Good Day, good day my friends, today’s topic is “Take A Chance On Me”.
Today’s blog comes from me asking on my Facebook page “Do you have any questions about changing careers? I’d love to answer your question in my next podcast! “
A comment popped up by Stephanie She asks “How do you get someone, or a company for that matter, to take a chance on you when you have no experience other than clinical?” Great question! Stephanie is a dental hygienist, and I previously was in the dental field, so I won’t use as much dental lingo and so l can broaden this topic and make it more applicable to everyone, yet still answering her question.
I was able to get in contact with Stephanie and I wanted to give her real-world help, so I asked her where she wanted to make the move to, she would want to get into and she said sales. The kind of sales that she would go from office to office, selling products and teaching the staff about the products. You can think of a drug rep, medical or dental device sales, I believe they use to have xerox who would do this, but more or less it’s a traveling sales job.
At this point, I’m here to tell you something that you may not want to hear.
Nobody can tell you that you don’t have experience. Now is your time to open your eyes and see what you really can do. And how you can take your personal experience from job to job.
Ok, hear me out, if you’ve been a dental hygienist and you want to get into sales. You’ll be selling products to dental hygienists, how do you not have experience? You know the lingo, you know the people, you know how to connect with them, you already sell to your patients. You sell them on why it’s important to brush and floss, you sell them on why they need that crown, you sell them on why they need this deeper cleaning. You’re already halfway there baby! This isn’t a huge career shift, this is a pivot.
Once you stop seeing this as “I’ve always been a hygienist, this is all I know” To realizing “I’ve been doing this the whole time, but this time, I’m just taking a jump to the right.”
Think about it this way, what does this particular sales person need to know? From the bottom up, 1- they need to know how to sell- check. 2-They need to know about the product- check. 3- They need to be personable- check. Bonus for you- you’ve already worked with a lot of the products.
For a moment, let’s think about Stephanie and this Xerox salesperson. You both want the same position in this dental sales company, how do you not have a leg up, over the Xerox person? They have two of the three boxes checked, selling and they’re personable. However, it will take them a long time to learn the dental lingo, they won’t be able to give advice on which product is better because they’ve never used the products or even heard of the products before. You as being a dental hygienist already have had tons of questions like does this product contain wheat, eggs, or dairy. Boom, you already know the answer while this Xerox salesperson hunts around for the answer…
Please, no one stab me for this, but you are probably the only one getting in your own way. You, Stephanie, are not switching to a totally new career. You are simply pivoting.
You can take Stephanie’s job and her pivot, into your own world. Switching to a new career in life can be difficult, but let me help you make it easier.
Also, you should know that this won’t be an overnight switch. It will take months to do the research and make the switch. Now is the second-best chance to start, yesterday was the best time.
So what do I do and where do I start?
Network, network, network. Next time you go to a continuing education class or see a salesperson doing the same thing you want to do, ask them for advice. Ask them what steps they may have taken to get in this position.
Find out what skills it takes to be in this position.
Find out if you can go on a ride-along, or observe for a day or a job shadow. -If you’re able to do this take notes, bring questions, and come prepared.
Find ways to associate your current job, to what you’d like to do.
Start your research and learning before getting into the field. Write down all the books, podcasts, youtube videos that you’ve read/ listened to/watched. Research all the information about the products that you can find. Once you get an interview you can tell or show them what all you’ve already researched. This will show them that you care, and you’re ready to dive in headfirst.
I’d like to take a moment to pop in here and say thank you to Julie, she emailed me with a very lovely review and I couldn’t resist telling you all about it. Julie said “Wendy is easy to work with and can zero in on your deficiencies or struggles and help you build those up”
Julie, thank you for coming into my life and for allowing me to help you one on one!
Back to the action
Get involved in associations in the career you want to get into, go to continuing education classes, take online classes, or purchase courses.
It’s never too late, whether you have 5,10, 15 + years until retirement, it’s never too late and you’re never too old!
Make your resume bomb.com, like you are! Then make a review letter that highlights what you’ve been up to, what you’ve learned and bring it to your interview. I’ve got how to create a review letter in my course “Career Upgrade” as well.
Make sure to do this exercise before applying
What are your strengths?
What skills do you need to build on to be in the position you want to be in?
What areas in your work do you want to keep?
What are you willing on negotiating?
Don’t jump at the first opportunity that comes to you.
Do you like some areas of your current job, but you want to step down and work part-time? If you’re able to find a job that is part-time, is this something that will make you happier?
Sell yourself, create an elevator pitch, show them why you deserve this position, and why they won’t regret this decision. Start reading books by Brian Tracy, he’s got 55 of them. My favorites that could apply to Stephanie and to anyone else is
Brian Tracy-
Close that Sale
Negotiation
Goals
Sales management
Eat that frog
I say that everyone can benefit from sales books because we’re all trying to sell ourselves in interviews, right? We want to be picked over the other candidates looking. We are selling or upselling our whole lives, but people haven’t been calling it selling. People don’t like that 4 letter word. However, the better you are at selling yourself, the further you can go in life!
Today is the second-best day to start, so right now, write down one thing that you can do today that will get you one step closer to your dream job!
Thank you for listening in today, please share this with friends who are looking to make a career change. If you feel moved to leave me a review on Facebook at Career Elevations or a review on iTunes, I’ll be forever grateful and I just may read your review on the next podcast! Don’t forget about the Career Upgrades Course on my website, www.careerelevations.mykajabi.com/careerupgrade I’ll provide a link below as well.
Meet me back here next Monday. Next weeks topic is “Help, I’m totally lost but I know this isn’t where I want to be” This is for those of you who know you’re not in the right place at work, but you seriously don’t know where to go from here! Until I see you in my inbox, or next Monday, make today fantastic!
