If you hate pitching yourself for job opportunities, read this.
Stop selling with energy, and start selling with value.
There are two ways you can pitch yourself for a potential role or opportunity.
You can sell with energy or you can sell with value.1
Selling with energy is all about confidence and charisma.
Here’s how you sell with energy—
You get yourself hyped up about how amazing you are.
You wear your best outfit and do your hair just right.
You do some power poses in the hallway.
And you go in and give the pitch of your life — full of confidence and positivity and unshakeable certainty that they should hire you.
If you were selling SAT tutoring, this would sound like…
I’m the best tutor ever!
I crushed the SAT when I took it in high school!
I have a proven method for test-taking that works on everyone!
I can get any student from a 400 to a 1600 in 3 months, guaranteed, or your money back!!!
When you sell with energy, your emotions do the heavy lifting in persuading the other person to go with you.
The reason they are sold on you is because they are bowled over by your energy and confidence.
How can they say no, when you’re so confident that they should say yes?
This is not a bad way of selling! There’s nothing wrong with doing this.
But it requires you to be in a very confident, high energy state every time you talk to someone.
And that means that if you have a bad day, or you’re a bit uncertain about something, or something throws you off, your selling power disappears.
Selling with value is all about logical problem-solving.
Here’s how you sell with value—
You deeply understand the problem this team is trying to solve.
You have a clear perspective on how to solve that problem and what the steps are to get from A to Z.
You might even know what some of the common pitfalls are, and how to get around them.
Or some of the common misconceptions about the best way to solve this problem, and why your approach makes more sense.
You know why you’re the best person to help the team get from A to Z, given your skills and previous experience.
If you were selling SAT tutoring, this would sound like…
There are four reasons students have low SAT scores: skills gaps in reading and math, a lack of test-taking savvy, boredom with the prep process, and low confidence in the face of mistakes.
Many parents think the solution is to just do as many prep problems and practice tests as possible, but this brute force approach doesn’t actually address the underlying causes of the problem.
When I work with students, we start with a diagnostic where I assess exactly what mix of the four reasons is causing their low score today.
Then I close the skill gaps by teaching them the key math and reading concepts they need to know.
I make them more savvy about test-taking by teaching them tips and tricks to game the test format if they get stuck.
I set up games, competitions, and prizes to make the prep fun and engaging so they don’t get bored with endless drills and repetition.
And I teach them about growth mindset and compassionate self-talk so that they don’t lose confidence when they make mistakes.
I’ve worked with hundreds of students from a wide variety of backgrounds, I’ve been able to achieve a 50% increase in scores on average, and I have a 98% satisfaction rating from my students.
When you sell with value, your logic does the heavy lifting in persuading the other person to go with you.
The reason they are sold on you is because you have a perceptive diagnosis of the problem and a clear, simple, doable pathway for how to solve the problem.
How can they say no, when you just make so much SENSE?
Selling with value feels like explaining a math problem to someone.
And the great thing about selling with value is that you can be confident and high-energy while you do this… OR you can be tired and low-energy while you do this.
It doesn’t really matter. The logic is the same either way.
So if you’re hyped up and wearing your best outfit and feeling amazing — awesome! It’s great icing on the cake, while you explain the math equation.
But if you’re getting over the flu, just had a fight with your spouse, and are feeling really behind on your to-do list…
None of that affects your selling power. Because you can still explain the math equation.
So if you’re looking at potential roles right now, and you know you can DO the job…
But the thought of pitching yourself for the job is making you feel like a gross, sales-y slimeball…
Come talk to me and let’s build your “selling with value” pitch.
I guarantee that you already have all the knowledge and experience you need to write this pitch.
All we have to do is pull that knowledge out of your brain and simplify it and organize it so you can present it in a minute or two during a conversation.
And once you can do that, pitching yourself is going to feel calm, helpful, logical — and maybe even fun :)
Instead of gross, inauthentic, and pushy.
This is a perfect topic for a free one-off coaching session with me.
Or, if you want my support in not only building this pitch…
But also refining it over time for multiple audiences…
And navigating all the conversations you’ll have to have in order to land your next role…
Book a free coaching consult and let’s talk about working together through your full transition.
What my clients have to say…
“I realized that I wasn’t alone in a lot of my situations. In fact, what I was going through was very common.
And that there were tools and I could use to get out of this, and that I wasn’t the first person in the world to go through and I’m not going to be the last.
And that Pooja has seen this before and that she is very well equipped and familiar with how to troubleshoot these things. That helped so much.”
—Client | VP at Major Financial Institution
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This is a concept I’ve borrowed from Stacey Boehman, a sales coach I love. She applies it to selling your offerings as a coach, and I think it applies just as well to pitching yourself for a job opportunity.
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