There are many parallels between finding a job and selling a product. The only difference is that in a job search, the product you’re selling is yourself. Adopt these proven sales techniques in your job search.

Don’t sell Features – Sell Benefits

When you “sell a feature,” in a job search this could be your experience or an achievement, you describe some element of your offering, and you hope that the prospect/interviewer will be impressed. You hope that they will connect your experience with success in the role.
When you “sell a benefit,” you are tying a feature, your experience, to some way that it improves the interviewer’s situation. You can describe exactly how your experience will benefit the company. For example: “I can apply my retail experience and knowledge of analytics to immediately identify patterns in your loss prevention data.”
“Selling benefits” is more effective than “selling features,” as it isn’t always clear to the interviewer why some benefit, or your experience, is important for one’s success in the role. It is like connecting the dots together for them, and clearly explaining why you are the best fit for the role.

Preempt the Top Sales Objections

Sales people think of the objections they hear over an over again and rather than let the objections come up, and then overcome them, they preempt them. They address and dissolve the objections before they are articulated by their prospect.
In your job search, if you know that you are missing a certain job requirement, you could use this technique to address it head on, instead of leaving the interviewer to wonder how it will effect your performance on the job. For example, if you are interviewing for a job that requires prior knowledge of their Content Management System (CSM), you could say: “When I was hired for my role at Random, I did not know HTML, but mastered it very quickly. I am sure I can learn how to use your CSM just as quickly. I found a free CSM course on Udemy I can start taking straight away.”
This is a great way of addressing the “elephant in the room” if you have one… Interviewers are always interested in gaps in your work experience. If you have a gap, use this technique to address it, before you are asked about it. For example: “I took some time off between 2014-2016 to take care of my kids. They are both in school and after school programs, and I have been working full time since.”

Prepare Anecdotes

Sales people use stories to establish rapport, build credibility, demonstrate value and sell their business. Prepare anecdotes to demonstrate your experience and fit for the role. Apart from adding interest to the conversation, and making your interview more memorable, the anecdotes will also help you in answering Behavioral Interview questions.

Give it a go! Use these proven selling techniques to accelerate your job search.