One thing I know from speaking with people in job search is that many are frustrated and discouraged because they can’t get “meetings” with people. They’ve heard the best route to finding a job is through the hidden job market and they are trying to ask for informational meetings and striking out, big time.
Why do you suppose someone wouldn’t want to meet with you?
- They don’t know you
- They don’t have time
- They don’t know how they can help you
- They generally don’t understand or believe in networking
- You haven’t given them a reason to WANT to meet with you
These are not real reasons, they are excuses for their underlying fears. Are you going to ask them for a job? Do you have some other hidden agenda? Fear of the unknown value or outcome of the meeting? None of these objections are insurmountable.
On Jason Alba’s JibberJobber blog, he shared a slide deck (by Sheila Scarborough) cautioning consultants and entrepreneurs not to meet with people who want to pick their brains. Why? Because these meetings typically take away from the income generating opportunities the business owner should be working on.
I am sharing Jason’s post containing the slides with you so that you can understand the objections as to why someone isn’t willing to meet with you. It doesn’t mean they won’t. It means that you have to be more convincing or offer to solve some problem of theirs for it to be worth their precious, billable time.
The more you understand these reasons and the more you understand the way employers are thinking, the better you will be and circumventing their objections. That means you can secure more meetings!
The ultimate lesson is
- Be genuine and authentic
- Offer something in return for their time
- What benefit is it to them to meet with you
- Be courteous and sincere
No guarantees, but at least you understand, right?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hannah, awesome post. Yes, it may take away from my income generating time to meet with people but the person may also turn out to be helpful to my business. Who knows?
For me the key is to always be meeting new people and to making sure that I am aware of my ‘selling time.’ I only have so many hours in the day and if I spend an hour with one person then I need to make that up by spending time selling ‘groups.’
As always, you’re rockin’ it.
Deborah,
Yes, I hear you! You are more generous than most! I would guess you do have some “weeding out” criteria. In other words, the person has to present some form of value before you are agreeable to meeting with them, right?