Like I said yesterday, I went on a job interview. It was a sales job. I sat in a large room with about twenty other people, waiting to be called back for my turn to show that I was the best candidate.
The guy who called me back and interviewed me was probably in his mid-twenties, wearing a nice suit. He had dark slicked-down hair. Rather than a full beard, this guy had a thin, manicured line of hair that hugged his jawline and went from ear to ear. Down by his chin, two equally thin, manicured lines came straight up to the corners of his mouth and over his lip, forming a small and tidy mustache.
I made no assessments about the man from his looks (although I am sure many of you already have) because all I knew at this point was I was about to be interviewed and I preoccupied myself with making sure I was the best I could be.
Then the guy talked. After asking me where I heard about the job, he says “You know, I can’t hire half the girls sitting out there.”
I say, “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, you look at their resume....” He pretends to be looking at someone’s resume. “...So your name is Shaniquafondalonda.” He then pretends to put the resume in the trash.
In case you weren’t sure, yes, he just told me he wouldn’t hire someone because of their African American name.
The first thing I think is “Don’t you know your company can get sued for your comments?” Then I come to realize that this isn’t a trained HR rep or a trained hiring manager, but this guy is a cocky jerk....and probably a top salesman.
Sure enough, he tells me he’s doing commercial sales and that very few people get to do commercial sales in the company. He tells me he has a residential sales position open though.
During the course of the interview he also pulls out a 100 dollar bill and says “Damn wife, I make all the money and I have to ask her for cash. I mean, a hundred dollar bill is good lunch money, but still, you know.”
This guy was definitely over the top, but this hasn’t been the first time I have come across salesmen who was trying to portray the image of confidence and success.
The real sales world leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do not like to put up a facade. That is why I like selling on the internet. While it might be uncomfortable at first to promote yourself, it is a whole different ball game.
I love that the standards for selling books on the internet are so different than the real world. There is a cooperation that is hard to find in other areas of life. There is an expectation that when you promote yourself, you will also add value and encouragement to other people doing the same thing. That way, you garner an audience for yourself who will eventually start buying your books.
The worst thing you can do is hard sell your books by constantly leaving messages saying “buy my book now, buy my book now” at every turn. People will turn you off, “unfollow” you and drop you from all their social network options.
I have likely told many of you nothing new, but I believe I can offer you this piece of encouragement- If you are uncomfortable with self-promotion, the paradigm created by internet self-publishers has made it more tolerable, even enjoyable. People will welcome you even if your name happens to be Shaniquafondalonda.
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