One Chance:
Sell me this pen!
I got this interview, where the interviewer handed me an ink pen and said, “One
chance. Sell me this pen.”
So I took the pen and talked about its smooth blue color, how it would write upside
down, and wouldn’t smudge. I think I even said something about it still writing after
I ran over it with a car. Brilliant sales point, I know.
After about 5 minutes of rambling, I looked up to see the interviewer’s eyes glazed
over. Never a good sign. It was even worse when she raised her hand and said,
“OK, that’s enough.”
I raced back through my speech. Did I sell it? Did I give enough features and
benefits?
I guess not, because I didn’t get the job.
But I do look back on that interview and realize the one mistake I made (aside from
the whole pen death by vehicle thing):
I never asked what she wanted in a pen.
I never took my “customer” into consideration. It was all about the pen.
Now, when I’m working with a client, I always work to learn about them first. What
their goals are, what their style is. I basically want to know what they’re looking for
in a pen. Because no matter how pretty that green Sharpie is, they’re not going to
be happy if they came in looking for a blue Bic.