4 Steps to Getting Hired

 

Of course with experience and a bit of industry knowledge you can boost your income significantly.  With starting salaries usually around $30-35,000, it is not uncommon to have a company car, decent benefits, and a fair amount of freedom as a Beverage Sales Rep, not to mention this is a fun job.  Below are some steps you can take to secure one of these coveted positions.

Step 1:  Clean up your act

Step 2:  Know your Prospects

Step 3:  Find the Hiring Manager

Step 4:  Make your Pitch

 

Step 1:  Clean Up Your Act

Dust the cobwebs off of your Resume.  Google the words [job] and [description] with [Route Sales] or [On-premise salesman] or [Off-premise salesman].  Look for specific qualities mentioned that the job requires.  Out of these, list the qualities or skills you possess on your resume.  Keep your resume short and to the point.  Know what you want (like where you see yourself in five years), what your strengths and weaknesses are, your ideal salary, and the lowest you are willing to accept.  Prepare yourself mentally and physically to walk in and talk to the hiring manager first thing tomorrow morning.  Give yourself only a day or two to get your ducks in a row.  Set a deadline and move.

 

Step 2:  Know something about your prospective companies

Make a list of the top 3 companies you would like to work for.  For each company list these three questions:

  1. How many routes are there total?  Are any currently available?
  2. What qualities does this company value? (This will help you answer the inevitable question, “What can you do for us?” that will come up later.)
  3. What products do they offer?

This is valuable information to you.  You must find out all you can.  Go to the company website.  Is the company a part of a beverage association?  Separate yourself from the pack.  When you talk to the hiring manager, you will want to go in with heavy ammo.

 

Step 3:  Find the Hiring Manager

Time to get creative.  Who do you know that works for this company?  Who do you know that knows someone at this company?  If you are determined, it will be just a matter of time until you find this person.  You can:

  1. Call in and ask
  2. Go to the company office and ask
  3. Talk to one of their salespeople and ask
  4. Check the company website
  5. Check the beverage association website for your state.  Is your company listed as a member?  Who is listed as a contact?  The odds are good this person has hiring power.

The key is to keep asking until you break through.

 

Step 4:  Make your pitch

When you do speak with the hiring manager, you will want to convey that you have a strong desire to learn and grow with this particular company.  The qualities of:  poise, industry knowledge, and being well organized will also be crucial to your getting hired.

If you have never had a job in this industry before, consider accepting a temporary position as a merchandiser or line cleaner, for learning purposes, and to be next in line for a sales position.  Although it is not necessary to take this approach, two pros are:  a) easier entry and, b) many companies first look within when moving people on to sales routes.

What do you think about these four steps for getting hired?  Do you have additional tips and strategies you can share with us?

 

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50 a Year in Beer

Fifty A Year In Beer:

 Is $50,000 a year the best you can do working for a beer distributor?  No, but it’s a good start, and once you hit $50,000, the next step (moving into the top 5% of earners in this category) is simple.

I’m assuming you work for a distributor.  If not, why is that? The first part of making fifty a year in beer is landing a great paying job working for a beer distributor.

I have spent the last 10 years of my life trying to figure out ways of simplifying success.  Why do some people get good really quickly, while others spin their wheels for YEARS and get nowhere?  During these years of study, I was able to answer this question and surprisingly, the answer is REALLY, REALLY simple.

HABITS.  Making 50 a year in beer is easy once you develop a set of strong habits.  Habits are behavior patterns that you follow on a consistent basis when you are faced with choices in life.

Habits are the reason I was a failure in my first six jobs.  They are also the reason I am the Senior Salesman at my current job.  Although I didn’t know it at the time, all I had to do to make a significantly bigger chunk of money, was change a few simple things.

At that time in my life, it felt like I was doing everything I could possibly do to be successful, yet I had no success.  It was hard for me to see what I was doing wrong.

And then I met an amazing man who would become my mentor, a millionaire who taught me what I was doing wrong,  what to do right, and set me in a new direction that started a whole new life.  What he taught me took me a few years to learn but turned my life around.  Luckily I was a good listener and note taker and everything he taught me is all compiled in my journals, which can be read in weeks not years.  What follows are a summary of the skills and habits he helped me develop.  They are not sugarcoated BUT they are exactly what it takes to rise quickly in your organization.

 

Without further ado, The Habits:

 

Habit #1:  Know Your Goals.

You may have heard this one, but let me ask you a question.  How many cases of beer do you need to hit this month, to break the previous salesman’s monthly record on your route?  Or hopefully, YOUR previous record?  How many do you need this week?  How many today?  If you don’t know these things, it’s time to join the A Team.

Habit #2:  Remain unaffected by anything that Doesn’t Move You Closer To Your Goals.

For a Champion, a person that makes over $50,000 a year in beer, this means taking all of the little things that bother or hinder other people and shed them off like water.  In all of your dealings, look into the future.  What do you think will happen in this situation and how can you lean the scales in your favor?  “What will he say when I say this?  How will I deal with that objection?  With any other objections?”

You know you will have setbacks, decide beforehand that they will not get to you.  That they are no big deal to a person like you.  Get used to saying, “Nothing to it, and, piece of cake.”   It means being ready for any objection somebody gives you, and acting like its no big deal, plowing forward.  Start to pay attention to what you are thinking about and if it is negative, redirect your thoughts.  Perceive yourself as a winner.  Somebody that already makes 50 a year.

A person with a strong frame of mind remains unaffected by the negative people they inevitably run into.  This is done by looking ahead and choosing before hand that you will remain unaffected, for this reason:  you will always move closer to your goals when roadblocks (negative people and circumstances) don’t affect you, so don’t let them.

Habit #3:  Declare War On Any Fear Holding You Back. 

A true Champion must resolve to never let anything hold them back.  Not inaction, not poor habits, and especially not any fears that you may have.

What people thought of me used to keep me up at nights.  “What will they think if I do this?”  “What if they find out who I really am?”  Forget all that.  What a waist of time.  My mentor taught me different.  He told me an analogy that has stayed with me to this day.  He said, “A mother cat is on the streets and it is starving, with kittens at home.  If that cat sees a mouse on the streets that will feed it and her kittens, do you think it is worried about what other cats think?  Hell no it isn’t.  It does what it needs to do to survive and thrive.”  Amen to that, and the same thing goes with any other fear you may have.  Are you going to let something that doesn’t matter anyway prevent you from reaching your goals?  Nope and neither am I.

Habit #4:  Know Your Product.

Knowing your product is the first half of getting to yes.  You must have enough knowledge to fill the empty gaps of time when your customer is thinking over your offer.  If you suggest that your customer needs a display on isle 4, don’t just wait for an answer.  Fill the empty space with reasons why they need to say yes.  Reasons such as:

  • The profit margin they are making on each sale
  • The percentage of sales increased when a display is up
  • How good you are at maintaining it
  • Other sales that will be increased because of cross-merchandising
  • Expected turnover ratio, or the last displays awesome turnover ratio
  • How creative the display will be, making their store even more unique
  • How craft beer sales (or the beer you are selling) is on the rise
  • Testimonials of other successes
  • Etc.

Habit #5:  Expect People To Say Yes To Your Offers.  Assume The Sale.  Become Hard of Hearing When The Word No Is Brought Up. 

Once you know your product, Habit #5 is easy.  You can and should assume they will say yes because it would be silly or even stupid not to.  Keep talking after you make your offer or suggestion, and if the word no or any other negative feedback is brought up, act like you didn’t hear it and continue with your presentation.  If they are persistent with No’s, be persistently hard of hearing.  Another option is to reply to a no with, “Well did you know that…” and make a darn good point.  Do this three or four times with a positive attitude and a smile and they almost always melt and compliment you on your persistence.

Habit #6:  Over Deliver On Your Promises.

An amateur will dismiss this as extra work with no pay off.  What a mistake.  Everything you do leads into the next thing you do.  It is all connected.  Your level of influence is directly related to your reputation.  You build your reputation in every activity you do, and everything depends on it, so guard it with your life and always over deliver.

Habit #7:  Ask For What You Want Plus A Little Extra.  Aim High, Hit High.

I have noticed that pretty much every time I ask for something in detail, I get close to what I ask for.  If you are always paying attention to what works for you, and eliminating what doesn’t, it won’t take long before your ratio of getting people to say yes to your requests shoots up.  Be the persistent salesperson that is always going for more.  Do it for the customer’s sales and for your sales.  Have TONS of good ideas for more sales and always let your customers know about them.

Habit #8:  Spend Most Of Your Time With Decision Makers.

The most important time you can spend (at work) is time with decision makers at the accounts of yours that buy the most product, making offers that make them money.  Your income and my income are directly related to this time.  When I made the effort to make at least one suggestion each time I was in my best accounts, my income automatically increased by 20%.

Habit #10:  BE The Cream Of The Crop. 

Perhaps this should have been the first habit.  Perceive yourself as the most professional and classiest salesperson out of all of the competition.  The way you dress, conduct yourself, know your product, know the competition and the market, your reputation, talk about your competition, and perform your service are all signs of who you are.  The person that is the most professional is the most respected and has the most influence.  Let this be you.

 

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Prove You Are Better Than Any Other Candidate

In the sense that we are talking about (landing a great paying route in beverage sales), you need to subtly and strategically, yet clearly and unmistakably, reveal to your prospective employer that you bring a lot to the table.  Here is what your reputation and  attitude must convey:

  • You adhere to a very strong set of ethics (Honesty, Integrity, Loyalty, Trustworthy, etc.)
  • You have a strong desire to excel in this specific job, for this specific employer and why.
  • You have access to a powerful network of people.
  • You are very comfortable in social situations or at least appear to be.
  • You are socially intelligent, meaning when you are put into social situations, you know what is appropriate to say, what attire to wear, etc…
  • You would love to work for their company although you are confident you could work for any company (not needy).
  • You are exciting, humorous, and fun.
  • You are confident but not cocky.  If you say you can do something, be sure to show you can do all that and more.  You walk the walk.
  • Tough situations that make others squirm are easy for you to handle.  Courage and calmness under fire.
  • You are strong, care, and easily take the lead when the situation calls for it.
  • You are healthy and mentally fit.  You exercise your body and mind to stay sharp.
  • Previous employers always picked you first when they had a choice.
  • Ideally (though not required) you have worked for, or were associated with high status companies (and reference letters from bosses to back you).

It is important to come across as a person with great potential, who is ambitious, and very interested in being around for more than a few years.  All of these qualities need to be ingrained in your persona and reputation over time, although not all of them are required to be hired.  A hiring manager can be easily impressed just noticing a few of them over one meeting.

The key is presenting what you do have in the best light, to accentuate your positives (while always working to improve yourself).   At the same time, each of these qualities should be cultivated in your personality as you move up in your career.

Additionally, ACTING AS IF you possess these qualities, leads to having them, and will be necessary until you acquire them.

This was an excerpt from  “How to Land a Great Paying Job Selling Beer (or any other Beverage)”

Have you used these qualities before?  Are there any not listed that you would like to share?

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A SureFire Way To Get Hired Working For A Beer Distributor

 

One surefire way to land a great job working for a beer distributor is to network with people currently working in the industry.

When I was working for a distributor, I would get asked VERY frequently, “Are you guys hiring?”, or “How could I get a job working for your company?”.  I can tell you from experience that I heard this so often, I had to have something ready to say to these people because I knew they would ask.

Most of the time (unless I really liked the person and wanted to help them in particular) I just told them to go up to the front office where they posted jobs we were hiring for.  The problem with this method is that these sales positions are RARELY posted anywhere.  Often our sales manager would ask me and the other sales people if we know anyone in particular that would be good for the position.

Here’s the thing.  Most vendors or salespeople you talk to will nonchalantly tell you the same thing or similar, unless of course, you can get them to like you and want to help you.

So that becomes the real question:  “How can I get the hiring manager, salesperson, vendor, or (substitute any person working in this industry), to give me inside information of when a route or position becomes available, and how should I go about getting it?

You do this by FIRST providing value to the person you are trying to influence.  This is very important.  It may not always be easy to figure out exactly how to do that, but it is definitely simple:  1.)  Provide value first, 2.)  Then seek information.

I can tell you that if it were I in the situation, I would meet the person and try to find out something about them.  I would probe a little bit and when I found an area I thought I could help, I would jump on it and do two or three things for this person over time (maybe over a couple of days) before I subtly let them know I was looking for a position doing something similar to what they do.

You must be able to see this person frequently or at least stay in contact with them somehow (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc).  Build on the friendship, and stay in their mind.  It’s as simple as that.

What do you think about this strategy for job hunting?  Do you have any other strategies you would like to share?

 

 

 

 

 

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