There was a time when I worried about becoming too
specialized. I loved the work, and my skill and confidence increased the more I
did it. What I worried about was not enough demand for my particular skills in
the marketplace. I recently completed a
project that called for these skills in conducting in depth interviews. I
talked to educators about printed and digital educational materials. I find
such projects interesting, and they help me feel as though I’m doing something
to contribute to education reform.
One of the things that I liked about this project was that I
had a discussion guide instead of a questionnaire. This meant that I could get
a respondent talking with some warm-up questions. If I can establish rapport
with the respondent, they will usually answer most of the questions in the
discussion guide before I get to them. I just have to listen closely in order
to ask appropriate probing questions and then wrap up by asking any questions
that the respondent did not address.
One of the challenges on this recent project was the timing
of it. I may be overspecialized in my interviewing career, but the experience
led to a job selling Common Core test preparation materials. I started that job
last month. It was difficult for me to give each job the time and focus it
needed. Before I worked in market research I did business to business
telemarketing. I did not succeed in that endeavor as well as I had hoped, but
the experience gave me some skills that allowed me to do well at conducting in
depth interviews. I believe that the skills I learned as an in depth interviewer
will help me be more successful at sales this time around.
Working in telemarketing got me used to making cold calls.
It taught me how to deal with gatekeepers. It got me used to thinking in terms
of getting paid for results instead of getting paid for putting in the time.
Conducting in depth interviews improved my listening skills and taught me how
to probe for information without being annoying. It gave me confidence in
asking questions.
Some of the research projects I worked on had questions that
were designed to help the clients find out if declining sales were due to the
content of their programs or the sales representatives who sold them. This gave
me some clues as to what to do and what not to do.
The complaints I have about the sales job are the same
complaints you would hear from any sales representative you may know. One of
the things I like about it is that we now have email and social media marketing
tools that we did not have when I did telemarketing back in the 1990s. I am
having fun imagining how to use these tools in conjunction with my voice on the
telephone. I have a lot to learn and I look forward to learning it.
