It’s Like a Job Interview

Have you ever had a job interview? I’m assuming that 99% of you have. What’s your closing rate? Do you want to improve it? Landing a client is very much like a job interview. I’ve interviewed hundreds (yes, literally) of people in over the years, and the ones who impressed me the most are the ones who knew about the company I was representing. When someone came to an interview and didn’t know about our company, our website, our business, products, etc., I’d have to spend time in the interview to explain it. But on top of that, it seemed like this person didn’t care enough to find out about the company he potentially would be working for.

Then there are others who come in and have spent time on our site(s) and know about our market and our company and showed enthusiasm for what we do as a company. All other things being equal, I’m going to hire the latter candidate. Consider this simple concept the next time you meet with a corporate client.

Are you planning on walking in the meeting and doing sponge balls to impress the party planner and hope she’ll hire you? Or are you planning on walking in and showing her that you studied their company and their product and that you have a specific effect/presentation that ties into their company mission or product? Consider who will be in the audience. Are you performing for a room full of accountants or a room full of surfers? I don’t know a thing about surfing, but off the top of my head, I’m thinking I might do a suspension or levitation illusion using a surfboard. Or if it’s more of a close up venue, I’d at the very least try to get familiar with some of the terminology, and I’d certainly dress down a bit for the show. People who want to hire you need to know that you’re flexible and that you can relate to their market. Make sure that you can.

This is a simple reminder, but sometimes we magi get stuck in a rut and forget that we need to relate to our audiences and our “bosses” (i.e., the event planner or restaurant manager, etc.). Take the 30 minutes needed to Google the company, product, industry, etc. It’ll pay off in spades.

Until Next Month . . .