Results Are Meaningless...It’s the Experience that Counts!

How many times have you done an outstanding job for a customer or client, only to watch her hire or buy from your competitor the next time around? You’ve probably scratched your head and asked yourself “What did I do wrong?” Then you might say “I worked hard for that customer, I made sure they got a great deal, and I gave them a rock bottom price. They couldn’t have gotten a better price from anyone in town. And, this is the thanks I get!” Ah! The salesperson’s lament!

Every good salesperson understands that price isn’t everything. In fact, if price were the most important component of every sale, luxury brands like BMW, Coach, Four Seasons Hotels, and Nobu would not succeed…because their value can not be found in a low price.

So, let’s assume that you provided your customer with more than just a great price, and that you got them good terms, too. In business-to-business services, like corporate real estate, we hear brokers exclaim all the time “I got them such a good deal on that property…I cut their price by 20%, and secured huge landlord concessions, too. And, they hired my competitor for their next project!” In the service business, results are important. After all, results are what drive decisions, how people are paid, how executive bonuses are calculated, how purchases are made…right? While that may be true, people make decisions based on many factors, including but, not only based on, results.

Here are a few questions:

- Remember the last time you got a new car? You may still be driving that same car. If you’re lucky, you drive a great car. You may enjoy getting into it, driving it, maybe even being seen in it. Perhaps your great car takes you and your loved ones safely and in style to places where you have loads of fun. You might enjoy its handling, its speed, its interiors, or something else. Or, maybe you enjoy the looks you get when cruising down main street. The results you get from that car are great.

- But, do you remember the experience of buying or leasing that car? Was it fun? Did you trust the salesperson? Was he truly interested in you, your needs, your challenges, and creating an optimal solution for you, or was he more interested in selling you a car and moving onto the next customer? Would you like to do it again? Would you go back to that same salesperson again based on your first experience?

If you answered “yes” to the last few questions, consider yourself lucky, and don’t let that salesperson go. Unfortunately, if you’re like most Americans, you will not have answered “yes”. Why? Because in many cases, sales and service people, especially those in consumer oriented businesses, focus on the end-game, the final transaction, the results. To often they don’t focus enough on the process of achieving those results from the perspective of the customer. In fact, too few companies compensate their sales and service personnel based on the customer experience. They typically compensate them based on results. So, if you were a salesperson, where would you put your efforts? You'd likely put them in achieving results!

It’s a fact that people buy based, at least in part, on emotional factors. Thta's most often true whether people are making personal purchases or acquiring somehting for their company. Trust is not a results driven basis for buying a product or engaging a service provider. Feeling that the person on the other side of the conference table is truly looking out for your company and your personal success is not results focused.

Sure, results are extremely important when it comes time to demonstrate to a customer that their objectives were accomplished. But, results are not the only factor that will ensure your customer will engage you again. It’s the experience, silly!

That’s right, it’s the experience that counts, and that keeps customers coming back. People aren’t robots. They don’t remember sales or service people who got them great deals. They remember people who looked out for them, who they could trust, who did more for them, as people, then they promised, who’s company they enjoyed. Sure, great results look good on your resume. But, a long list of repeat customers, who are so comfortable with you that they’ll engage you again and again, and will tell your prospective customers about what great experiences they had with you, is what success is really about. It’s about the experience you provide for your customers, not just the results.

Business, like life itself, is not about results. It's about the experiences you enjoy and those you create for others that define success.

Tell Me What You Can Do For Me!

Where is your headline?


Why is that when so many executives wish to stand out in a crowd, all they do is blend-in for fear of being different? I see this every day when people, most of whom are seasoned executives, search for their next career opportunity.

In our corporate real estate advisory and transaction services firm, we deal with a lot of very senior executives. I receive resumes almost everyday from people I know and from those who know people I know. So, the resumes I see are pretty thorough and contain some really cool experiences and seriously impressive accomplishments.

In one respect, almost all of the resumes I receive look exactly the same. They tell me what the candidate has done. That's history, old news, and not necessarily pertinent to what they might be capable of doing for the next company for which they work. What they accomplished in previous positions only references what they might be able to do, it only infers their capabilities. Moreover, most resumes are written like technical journals for your television....really boring and unimaginative.

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself: Why leave interpretation of your tue abilities and value, and your career, up to chance? Why risk that the person reading your resume will actually read all of it? Why risk that the reader will understand all you've done? Why risk that the reader make the connection between your past and their company's future? Why permit your resume to blend into the hundreds or thousands of resumes that companies receive daily?



WHY NOT JUST TELL THEM WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE...FOR THEM???!!!



Think of a contractor who is brought to a house where the roof has blown off. Does he spend his time talking about all of his other jobs, his technical expertise, and what he accomplished for his previous customers? Hell, no! If he's good, he is intelligent enough to recognize the problem, assess the damage, and then focus on the solutions he'll provide to achieve the prospective customer's objectives.

Apply this to a doctor: If you were her patient, would you first want to know about all she's done in the past, what she thinks was exciting, or how she'll save your life right now?

How about an attorney? Do you care about how he won his cases, or simply that he won more than he lost, and how he'll win yours?

The same is true about every aspect of the job search. Before your interviewers and those who read your resume pass by your resume, tell them exactly what you can do for their company. Don't make your sign black and white, and don't forget to even use a sign! Don't leave it up to them to figure you out. They may not fail or not even try. And, you simply have too many competitors today to permit yourself to blend into the crowd, when you're trying to stand out. How can you do this? By creating a sign that will entice them to learn more about you.



WRITE A BRIEF HEADLINE!



The answer is simple. Add a headline to the top of your resume in a font that is a bit larger than the rest of the document (not too large) that says what you can do. Put it right at the top, above everything else. Make it a very specific statement. And, when you meet for an interview, write a headline that precisely address the needs of the company or department with which you're meeting! For example, the headline for a candidate seeking a CFO position with XYZ Company might say "I can reduce XYZ Company's operating costs by 20%, reduce its risk by 10%, and increase its profits by 25% in approximately 1 year!" That will get their attention! That's how you will stand out from the crowd that follows the same tired resume and communications styles as everyone else.

Of course, you must be able to back-up your headline. And, that's when you tell your interviewer how you will achieve those objectives. Afterward, back up the "how" with your experiences and accomplishments. This approach requires research, a keen understanding of the target company's objectives and your abilities...and guts! Now, that's the mark of a true executive...a leader! Or, instead of taking control of your career, you can simply send your resume to hundreds of companies, blend into the crowd, miss your chance to stand out and win that coveted career position, and keep your fingers crossed in the hopes that someone will sift through hundreds of other resumes and because of the color of your letterhead, decide to hire you...yeah, right!

But what if you would consider anyone of multiple positions? Simple...write multiple headlines.

But, what if you don't want to be specific and prefer to leave your options open in case a different position comes around. Well, if you've got all the time in the world and aren't concerned that being vague may casue you to miss an real opportunity, then you can certainly take that approach.

Think about it like this: What if a restaurant owner took that approach and was vague about what he offered, so that he could capture every possible customer that drove by his store? Would you go to a restaurant if the sign out front contained nothing more than a white background with large black letters that only said "Food"? Would that sign entice you to enter and learn more? Would you be entrigued by the spices, old working cooking styles, or fresh produce they use? Would you be excited that you will have a great meal, meet interesting people, and be fully satsified after? Of course not! You'd likely pass right by it on your way to a restaurant where you could easily figure out what you'd get, and one that you expect would satisfy the criteria you've determined would be important to you....likely, the kind of place where, from the first second you stood out front, the sign, the building, the entrance, the aromas, the people, the sounds, the atmosphere, and everything else about the place appealed to what you were seeking....and, made you hungry!

Should your resume say "Food" or "I can save your company $10 million"? On your resume, don't try to come up with a catchy slogan, tag line, or phrase. Tell it like it is. Tell the reader or interviewer exactly what they will receive after they hire you.

So, stand out, don't follow the crowd and do what everyone else does. Executives are not supposed to be followers. They are leaders, who are very well aware of what they can achieve for their employers. And, that must come out in everything you do and say, from your resume to your interview, and everything in between.

What? You don't know what the interviewing company needs? Then, you don't belong in the interview. Do your research, make an assessment, make some phone calls, ask some questions, and confirm the company's objectives before you present yourself. Never in the history of the world has so much information been available to so many people about so many companies and industries. With the information that is available to you today, you have no excuse for not being fully prepared and not connecting how your past experiences and your current expertise can all be brought together to accomplish great things for your next employer...and, for you.

Now, go write your headline...and, Good Luck!