Optimize Your Sweet Spot

Your value propositions, targeting and mailing list must be optimized to find the decision-makers most likely to hire you, and get the highest odds of success. Changing any one can change the others.

For example:

One of our clients was a Textile CEO in Charlotte.

He could not relocate (kids in high school), his industry was declining fast and there were very few companies available for his mailing list.

So, he changed his value proposition to minimize textiles and leverage his experience in acquisitions and turnarounds. This changed his targeting and mailing list, and he had to rewrite his resume.

He targeted 3,300 local companies outside of textiles and received 17 calls, 8 long phone interviews and 6 follow-up interviews ... all within 9 weeks. He turned down 2 job offers and accepted a third that offered ownership. His thank you note read in part: "Six years ago the retained recruiters found my new job. This time it was the direct mail - a numbers game. Only 1/2% had any interest but those 1/2% really needed someone at that time. Thanks for all your help along the way."

How it works

Get your value proposition, targeting and mailing list to a draft stage and stop. You've just made your first best effort to get the highest odds in your job search.

Now change each one.

• If you change your value proposition slightly, can you target industries with higher growth?
• If you target different industries, are there more businesses on your mailing list?
• If you change your mailing list constraints, does your value proposition change?

Do this over and over. Each time you'll have higher odds.