The Invitation is More Important Than the Interview
Founder + Partner + CEO
Published Thursday, July 9, 2020
Most of us work very hard to give a groundbreaking interview or presentation. We spend hours upon hours reviewing answers to questions, memorizing a speech, and troubleshooting the journey we want an audience to travel. This is important and should never be overlooked, but allow me to present a different perspective: being asked to present or sit down for an interview is more important than the interview itself.
Many of us have a fantastic story to tell and information to share but never get the chance to share it. It’s the invitation that matters. Once you are invited to share your story, perspective, and information you want to make it great to get offered the next invitation. This is true for many social scenarios as well, the invitation to parties, to dinners, to business meetings… without receiving an invitation to these events it doesn’t matter what you have to say. However, when you do show up to the invite be charismatic, be prepared, be interesting, and set yourself up to be on the next invitation list.
To get the invitation you have to be a shameless self-promoter. One of my favorite self-promoters is the late Pooch Hunter. He was a leading realtor in the Central Indiana area. Pooch was infamous for his big personality and giving everyone he met a promotional pen. The Pooch Pen, as he called it, was nothing special but he shamelessly promoted his real estate business and his love for animal rescue (which is how he received the name Pooch). It eventually became expected and cherished that when you saw Pooch Hunter you got a pen. As silly and simple the idea was – it worked.
We are told growing up that talking about and promoting yourself is a bad thing. Well, it is not. It is the only way you will make it as an entrepreneur. All great people, products, and companies “talk about themselves.” One of the greatest myths about success is that eventually your business, abilities, or products are “so fantastic” they will get discovered and be embraced by the masses. It’s simply not true. How can people’s lives be changed by a product if no one knows the magical benefits it offers? Even the world’s most influential, life-changing products like the cell phone, the car, and the refrigerator needed some form of bragging to be discovered.
Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial, yet most underutilized, marketing tools the majority of business owners have at their immediate disposal. At ScreenBroidery we offer apparel and promotional products that can help promote you, your story, and your product. We look at a lot of things when pitching self-promotional products to our customers. Five components that made the Pooch Pen successful and will make all shameless self-promotions guarantee and invite are:
1. Be Interesting
2. Be Authentic
3. Add Value
4. Be Creative
5. Be Consistent