The Apprentice 2010 - how to use sales techniques in an interview

24th Nov 2010

Its compelling viewing and certainly one of my guilty pleasures, however each week I do sit there and cringe when Sir Alan (or is it Lord Sugar) asks the candidates in the board room why he should spare them a public firing. Invariably, the response is some kind of bumbled diatribe which amounts to “well I haven’t shown it yet but I am brilliant - honest”. The responses are always unsubstantiated statements which are rarely backed up by any evidence whatsoever. Joking aside, this flawed approach to selling oneself has existed since job interviews were first used; I may be stating the obvious here but this is why competency-based interviews were invented. The idea of a competency-based interview is to prevent ‘text book’ answers i.e. “I would do it like this if I was in that situation” and encourage people to provide evidence i.e. “this is how I did do it and here’s a specific example”. I would encourage any budding Apprentices to learn our ‘Sales Wedge Approach’ which is an advanced communication framework that will allow candidates to excel in an interview scenario. The ‘Sales Wedge Approach’ is all about asking subtle questions throughout the interview about what challenges the company will face in the next 3 years and what kind of candidate they are looking for. When asked why you are a suitable candidate for the role, you can respond by reiterating what you have already been told e.g. “you have told me that the company will face significant challenges from an increasing number of competitors entering the industry” and then presenting a solution e.g. “you may be interested to know that I have extensive experience in creating diversification strategies. I did this at xxx Plc and generated a £10m revenue stream from scratch which negated saturation in core markets”. You would focus upon the 4 or 5 key points that you have learned throughout the interview and ensure that you have provided evidence that you can help the company to overcome its key challenges and that you have the attributes that they are looking for.

For a more detailed overview of our ‘Sales Wedge Approach’ and several other advanced communication frameworks such as the ‘Ramble Prevention Technique’ and the ‘Career Autobiography Approach’, you can book one of our interview coaching services or attend our seminar in Central London on January 24th 2011 http://www.cvandinterviewadvisors.co.uk/ivc/30.

Please feel free to contact me on 01274 408 222 or email info@cvandinterviewadvisors.co.uk for more information