I’m often asked in a coaching or training session: “Marisa, how can I best sell myself when I’m in front of the person who can give me my next opportunity, resource, client? I have the experience and feel confident. What am I doing wrong?!”
There can be many factors, energy level and beliefs are some of them. If for example you’ve woken up excited for that meeting but deep down don’t truly believe it’s possible, it doesn’t matter how well you position yourself, you’ve cancelled out your desires through your own self-talk. When I say “believing it’s possible” what I really mean is, believing you deserve it and are qualified. Gutsy Leadership speaks to the passion not intellect – the being before the knowing.
Also, if you make that appointment in the late afternoon and you know you’re a always a morning person revved up after a strong cup of coffee, and feel your most energized then, then tell them you’ll need to reschedule to the a.m. “Unfortunately, mornings work better…” and leave it at that.
Before I forget, be sure to download our free audio leadership course here to get the steps on how to own your authority in your career.
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES
Very often the reason why you may be going on interviews or asking for a new resource/opportunity/client and walking away empty-handed is that you may not be speaking of yourself as a product, you are all process. What do I mean by that? We know we need to self-promote ourselves and speak to our experience and past achievements. After all, past performance predicts future results and you need to showcase that – I’ve got it. But sometimes we can also over- do it, if you know what I mean.
Lead with your results. Give them the promise. Speak your product.
If you’re sitting in the chair, someone must have felt you deserved to be there. Go ahead and answer the questions where needed but in that conversation, you’ve got to take the horse by the gutsy reins and steer them on the path to the abundant harvest you have the potential to create for them, way over there beyond the pasture…
Communication Skills
In other words, cut the cord talking about what you have achieved (past tense) and talk about the vision (future). Talk about the picture in one year from today. What can you successfully achieve? Talk about the product, not the process first. The conversation will inevitably roll around to the process regardless, but when you’re on that virtual stage all I would want to hear (assuming I were sitting on the other side of that table or reading your e-mail) is:
Here are the results that they can promise and deliver.
Here’s what they will stand behind.
Here is how our team will benefit from his/her experience.
Gutsy Leadership is selling them on your vision, not process and acting in spite of any fear of realizing that opportunity. Remember you are product not process first and foremost. What results are you willing to stand behind and guarantee as the professional expert? What picture would I see if I were sitting with you one year from today? What’s in it for them if they give you the YES?
That’s what makes a gutsy leader – calm, confident communication. Lead them. Your clients, and management are waiting for you to lead them. And to b{“type”:”block”,”srcIndex”:1,”srcClientId”:”b1865a6b-bc18-40ff-9613-890238b5efcc”,”srcRootClientId”:””}e honest, it’s your responsibility to lead them or why else have you worked so hard to get in the door, in the first place? I hear you. I’ve been where you are.
Mindset shift – if you can’t sell it, they won’t buy-in.
To learn more about storytelling, small talk, packaging your pitch and creating the gutsy breakthrough results you know you can accomplish, reach out and schedule a call. school@inrshoes.com
To your gutsy moves, let’s do this.
Marisa Santoro, Leadership Trainer and Career Coach.
CEO and Founder: In Our Shoes www.inrshoes.com
+1.844.626.3410 | Marisa@inrshoes.com
