Last week, my fiance (yes, I'm engaged)
and I had a conference call with a potential vendor. We were pretty jazzed
about hiring her after studying her website, but when we finally all got on the
phone, she would not shut up. It was almost comical.
She did a 10 minute run-on sales pitch
that left us exhausted.
The interesting part is that she ALREADY had the job before she started talking.
We were all set to hire her. But her
nerves, insecurity and poor sales-woman-ship did her in. The thought of
having this hyped up "Chatty Kathy" at my wedding made me ill. I
looked at my husband-to-be who was across the room on the second phone and
swung my fingers at my throat mouthing the words, "No way."
The fact that this woman already had the
job is the interesting part of the equation. I think this is frequently the
case with sales situations. Every time anyone of us looks into hiring a staff member, vendor,
agent or representative of some sort, we are HOPING that this person will be
"the one". None of us wants to keep researching and
interviewing.
Nye Heron who ran the Irish Arts
Center in NYC taught me that lesson years ago. He explained,
"Most actors come into an audition thinking they have to win the
part. The fact is, every actor already has the part before they arrive. Their
job is not to lose it." He explained how bit by bit, actors
can lose the job once they arrive - because they don't have the acting chops,
don't take direction well, lack the emotional depth or comedic skills required,
or have the wrong attitude.
It was an eye opening shift in
perspective and it is one worth thinking over the next time you're up for a
gig. You might already have the job. To be sure, one of the fastest ways
to lose it is to talk too much. As Calvin
Coolidge said, "No man ever listened himself out of a
job."
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