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.11-10Is there anything else you need from me to have a complete picture of myqualifications?This is an alternative and elegant formulation of the central feedbackquestion.125This page intentionally left blank.CHAPTER 12BID-FOR-ACTIONQUESTIONSQUESTIONS THAT CLINCH THE OFFERJobs interviews are sales calls.The product you are selling is yourself.Marketing 101 says that every marketing message needs a bid for ac-tion: a clearly worded request for the order.Pick up the phone.Send inthe response card.Click on the link.Give me an offer.So it is with each job interview.Each time you meet with a hiringmanager, you have an irreplaceable opportunity to ask for the offer. When I m interviewing a candidate for a sales position, I want themto close me, says Bob Conlin, VP of Incentive Systems in Bedford,Massachusetts. If they give me a soft close, or, worse, no close at all,I get concerned. Here s an example of what Conlin considers to be ahard close:Bob, every year I m going to be your number-one guy.Every year I mgoing to beat quota.I m your candidate.When can I start? I know I m being closed here, he says. The candidate is speaking mylanguage.His confidence is infectious.But Conlin also wants to see evidence that the candidate is mindful ofthe organization s goals, not just the salesperson s goals.The followingquestion is even more thoughtful because it demonstrates that the can-didate is already thinking as a member of a team:127Copyright 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Click Here for Terms of Use.THE QUESTION LIFE CYCLEI know I can drive the revenues and net the customers.What kinds ofprocesses are in place to help me work collaboratively?Besides asking for the job, bid-for-action questions ask for an indicationof how favorably the interviewer assesses you.One way to assess a com-pany s interest is to see how hard the interviewer tries to sell you on ac-cepting the job when you ask these questions.Some candidates growpale at saying something as blatant as:Are you ready to make me an offer now, or do I need to sell myselfsome more?But what do you have to lose? If the job you are applying for has anymarketing or management quality at all, the interviewer will be im-pressed by your confidence.Every great salesperson knows to  ask forthe order. Here s how to ask for the job in the final interview.Beginwith a statement of your understanding of the opportunity:As I understand it, the successful candidate will be someone with xeducation, y qualifications, and z experience.Do I understand theopportunity correctly?Here your purpose is threefold.First, you are testing to see if you indeedunderstand the situation.If you missed something, or, more likely, theinterviewer forgot some important requirement, now is the time to getit right.Second, assuming you summarized the position correctly, the in-terviewer is impressed by your organizational skills.Third, asking foragreement at this point is a strategy for getting the interviewer into thehabit of saying yes.Yes is the answer you want to the next question, andit s good to have the interviewer in a yes mood.The critical next question is:Do I meet the requirements?Now wait.That s the hard part.The interviewer is making up his or hermind.The answer will tell you if it is time to close or if you have morepersuading to do.If the interviewer is positive and says that, yes (there sthat word again), you have all the qualifications, you can now deliver thestrongest closing line there is:128BID-FOR-ACTION QUESTIONSI m glad we agree.I feel that way, too.So I am certainly interested inreceiving your strongest offer.But I must issue a fair warning.You are on dangerous ground here.Yourdecision to ask for the job must be pitch-perfect.Before asking for the job,you must have created a good rapport with your interviewer, establishedthat you are a good fit for the job, and extracted at least some expressionof interest from the interviewer.Your timing must be so perfect the inter-viewer could set her watch by it.In other words, unless you have a highdegree of confidence about each of these points, I wouldn t take a chance [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]