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O P I N I O N
Be prepared (obviously)
‘Why in the hell should we hire you over all these other firms?’ It’s a simple question you’d better be ready to answer if you want the contract.
I f you watched any of the Olympics recently you probably saw skiers and bobsledders preparing for their runs by envisioning the course before them; how they planned to negotiate the terrain, twists, and turns ahead. Basketball players and golfers do it, too, envisioning their shot or drive. They’re putting themselves in the place they want to be. They call it “the zone.” It’s when everything seems to work; every shot finds the net and every drive finds the green. In business development and sales, we sometimes experience the phenomenon as well, and here’s a good example.
Marc Florian GUEST SPEAKER
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a short-list interview with a local unit of government. We were one of four firms being interviewed based on our response to an RFQ/P for a multi-year contract opportunity. Over the course of the week preceding the interview, we talked amongst ourselves about our “value-proposition,” the phrase we often use to describe the factors that differentiate us from our competition. We asked ourselves why the factors we identified should be important to the client, always looking to answer the question, “This is important because …?”
We were provided no agenda or format for the interview, but we did know who comprised the interview team and who the competitors were likely to be. We did our research and spent time anticipating the questions we were likely to be asked and who would ask them, and equally important, those we hoped wouldn’t be asked. We prepared our answers to each with persuasive responses intended to compel a positive outcome. We practiced and challenged one another. We didn’t know what to expect, so we had to be prepared for everything. The preparation paid off. We were asked the
See MARC FLORIAN, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER April 23, 2018, ISSUE 1245
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