10 – Always be polite (Don’t be rude or judgmental on the person or company)

9 – Wear a suit (If you show up in jeans and a T-Shirt, you might as well show up naked….At least they will remember you this way)

8 – Be professional (Don’t use slang words or cuss. Be literate and confident)

7 – Act as if (We are not saying you should be someone you’re not but if you are nervous about the interview, put it all behind and challenge yourself against the nerves and show the interviewers your confidence)

6 – Punctual (If you are late for an interview, don’t make excuses. Don’t blame traffic or say that your alarm did not go off. Be up front and apologize….this is a strike already and people figure if you are late for your first interview, you will be late for work. Don’t dig yourself into a bigger hole.)

5 – Cell phone (This is an obvious one to most but if your phone rings in the interview and you answer it, you might as well go home. Put your phone on silent or turn it off. Nothing is more disrespectful than answering your phone.)

4 – Relate (Find a topic that you can relate to the interviewer. If you have kids around the same age, talk about them. Building a relationship with them is going to make them remember you)

3 – Reason (Why are you interviewing for this job? Is it because it’s a company you have wanted to work for your whole life, your family all works there, you’re desperate. Not only do you have to ask yourself why you are interviewing but why you should be the one for the job)

2 – Selling (Your experience will play a big part in your chances of getting a position, but if you are very quiet and expect them to look at your resume and offer you a position, Wake up. Sure that may happen but it’s very rare and in order for it to happen, you would have had to build up your reputation for years. If you can’t sell yourself in an interview, you would need to take a moment and think why you deserve this job and why you would be good at it. Knowing your future plans is also very important. Be
prepared for anything that may come your way in an interview

1 – Honesty (There is nothing worse than lying in an interview. If you lie your way into a job, you will get caught eventually and things will not look good for you. Respect, trust and reputability will all go out the window with one simple lie. If you do not fit the criteria and have to lie to get in, it’s not the job for you so don’t even bother.

To finish, what is trying to be said is that being yourself and being honest will be much more beneficial in the long run. Think about the future plans and work with the interviewer and company to help you choose the right path.

Great video of Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric explaining how staying in your job will make you successful.

Achieving success is never easy. It takes desire, discipline and skill, but this year more than any other is tougher because of the grinding economy – sales cycles are longer, buying budgets have been cut and customers may be more preoccupied with their own job security than buying what you are selling.

This dip in the economy will pass – they always do. In the meantime, you have to stay mentally tough.  The bad press about the economy, layoffs, cutbacks, doom and gloom easily distracts reps. Complaints such as “no one is buying” or “my accounts suck”  are fair but they don’t help you be in the positive frame of mind required to capitalize when opportunity knocks. Many of your peers will get wound up in what they perceive to be insurmountable odds and stop making as many calls, stop booking as many meetings – they anticipate defeat and make it a self fulfilling prophecy.

I just read Brian Tracy’s book “Eat That Frog”, a book about doing the small things that result in success. Focus on next single action you can take to move closer to success rather than the size of the challenge or the obstacles that may arise. There was a quote in there, I don’t think it is his, but it went something like this:

By the yard its hard,

but inch by inch,

anything is a cinch

Sure there is a slowdown and sure that makes it tougher, but every day billions of dollars change hands and many accounts are buying – you just have to find them.

Push yourself to ignore the big picture and focus on the one thing you can do right now to move closer to a win.

There is a saying that the best way to eat an elephant is…..one bite at a time. It applies now.