I work as an engineering consultant. I do design work, consultation, customer service and sales. It's performance based commission.
Learning game helped me understand communication at a deeper level and just general human interaction. When I took a long sales assessment test I was pegged as a top level performer without any formalized sales training. My boss (VP) is a no nonsense kind of guy and said since they implemented that test they haven't seen a new hire score so high. Recently we hired on another inside sales engineer and I took a look at his scores and they were pretty underwhelming - in fact the lot of people we were looking to hire were the same.
When I was interviewing I answered some standard questions and then started asking the CEO of the company questions about the job, the company etc. Once he got comfortable with me asking him questions I started to steer the conversation more personal - asked him how long he was there, what he liked about it, if his children were in the same industry and naturally he started talking a lot more. We then chatted about hobbies and other aspects of our lives and I was mirroring him quite a bit but not excessively.
I wasn't over eager but acted excited and I got a good vibe from the guy- he was a bit more old school and I knew I could be a bit more straight up with him.
One question he asked is if I had a high level of sales experience outside of my typical customer service jobs in high school/college and if I didn't what could I relate it to the most. I asked him if I could speak candidly and he said sure - I laughed a little bit and said "I know it's probably not the most professional thing to say but I believe my experience with women has taught me quite a bit about sales. It's a very similar process from meeting a woman to being with her long term."
His reaction was great- he lit up like a light bulb and laughed and said he appreciated the straight answer.
Toward the end he mentioned my assessment score and said it was really good and said he hopes I'm not just good at taking tests. I said its pretty easy to see that I'm not just a good test taker- he asked me how he would be able to see that. I told him - "isn't an interview a sale? I'm selling myself to you but I'm also making sure from my end that you are a good fit for me."
I broke down our entire interaction - from the first handshake all the way to this moment. I told him about me looking him in the eye, being upbeat but not too eager, talking about my technical experience but making sure I didn't lose his interest in the process, my body language during the interview process, pacing/leading/mirroring, how I started asking him professional questions that lead into personal questions and how I noticed that made him comfortable with me, the funny candid answer about women and just the overall positive mindset during the whole process. He just nodded his head and laughed and thanked me for my time.
Next morning I got a call from the company with an offer of employment.
TLDR: every aspect of life has game and sales intertwined.
Learning game helped me understand communication at a deeper level and just general human interaction. When I took a long sales assessment test I was pegged as a top level performer without any formalized sales training. My boss (VP) is a no nonsense kind of guy and said since they implemented that test they haven't seen a new hire score so high. Recently we hired on another inside sales engineer and I took a look at his scores and they were pretty underwhelming - in fact the lot of people we were looking to hire were the same.
When I was interviewing I answered some standard questions and then started asking the CEO of the company questions about the job, the company etc. Once he got comfortable with me asking him questions I started to steer the conversation more personal - asked him how long he was there, what he liked about it, if his children were in the same industry and naturally he started talking a lot more. We then chatted about hobbies and other aspects of our lives and I was mirroring him quite a bit but not excessively.
I wasn't over eager but acted excited and I got a good vibe from the guy- he was a bit more old school and I knew I could be a bit more straight up with him.
One question he asked is if I had a high level of sales experience outside of my typical customer service jobs in high school/college and if I didn't what could I relate it to the most. I asked him if I could speak candidly and he said sure - I laughed a little bit and said "I know it's probably not the most professional thing to say but I believe my experience with women has taught me quite a bit about sales. It's a very similar process from meeting a woman to being with her long term."
His reaction was great- he lit up like a light bulb and laughed and said he appreciated the straight answer.
Toward the end he mentioned my assessment score and said it was really good and said he hopes I'm not just good at taking tests. I said its pretty easy to see that I'm not just a good test taker- he asked me how he would be able to see that. I told him - "isn't an interview a sale? I'm selling myself to you but I'm also making sure from my end that you are a good fit for me."
I broke down our entire interaction - from the first handshake all the way to this moment. I told him about me looking him in the eye, being upbeat but not too eager, talking about my technical experience but making sure I didn't lose his interest in the process, my body language during the interview process, pacing/leading/mirroring, how I started asking him professional questions that lead into personal questions and how I noticed that made him comfortable with me, the funny candid answer about women and just the overall positive mindset during the whole process. He just nodded his head and laughed and thanked me for my time.
Next morning I got a call from the company with an offer of employment.
TLDR: every aspect of life has game and sales intertwined.