Page 42 - Oscar Adler - Sell Yourself in Any Interview_ Use Proven Sales Techniques to Land Your Dream Job (2008)

SELL YOURSELF IN ANY INTERVIEW

will not listen to anything more the salesperson has to say.
This is the real danger of applying an inappropriate benefit
during an interview. For example, you might think that it’s a
benefit to everyone if you say something like, “I follow direc-
tions really well. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll
do it.” Many managers, however, don’t want to have to tell
you what to do. Instead, they want to hire people who know
what their responsibilities are and just do the job, without
needing specific directions. Thus the feature of “following
directions well” is not a benefit to every interviewer.
Moreover, once you have lost your listener by emphasiz-
ing a meaningless benefit, it is nearly impossible to regain his
attention. Learning to talk in terms of benefits is not simple.
It takes lots of practice and dedication before it comes natu-
rally to you.
Successful politicians live and breathe the skill of adjust-
ing benefits to suit the audience. When campaigning in a min-
ing town, a savvy politician will emphasize one benefit, and
when campaigning in an ocean-front town, he will emphasize
a completely different benefit. It’s not a matter of being all
things to all people. Instead, it’s a matter of choosing the
information that is important to each listener.
Good parents are also experts at using the feature/bene-
fit skill:

❏ “Put your helmet on when you ride your bike so that you
won’t hurt yourself.”
❏ “If you finish your homework now, we can go to the
movies later.”

❏ “Eat your vegetables so that you can have dessert.”

Parents also become skilled at adjusting the benefits to suit
the needs of their ever-changing audience. What would be

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