"Headline" Review Please

Hey Gordon,

Thanks for the info. As usual you open up and share valuable experience, and it's greatly appreciated. You are very quickly becoming one of those people I would love to meet one day in person.

It all makes very much sense. You can bet i'll be trying to use your process as much as possible. If you don't mind I have a few more questions.

A lot of the specific information you are referring to about the company can be found in references such as Dunn and Bradstreet (i.e. # of employees, sales, officers, etc.). And to find out who is in charge of training, well, I guess that's a no brainer. I'll just call and ask. Would it be better to directly approach the owner/president with an approach like yours or would you try to go through the training department? What other sources would you use to concentrate on a particular company/industry.

Also, do you feel a 3 step, Dan Kennedy type letter approach would be appropriate or just one letter then the phone call?

Hey, thanks again.

Mitch

> NOT do it my way.

> When I had my resume business I INSISTED
> that my clients create a NEW and separate
> resume for every job they applied to. Many
> people went across town to the guy who had
> the "one size fits all" resume
> service.

> He did plenty good at his "in and
> out" resume service.

> I worked with people start to finish, and in
> those ancient times I was charging 495 bux
> for resume/job finding service.

> I made sure my clients understood the
> PURPOSE of the resume was to get an
> Interview, or at the very least a follow-up
> inquiry or name recognition.

> 99.95% of job seekers use a SHOTGUN
> approach, that is they send their ONE resume
> to a slew of prspective employers and HOPE
> they get into the I pile (Interview). Most
> don't.

> Now Mitch, I'm getting there, bear with me.

> During a 2.5 year period and as part of my
> job as a Job Developer for a county agency,
> I sent out over 200 SPECIFIC resumes (my
> own) to a wide variety of businesses. I had
> over a 65% success rate of getting an
> interview. The majority of these had
> requested a person have a degree as part of
> their background. Sometimes, degrees are
> required in certain jobs, other times, it is
> used as a qualifyer.

> Well, even though I don't have a degree,
> about 33% of all the jobs I interviewed for
> were followed with an offer.

> See, I was in the field every day getting
> jobs for people and working IN businesses to
> assist my clients.

> Why was I able to do so well? And what has
> it got to do with your question?

> It is my OPINION only that getting an
> Interview is a pretty easy thing to do if
> you know the MARKETING aspect. Job hunting
> is just like REMOTE DIRECT MARKETING, in
> fact, it is RDM.

> The RESUME is the initial contact for many,
> and with a Marketing Cover Letter, you have
> a good chance of getting into the I pile.

> Getting Interviews is the easy part, getting
> the JOB was the harder part.

> The SECRET I used (and still do) is to know
> as much as I possibly can about the
> company/business/owner as I could.

> MY competition (HA!) wouldn't go to that
> effort.

> Right now, I'm working with a few
> restaurants on a project. Before I even
> approach them, I visit the restaurant as a
> customer. I do research into the owner, the
> manager, how long it's been around, who are
> it's customers.

> I KNOW more about the restaurant than anyone
> but the owner. It gives me the LEVERAGE I
> need when presenting myself and ideas to
> them. It is NEVER ABOUT ME.

> It is always about them.

> It is always about them.

> It is ALWAYS about them.

> Consider this,

> Dear Jane Smith,

> You can transform your employees into highly
> productive results driven leaders in less
> than 90 days, guaranteed. Our employee
> productivity training program is guaranteed
> to ...(thunk, the wastbasket was empty)

> to this;

> Dear Jane Smith,

> Your 74 employees work hard to produce your
> current annual revenue of 7.5 million
> dollars and XYZ has established itself as a
> key player in the widget industry. Imagine
> Ms. Smith if you could add an additional 7
> employees at NO cost. Would your
> productivity go up with your profits?

> Of course it would. But you don't have to
> add anyone because each of your current
> employees is worth at least 10% more
> productivity than they are currently
> producing.

> Your competitor, the ABC Widget company has
> annual sales of 8.5 million and they have
> only 68 employees. You can use the same kind
> of leverage they do and see productivity
> increase along with your bottom line. Here's
> how;

> **************

> So, what I'm saying is that you shouldn't
> waste time looking for a ONE Size fits all
> hook, but focus in on those companies and
> businesses that you can really SERVE and
> begin to prepare a dossier on each and every
> one of them. Your local public library is a
> good place to start.

> Know KEY personell, all the players in the
> company, and especially the person who is
> going to have to SELL this training to her
> boss.

> There is ONE person you are going to have to
> sell, and that person is going to sell it to
> the company (president, owner, mgr) and you
> need to know who that KEY person is.

> You need to know their competitors. Their
> place in the market. Who their customers
> are. You have to know THEM first and how
> your program will fit into their scheme of
> things.

> Are they a young company? Mature? Growing
> (with a lot of pains)Downsizing? Is the
> management young, old, is it run by despots?

> Arm yourself with this knowledge, then
> become a problem solving partner...not just
> another guy selling TRAINING.

> That is what I'd get if I got one of your
> headlines. A sales pitch.

> As a business owner, I'd want to know what
> you know about my needs, concerns, problems
> and exactly HOW you are going to HELP me
> solve them.

> Getting an owner/mgr to CALL YOU, is next to
> impossible. You call them, do a follow-up.
> Do way beyond due diligence, and you'll get
> WAY BEYOND average results.

> PERSONALIZE your sales presentation to match
> THEIR needs.

> But, that is just my opinion.

> Gordon Alexander