Interesting. How can “knowing your product” ever relate to being an interview skill, when it has everything to do with selling something?

In many ways, the job interview has much in common with a sales meeting with a prospect. Try these:

• The objective of a sales meeting (interview) is to persuade the prospect (interviewer) enough to want to buy your product (services – i.e. hire you);

• You’ve delivered a brochure (resume) and the prospect (interviewer) is interested enough to want to see and hear more of the product (you);

• The prospect (interviewer) asks questions of about the product (you) seeking clarification or deeper insight.

There is a key difference however, and it is that the salesman typically drives the meeting, all the while attempting to negotiate his or her way to closing the sale. The salesman does this through the use of questions and comments. If a prospect asks more questions, that is a good thing.

On the other hand, the job candidate is unable to control the interview, relying on the direction to be given by the interviewer. Indeed, most interviewers will be offended and mark you off if you try to turn the interview into a sales call by trying to take charge of the meeting.

However, you will see there is one key criterion for both the sales call and the interview: you must be able to answer queries (questions) and/or objections about your product (you). Thus, if you don’t know the product, you will never perform well in the interview, no matter how good your interview skills are, or how much preparation you’ve put into the questions.

“Know – know thyself.”

Knowing how to answer questions is one thing. Answering the question in a way that remains truthful to the product (you) is something completely different. Everyone knows what it feels like to have been lied to by a salesman – so put yourself in the prospects’ (interviewers) shoes.

Knowing your product means to know as much about yourself as you possibly can. Getting to know yourself, while typically falls within the realm of career planning, also impacts the interview. The following points can help you to know yourself in the realm of work and career, which is basically a 2-step process:

Firstly, you start with what makes up any product: its features. Typically, these are the things that you can do (your skills), where you’ve used them and for how long (your experience). Referees are the testimonials of those who have used your services in the past. An example of one of your features might be that you have advanced skills in the use of Microsoft Excel.

The second part of product analysis is benefits. These are where you turn the features into what it means for the other person. In the above case of the advanced Excel skill, the benefit maybe that you can perform advanced financial modelling, or you don’t need to be trained, or that you could provide training and support for other staff. Essentially something that may be of benefit to the employer.

You are going to need to spend some time on self-analysis and self-reflection, to find out what you want out of life, and what you want out of work. Ultimately, you need to be clear about what gives you fulfillment and what doesn’t. You will also need to take some time getting to know your skills, abilities, values, aspirations, wants, needs, dreams and your personal style.

You can start with the resume and your previous jobs: what you learnt (experience gained, specific skills); interesting things you did; your achievements; what you do outside of work (sports, volunteer work). By the end, you should have identified four or five of your most valuable strengths, thinking along the lines of personal qualities. These could include the ability to stay calm while other around you are panicking; commitment; willingness to work long hours; lateral thinking; team leader, team player, sense of humour. These become some of your product features.

Next, prepare an example of how you have demonstrated each of these strengths and make sure you get an opportunity to mention them somewhere during the interview. These are now the product benefits. At the same time, you will need to confront some of your weaknesses, and be ready to address them if need be. While you don't necessarily need to share these with your interviewer/s (in fact, it’s a good idea you don’t unless specifically asked), you don't necessarily want to land yourself a job you will hate. In sales, these are objections to the product, and the salesman needs to know these and be able to deflect them – even turn them into positives. The same applies in the interview.

Going through a SWOT analysis is also a good place to start in getting to know your product (SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats). Here are a few starters:

Strengths

• What do you do well?
• What are your main motivating factors and influences?
• What is your greatest asset?

Weaknesses

• What do you do badly?
• What things should you avoid?
• What are your professional weaknesses?

Opportunities

• Where are the promising prospects facing you?
• What is the "state of the art" in your particular area of expertise?
• Are you doing everything you can to enhance your exposure to this area?

Threats

• What obstacles do you face?
• Does changing technology threaten your prospective position?
• What is the current trend line for your personal area of expertise?

An interview is not something that should be taken lightly. The salesman who tries to “wing” the sales call by not having studied the product features will almost always fail to make the sale. Same goes with the job interview. While this is not a guaranteed method for getting through any interview, it is however, a more structured approach to knowing to know more about yourself and be able to handle most questions with ease. With the heightened level of self-awareness, this also puts you in a much better position to handle the new trend of behavioural based questions.

Good luck!