A number of techniques 
make the challenge of achieving ambitious career and job search goals easier. Here’s a list of those that have either helped me or my clients to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. May they give you the boost you need to reach your goals.
Picture your goal to get motivated: Use physical pictures or imagery you conjure up in your imagination. The reason this works –
Business prospects or employers are probably searching on LinkedIn for someone like you. The single best way to ensure you’ll show up in their searches, and stand out from competitors, is to have the right profile “keywords.” These are the words or phrases that resonate. They’re used in search queries, and answer your target audience’s main question: “How can you help me?”
Profile keywords have benefits beyond boosting your LinkedIn search ranking. Since search engines like Google and
Whether you’re in sales, business development or a job search, effectively cold-calling “strangers” to get the meetings you seek is a crucial skill. For jobseekers, this is called accessing the “hidden” job market, where you’re developing new long-term relationships that can lead to opportunities.
When you cold-call, you have only roughly 20 seconds to gain their interest. At that point you need to give them an out or you risk making a bad impression; they may be about to run off to a meeting and keeping them on the phone would be a no-no. So if you haven’t interested them enough by then, you’re done. That’s why you need a 20 second pitch.
One of LinkedIn’s killer applications is its ability to leverage your “first degree network” to get introductions to your second degree contacts– for recruiting, landing interviews or prospect meetings, partnerships, or just to learn from others. To get the meetings you want, make it easy, for both your first degree connection to forward your request and for the recipient to agree.
Let’s take an example based on a client’s situation. Ellen wanted to meet Susan, a second degree connection, and she saw that John was their mutual first degree connection. Ellen’s introduction request to John contained these six elements, in the sequence below:
If you’re not, you’re not a good networker– you’ll miss opportunities! Getting meetings (and then “acing” these meetings) is 50% of what you need to do. Keeping in touch following these meetings is the other 50%.
How you present yourself or your work can determine a potential promotion, sale, or job offer. These three simple ideas, from my book, Peak Presentations, can go a long way towards helping you achieve the outcomes you want.
It’s easy to talk about what you know. It’s harder to apply your knowledge to the specific issues of the audience members before you. Every audience member wants to know “how can this help me?” Taking steps to keep the focus on your audience’s bottom line is key to winning them over.
Here’s an example: I facilitated a meeting between David, a business owner with a client-relationship-management (CRM) software product, and Julie, a potential client for David, whom I knew and thought could benefit from David’s product. I had both worked with David before and used his software, so I could vouch for him and his product.
About five minutes into David’s initial presentation to Julie, however, I began to see that David was not going to get the sale. The reason: he went right into the features and the bells and whistles of his software, instead of keeping the focus on Julie’s specific problems, and how he could help solve them! In short, he took the easy route, instead of the harder route which would have involved seeking to understand Julie’s issues, and then translating his product’s benefits into solutions for Julie.
Following this non-event, I worked with David on his sales presentation. The next time around, he did his homework about what problems his software could solve for the prospective client, and what opportunities it could open up. He also made sure to ask a few key questions early in the meeting which further identified CRM-related issues the prospect was facing. This time, he got the sale.
When using PowerPoint slides to support a presentation, make sure the slide content doesn’t compete with what you are saying.
Often this can happen when the presenter places too much content on the slide, so the audience has to decide– read the slides, or listen to the presenter? Think back to a recent presentation you attended, and you’ll know what I mean. That’s why you need to keep the slides simple– relegate them to a true supporting role. They should enhance your words, not compete with them; people are there to listen to you. The handouts, on the other hand, are a different story– that’s where you can give them details.
Having a very short, “five second pitch” at the ready for unexpected encounters can turn a mundane situation into a career-enhancing opportunity. The following client experience illustrates how this “mini-presentation” can help you.
Mike was in an elevator at work. The doors opened and in walked a more senior executive, Andrea, with whom Mike had little interaction. She said, “Hi Mike, how are you?” Mike could have made small talk, but instead, he used his five second pitch: “Well, we’ve just rolled out the new workflow-management platform, so things are great!” ”Oh you’re involved with that?”, asked Andrea. Mike’s response: “Actually, I’ve been leading the effort for the past three months!” Now they were having a conversation about this big triumph in Mike’s career.
Andrea ended the conversation with “Given your leadership role, we may want you for our cross-functional task-force for company-wide workflow management– I’ll talk to your boss about it.” The result? Mike transformed a potentially trivial encounter to a possibly significant career-enhancing opportunity.
When you are giving a presentation, look to actively engage your audience right from the start. Don’t assume they are paying attention; they may be thinking about their last meeting or the next one! So go beyond the dry and conventional; Capture their imagination, make them part of the show. Use any of these six approaches to hook your audience, so you can then reel them in with a memorable, powerful presentation.
Many clients tell me that they really dislike the process of calling people they don’t know to get meetings, interviews, or new business opportunities. By following these tips on how to present yourself on the call and adopt the right mindset, you’ll get better results, and feel better too!
Presenting Yourself – Rehearse your “20-second pitch.”
How do you get them to stay on the phone, or want to speak with you? The key is your 20-second pitch. When someone takes your call, they
Getting a recommendation on LinkedIn can help your career. LinkedIn recommendations are valued by hiring managers. Why? 1. The first-degree connection giving the recommendation is visible, hence “researchable” on LinkedIn, 2. significant effort is involved in writing a recommendation, adding to the authenticity, and 3. the content’s often descriptive nature helps the hiring manager to understand your value. I would suggest getting at least three LinkedIn recommendations. LinkedIn considers three-plus recommendations to be a factor in “profile completeness,” which figures in it’s search rankings.
Get better LinkedIn people-search results with “Boolean Logic”
by Robert Hellmann • Building a Business, Career Centers, Career Change, Getting Interviews, Social Media