My friend and mentor, Tom Lofaro, said to me one night, "Potruch, you are a $75,000 a year man at the least!" I took that to heart, because I was engaged to Lisa and I really wanted her not to have to work after we got married so that we could focus on raising a family. The following week had me composing a "CPR," which stands for "Context, Purpose, and Results," for the upcoming interview. The idea of writing these things down is to help me stay focused. Obviously, the results are what I hope to accomplish at the interview. The Purpose was why I was doing the interview. And the Context was the state of being in which I wanted to reside while at the interview. I don't really remember the results or the purpose, but the Context sticks with me to this day and guides much of my thinking and decisions:
My Family is Watching....
This context was so helpful; my interviewer was a woman, a senior executive at the company, and from what I gathered at the interview, pretty tough. However, her being a woman, she did much of the talking (I'm over-generalizing, I know, but it was where my thinking was at the time). All I really did was nod occasionally, say "OK" a few times, and extend my hand and say thank you at the end. That day I got an offer.
So a month ago, here I was again, with a chance to move into a new position. Sales again, but this time with a huge bank with a huge brand. My wife, ever conscious of who her husband is, told me, "You'll do great; just be really, really humble." My Family is Watching...
I had my first interview in person with the office sales manager. It lasted over an hour, and I thought it had gone really well, and the sales manager told me that if he was going to make an offer, he'd do so quickly. But when I followed up two days later, I found to my surprise that the sales manager was wavering on whether I was his guy. He was a great guy, and spoke openly about his own struggles, and I realized most of his concerns were not about me, but about him and his ability to recognize both talent and commitment. It took another 90 minutes, but by the end he said, "I came into this phone call knowing you were a great talent, and at the end of this phone call I know that and much more." Within a couple of hours, his recruiter called me to say that an offer would be forthcoming in a couple of days. She needed income information from me to put together a "guarantee" package that would transition me into the 100% commission job. She warned me, however, that management was taking long looks at these guarantees due to the current mortgage crisis, but she expressed confidence that I'd still get what the manager wanted to give me.
That was two weeks ago...
After it didn't come after two days, I waited two more days and left a message with the recruiter. She called back shortly and left me a message reiterating that management was getting very careful about guarantee packages, and that things were on hold for the time being with no timetable for when things would change. I called the manager myself and he confirmed. That day, another major lender had completely ceased lending operations because it didn't have the cash to sustain the business and make loans. Between that and this company's own budget issues, plus the fact that they were about to make a major acquisition later in the year, guarantees were off the table.
Disappointed, I nevertheless resolved not to let things bother me. Since being laid off in January, I started the process of getting my real estate license so I could broker loans, and had already picked up a decent pipeline and established referral sources. Plus, from my previous job, I had a client list with several hundred people whom I hadn't even called yet. I was not worried about missing out on this opportunity.
Still, I decided to give it another today. And when I reached the manager, I explained to him that a guarantee was somewhat less important to me than he might imagine it to be. Sure, I'd love to have a $50,000 guarantee to soften the blow of going all commission. But I've been a commission-only guy for five years and have never not cleared multiple six figures. I believe in myself, I know that the business is out there, and I know that this company, with its huge brand, was just the right place to be successful in this down economy. So, by the end of another lengthy call, perhaps another 30 minutes, the manager agreed to put together a package that had other ways to make me happy. A bigger commission on deals I closed within the first year, perhaps? A way to get the guarantee later when the money was there, perhaps after I passed the probationary period? Who knows? But I'm feeling better today that my chances of making this move are in my favor once again.
After all, My Family is Watching...
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