like information, as well as advice on what steps you can take to enter this field…like taking a few classes in anatomy and physiology or medical terminology if your background is not in science.  They also point out how hard it is to get your foot in the door…the pharmaceutical sales rep says that it took him over a year to get hired because of the heavy competition.  All the more reason to have The Medical Sales Recruiter on your side!  (if I could do Superman music here, I would)

Want more help from the Medical Sales Recruiter?  Try audio coaching–this product covers every aspect of your bid to get a great job in medical sales, from how to build your resume with the proper keywords, to which documents to bring to the interview (like a brag book, a technology sheet, and a 30/60/90-day sales plan).

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Want another advantage?

Create a 30/60/90-day plan for the job you want.

What is a 30-60-90 day plan?  And how do you use it to get a job in sales?  Why does it help?

A 30-60-90-day plan is an outline for what you will do when you start the job.  Essentially, you spell out for your future employer, in as little or as much detail as necessary, how you will spend your time.  To do that, you have to do some research on the company so that you know what you’re talking about…a search on Google, LinkedIn, or the company’s own website can provide you with the information you need.  (It’s always impressive to a hiring manager if you can show that you’ve done your homework before the interview, remember?)

The basics:

The first 30 days of your plan is usually focused on training–learning the company systems, products, and customers.  So, most of the items in your 30-day plan should be along the lines of attending training, mastering product knowledge, learning specific corporate systems, traveling to learn your territory (if you’re in sales), meeting other members of the team, or reviewing accounts.

The next 30 days (the 60-day part) are focused on more field time, less training, more customer introductions, reviews of customer satisfaction, and getting feedback from your manager.

The last 30 days (the 90-day part) are the “getting settled” part.  You’ve had the training, you’ve met the customers, and now you can focus on sales!  It should include things that take more initiative on your part: landing your own accounts, scheduling programs, or coming up with new ways to get prospects’ attention (again, if you’re in sales), as well as continuing to get performance feedback and fine-tuning your schedule.

The more specific you can be in the details, the better off you are—by that I mean specifying the name of the training you’ll need, rather than just indicating that you’ll “get training,” for instance.  That’s why you research the company, not just the position! 

This kind of analysis of the position not only sets you apart from other job seekers… it also makes you a better performer on the job.  It means you’ve put some thought into what it takes to be successful, and once you’ve written down your goals, they become much easier to attain.

Using a 30-60-90-day plan to show that you’ve done your homework, analyzed the position, and thoughtfully considered how you can best serve this particular company in this particular capacity is very impressive to a hiring manager.  This kind of effort is the advantage you need that will set you apart from other candidates and get you hired.

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when to introduce your 30/60/90-day sales plan in your job interview

Creating a  30/60/90-day plan for your sales job interview is one of the most effective things you can do to impress a hiring manager and win a job offer.  It shows knowledge of the position, initiative, energy, enthusiasm, the ability to focus, written communication skills—all of which you definitely want to demonstrate to your interviewer and potential new boss.  But when do you bring it up?

The interview model that most people envision is that of a job seeker passively answering the questions put to him, focusing on delivering the “right” answers to interview questions.  Not a bad model, but you want to do a little better than that—you want to stand out.  You want to be exceptional.  And the chances of your interviewer asking about your 30/60/90-day plan so that you can answer are pretty slim.  This is “above and beyond” stuff…not expected, and so not asked about. 

So what do you do?

·         The ideal time to introduce your 30/60/90-day plan is when your interviewer asks something like, “How do you see yourself in this job?”  With a softball like that, you’re set.

·         If you don’t get an obvious lead-in, you can segue from talking about your relevant job experience to how that’s enabled you to create your 30/60/90-day plan for this one.  You know what you’re talking about, and you know how you’ll transition into this position with efficiency and effectiveness.

·         If your experience is a little light, and your skills are what got you the interview, focus on finding an appropriate time to point out that you researched this position extensively, and your 30/60/90-day plan is how you see yourself spending your time in the first 90 days of employment to bring yourself up to speed.  This is an especially good way to alleviate any doubts a hiring manager might have—you’ve already answered the question of how you’ll transfer your skills into this job, and shown how you’ll take ownership.

 If no opportunity falls in your lap, be assertive and make one.  At least bring up your 30/60/90-day plan before you go.  Your job search is too important for you to be so passive that you miss a chance to show such a great document.  Taking some (polite) control over your interview conversation is another sign to the hiring manager for how you’ll interact with customers and clients.  They want to see someone who knows how to lead.

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Behavioral interviews focus on past job behavior and performance (what did you do in a given situation) with the idea that this information will predict your future behavior and performance.  Behavioral interviews are really much more informative for employers than a “what do you know how to do?” interview, and more and more hiring managers are using some version of it.  (Here’s a previous post on STAR Interviews.)

What do you need to know? 

1)  Have stories or examples ready that explain your skills/performance in many different situations.  What happened when you had an unhappy customer?  How have you increased sales?  How did you deal with _____________?  Here’s a link to sample behavioral interview questions. 

2)  Quantify your examples whenever possible.  You increased sales by how much?  You were responsible for bringing in _______ dollars in revenue.  You saved the company _______ dollars by doing/changing/introducing _________________.   Salespeople (in all areas of medical sales, pharmaceutical sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, DNA products sales, biotechnology sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, or medical supplies and equipment sales) are good at having these numbers at hand, but people in marketing, tech support or service areas in healthcare will need to work harder.

Behavioral interviews are excellent opportunities for those job seekers with a brag book.  Brag books are collections of examples that illustrate your stories:  letters from happy customers or managers, awards, sales training certificates, projects you’ve completed, etc.  How to Get Into Medical Sales – Volume I:  The Documents explains brag books in more detail, and also teaches you about other critical aspects of your job search and interview process (like resumes and cover letters, technology sheets, and 30/60/90-day sales plans) so that all your work results in the job offer you want.

This video will explain all of this in more detail.  I hope it helps you have a successful job interview.

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