Think you can sell yourself just by keeping your nose to the grindstone? Just do an excellent job and you will remain anonymous. Like running a retail outlet and expecting your customers to make the effort to find you. The people you report to are your customers and selling is essential to keep you in business.

Selling yourself

• Good selling skills are vital if you expect to be promoted, if you want to achieve career success..
• A few lucky ones will have another manager who champions their cause.
• You will need to develop sales skills unless you want to rely on luck.
• Many find selling themselves repugnant, but good selling is more subtle than boasting.
• If selling yourself is distasteful, how would you manage if you were self employed?
• You are self employed now in the sense that you have services to offer.
• Just because you are an employee doesn't mean you can stop selling.
• Think of selling as helping your internal customers look good and get what they want.
• Begin by identifying a number of influential executives and cultivate them as customers.
• Find out their interests and do what you can to get helpfully involved in their issues.
• Offer your services out of sheer interest in their projects.
• Pick high profile executives working on high profile projects.
• Make yourself indespensible - just as you would if you were self-employed.
• Think of it as team work instead of "That's not my job".
• Invest most or your time and effort in high visibility, important projects.
• Selling yourself simply means getting known widely by the most influential executives.
• For some related tips see Promoting Yourself

All pages written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D. and copyright © Self Renewal Group 1996-2008