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Sometimes I get a little carried away when I’m learning new things about business. I get over-eager to apply the concepts. I focus more on using the tools I’ve learned than understanding the situation I’m in. That happened in a recent internship interview I was in.
The whole thing was going great, until I got to the end and the interviewer asked, “Do you have any other questions for me?” Now, I had often heard about how you are never supposed to answer that question with “no”. I also knew from Mattson’s 49 Principles of Selling book that it is good to answer a question with a question (especially when it’s asking for one!) so I made something up. I asked the first thing that came to mind. It was a silly question. I basically asked for clarification on something we already covered, but in a way that made it clear I just wanted a question to ask. The interviewer was confused. I was a confused. A little misstep like that and the conversation went south. Politely south, but south all the same.
Hindsight is 20/20, and when we hung up the phone I was plagued with thoughts about what I could have done better. I realized I was overly-focused on the “rules” I had learned, and not focused enough on actually being interested in the conversation I was in. It showed. As I was thinking about what I would’ve changed about that talk, I figured I probably should have been thinking of questions as we were speaking up to that point, so that I didn’t have to pull something out of thin air. Alternatively, even an honest close would probably have sufficed–responding to the question with something like, “No, but I want to say thank you again for taking the time to speak with me. I appreciate the opportunity to be considered, and hope we can talk in the future.” Simple. To the point. Sincere. And sincerity is what I was missing from my response.
In accordance with Mattson Core Concept #1 though, I’ll learn from my misstep and do better next time. I strongly encourage everyone to focus more on understanding the situation in front of you than getting to attached to any individual rule!
BoweryJE22
There are so many “rules” that have been created in every aspect of a professional relationship that it can be overwhelming to adhere to them all. I have been in similar situations where I am trying to think of all the rules that I lose track of just being a human and it creates a disconnect. I think a good thing to remember is once you get to the point of an interview or a sale, you should be prepared enough with the rules that you can relax and be yourself!