Looking for a job? You’ll want to know how to fascinate a potential employer– to immediately demonstrate why you deserve their interest, respect, and serious consideration.

(This is especially true in advertising– a career in which an employees personal brand can be virtually indistinguishable from their actual work product.)

A few moments before going onstage for my The Art of Sales keynote in Toronto, I joined AdBuzz for a quick tips on applying the 7 triggers during the job hunt.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s the text from the AdBuzz article:

By Cam Hopkins (@Cents_2_Dollars)

Sally Hogshead (@SallyHogshead) is a speaker, author, and brand innovation consultant. In this short video interview, she offers a few brilliant pieces of advice for upcoming students and industry professionals alike.

She began her talk at the Art of Sales conference in Toronto on November 22, 2011 with a simple story of perception and how a fascinating story can lead to a more exciting experience. Why do you remember some brands and forget the others? She believes that brains are hardwired to fascinate and that they are also hardwired to be fascinated. She has determined that there is a very short window of opportunity (9 seconds) in order to engage people in your story and only when you do this, is it possible to persuade. Sally wants you to take her advice that she describes in her new book Fascinate and unlearn how to be boring while building your personality brand.

Your communication is being ignored.

Your messages are forgotten.

Your voicemails are deleted without even being heard.

In this video, I’ll explain why.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How can you triumph over this communication killer? How can you captivate your listener so intently that they’re distracted by nothing at all– except the hope that you’ll continue to speak?

First, check out the pre-launch release of HowToFascinate.com.

Next, tell me in a comment below… What is the WORST distraction that you face in a meeting or conversation? (Is it the buzzing iPhone? The conversations going on around? Or is it… reading the Hog Blog right here, during a meeting, when you should theoretically be paying attention to someone or something else?)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Juicy re-tweetable bits:

The #1 communication killer: http://bit.ly/IIBKZn via @SallyHogshead

Kill shiny objects (or be killed by them!). Here’s how: http://bit.ly/IIBKZn via @SallyHogshead

Your communication is being ignored, and your messages are forgotten. Fight back: http://bit.ly/IIBKZn via @SallyHogshead

My friends: The following is my contribution to the “End Malaria Now” book, from Michael Bungay Stanier and the Domino Project by Seth Godin. A full $20 from every book goes to Malaria No More, which buys two nets– and helps end malaria in Africa by 2015.

*    *    *    *    *    *

HERE’S TO THE HATERS

Most companies want to be loved: they want passionate customers, enthusiastic vendors, devoted partners, and loyal employees. Yet in reality, few companies are loved. Most companies are tolerated at best, and at worst, ignored.

Why? Most companies are too forgettable to be loved. They’re too boring to spark a reaction— any reaction.

If you want your company to have passionately devoted customers, partners, and employees, you must first inspire strong responses. Only then can you convince people to love your company, and become raving fans of your brand.

As you attract fans, you’ll also get the opposite: the critics, naysayers, or “Haters.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

THE HATERS

Haters add negative energy to your brand. They might post unpleasantries online, or write nasty letters. They’re passionate, yeah, but in the opposite way that you’d like.

Yet, in the quest to attract Lovers, we’re bound to also get a few of their counterpart, the Haters. As we learned in physics: Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. You can’t have Lovers without a few Haters too.

Let me say something rather shocking: it’s okay to have a few people hate your brand. In fact, it’s necessary. If you’re not eliciting a negative response from someone, then you’re probably not very compelling to anyone.

An innovative ideas feels unfamiliar, even uncomfortable. Not everyone will like it. Most companies spend too much time fretting over damage control for the Haters. Or worse, they never get up the nerve to be extraordinary in the first place. (Sad.)

Rabblerousers and critics are the price of entry to being extraordinary. You can deal with them directly, or even coax them to change, but do not let them stop you. Accept their presence, and move on with your mojo intact.

THE LOVERS

Crazy-excited fans may be a small slice of your overall base, but they’re the single most powerful force in your marketing mix. These Lovers not only purchase your product, but also tolerate price increases, and occasional glitches or errors. They’re not just buying you for price or utility.

When your product is sold out in one store, fans will drive to another location to find it. When the competition tempts them with coupons, they stay loyal. They’ll invest in your stock, attend your conferences, and refer you to their peers.

Lovers also have a delightful habit of doing your marketing work for you (for free). They they create content around your products, glorify your service in online reviews, and even re-post your content online. In every aspect of your company, Lovers will reward you with new business, higher sales, and better talent.

So on one side, we have the Lovers. On the other side, we have the Haters. Between them is a no man’s land filled with dead-ends and languishing sales. This, my friends, is where you’ll find the customers in the middle: Lukewarm lollygaggers who suck up your marketing budget but give little loyalty or value in return. I call these customers the “Middlers.”

THE MIDDLERS

Remember that slacker college buddy who commandeered your dorm room La-Z-Boy to enjoy your subscription to Cinemax, but would always leave when you run out of cheese puffs? Sorta like a friend… but not really. In the same way, lukewarm customers make an occasional purchase, but don’t really add value.

In a brutally competitive environment, you can’t afford to waste your time talking to people who don’t care. Apathetic consumers won’t buy your product unless it’s the cheapest or most convenient option—which is a terrible spot to be in right now, because it’s a brand position by default, one that only succeeds until your competitors offers something cheaper or more convenient.

Unlike Lovers, who are devoted to you, these consumers are gigolos, switching to the most attractive offering. So in addition to being unreliable, Middlers are also expensive. You waste your marketing budget trying to recruit them without ever amortizing your investment over multiple sales.

Yet consumers aren’t the only ones loitering in the middle, and damaging your business.

Employees in the middle don’t care about doing much other than killing time at the office. Clients in the middle don’t really care about loyalty if your competitor offers a better price. Stockholders in the middle don’t care about sticking with you in a downturn.

In a competitive environment, the middle position is death. Not caring is not buying. Not caring is inaction. Not caring is goodbye. There are too many options on the shelves, too many ways to shut out your advertising message, too many competitors who are more than happy to take your best clients and distributors and salespeople away if “don’t care” is the best you can do.

How could you get people out of the middle? Once people stop being in the middle, they stop roaming aimlessly, and start actively choosing you and your brand. That’s when good things like sales and retention and leadership happen.

If your company wants to influence purchase decisions, you must provoke strong and immediate emotional reactions. The goal isn’t to avoid controversy, but to avoid creating legions of people who simply don’t care.

Stop focusing on the Middlers.

Stop letting the Haters slow you down.

Start rewarding, and keeping, the Lovers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RETWEETABLE BITS

The middle position is death. Not caring is not buying. Not caring is goodbye. http://bit.ly/In8WEH by @SallyHogshead

Rabblerousers and critics are the price of being extraordinary. http://bit.ly/In8WEH by @SallyHogshead

Want to influence decisions? Provoke strong and immediate emotional reactions. http://bit.ly/In8WEH by @SallyHogshead

Crazy-excited fans are the single most powerful force in your marketing mix. http://bit.ly/In8WEH by @SallyHogshead

Stop letting the Haters slow you down. Start rewarding, and keeping, the Lovers. http://bit.ly/In8WEH by @SallyHogshead

It’s okay to have a few people hate your brand. In fact, it’s necessary. Why: http://bit.ly/In8WEH by @SallyHogshead

The world is littered with a flotsam and jetsam of boring brochures, business cards, and self-serving marketing. How can you break through to instantly fascinate a potential customer? Well, my friends, here’s how…

Woo with wow.

I’ve seen my share of self-promotional pieces, but I just got one that knocked my socks off. Check this out. I was wooed with wow (and how!):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Every single time you introduce yourself, you’re competing against hundreds of other demands for that person’s attention. If you’re trying to reach a prospect, you have to woo them. But because so many others are wooing them too, you have to set yourself apart with an experience. In other words, you have to fascinate them.

Even if you’re not the most famous, or the most connected,
you can still stand out and get noticed by a client…
if you’re willing to be the most fascinating.

As a prospective customer, here’s what’s fascinating to me:

Ideas are fascinating.
Effort is fascinating
Passion is fascinating.
Skill is fascinating.
Audacity is fascinating.

And for giving me all those things, I say thank you, David Michael Moore (a.k.a. @retweetartist). You’ve wooed us all with your wow.

(Woo hoo!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Your turn. How about you? How has someone wooed you with wow? Or how have you wooed with wow? Do tell!

In your organization, who are the real leaders? Who’s really driving growth (and who’s just punching a clock on the turnstile of their career)?

In my research study on 1,058 Americans, I learned that when employees are “fascinated” by their work– when they’re engaged with their projects, company, and leaders– they are more productive, with bigger goals.

Yet, what exactly turns these goals into success? There are certain patterns in growth and success. Les McKeown identifies them in his best-seller, Predictable Success. I had the pleasure of an email interview with Les, and am delighted to share with you here.

Sally: What makes a leader truly persuasive, Les?

Les McKeown: Well, a lot of things obviously – but my observation is that in the short term it’s (relatively) easy to persuade people using communication skills and passion, but over the long term long term, highly effective leaders persuade others through mastery and authenticity.

Particularly in the current climate – five years in to a grinding, morale-sapping downturn – leaders must show exceptional competency, matched with obvious congruence between what they say and what they do if they want to not only be heard, but be believed.

SH: Why is it important for leaders to understand their natural strengths (and weaknesses) in order to persuade and lead others?

LM: I think the last few years have shaken out many of the truly incompetent leaders – at least in the business world. But there are still many people who fail to lead effectively, not because of incompetence per se, but because of a lack of authenticity – a lack of congruence between who they are and what they say and do.

A major source of that lack of authenticity arises because many leaders are being asked to lead in a way that isn’t natural to them.

In my book ‘The Synergist’ I show that there are three types of leader: The Visionary – big-picture, charismatic, risk-taking, swings for the fences; the Processor – risk-averse, systems-oriented, linear, logical, data-driven; and the Operator – action-oriented, gung-ho, leads from the front and takes no prisoners.

Many businesses are hiring Processors and expecting them to act as Visionaries (see HP, with Leo Apotheker as an example), or hiring Operators and expecting the same thing (e.g. Ballmer at Microsoft). This undermines their ability to lead effectively – and to persuade others – right from the start.

SH: How can understanding their leadership type help leaders build more cohesive teams?

LM: Every team is comprised of Visionaries, Operators and Processors. The problem is, theses three form an unstable mix. Processors view Visionaries as glib, hyperbolic and unfocussed, Visionaries view Processors as glass-half-empty, risk-averse slowcoaches, and Operators get frustrated with both of them, and want to just get out of the room and back to ‘doing things’.

It’s a leader’s job to manage these dysfunctional groups in their organization and to get high-quality outputs from them. The problem is, because we are all biased toward one or other of the natural styles, the leader herself is a Visionary, Operator or Processor, and therefore suffers the same limitations and biased perspective as the others.

What I’ve seen in highly effective leaders is that they learn to adopt a fourth style – a learned style, one which I call the Synergist. The Synergist style puts the needs of the enterprise above the leader’s personal need to scratch their Visionary, Operator or Processor itch, and transcends the natural limitations of each.

When they operate in Synergist mode, leaders elevate their team to a new level of interaction – the team or group equivalent of the personal experience Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about in his book ‘Flow’.

SH: How does a leader transcend their natural style and become a Synergist?

LM: Two things: Recognition and respect.

Self-awareness is more than half the battle. When they recognize that they *have* a natural style, most leaders see immediately that whether they are a Visionary, Operator or Processor, their style has limitations. Becoming a Synergist is first of all about transcending those limitations.

The second key is respect – learning to value the other styles as being co-equally important for the success of the enterprise as a whole. Embracing the other styles and interacting with them to the full is the second part of being an effective Synergist.

SH: What fascinates you about working with leaders and companies to help them achieve predictable success?

LM: Personally, I love working with leader’s self-images. I started my professional career as the UK equivalent of a CPA, and of course I was trained that business success all comes down to financial statements and the management of money.

After 35 years I’ve learned that almost all of any organization’s success rests between the ears of the senior leadership. It’s a fun place to go to work every day.

************************************************************

Les McKeown is the president and CEO of Predictable Success, a consulting firm with clients that include T-Mobile, Microsoft, The US Army, Harvard University, Bose, British Aerospace and many more. McKeown’s previous book, Predictable Success, hit the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-seller lists in 2010. McKeown is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and has appeared on CNN, ABC, BBC, Inc, Entrepreneur magazine, USA Today and The New York Times. Les speaks to businesses around the country helping management achieve a systematic approach to success. Learn more atwww.predictablesuccess.com

You have brilliant, vibrant talents inside your personality. But most of those talents will never be developed.

Talent is hidden. It’s up to you to discover. It’s there, waiting, laying dormant until we begin to activate it. To become your best in any area, you must first recognize your talent, and then, develop it.

Talent isn’t like physical traits such as hair color or height, because it’s not obvious at a glance. Talent isn’t like skill, because you can’t gain talent through practice.

Talent isn’t like knowledge, because you can’t increase talent through memorization or rehearsal.

It’s easy to look at someone like tennis star Pete Sampras and say, “Well, of course he’s #1. He’s talented.” But what if he’d never picked up a racket? That talent would never be brought to fruition.

The same is true of you. I want to help you identify your talents of persuasion. Start finding out your strengths now, at our pre-launch of HowToFascinate.com.

Instead of aquamarine, copper, and sea green, this is about Power, Mystique, Trust, Prestige.

You probably have a Crayola box of talents that you’ve never tapped into. 

They’re waiting to be recognized and developed. Now, you can find out exactly what those are. Like Pete Sampras and the tennis racket, the test will identify your natural strengths so that you can then choose to expound upon them.

Unrecognized talent cannot flourish.

Unrecognized greatness cannot win.

Greatness, like talent, can only win by being noticed and remembered.

By learning what makes you fascinating, you can sell more, create better relationships, and become more effective in all your communication. You become more valuable to your co-workers, and to your clients. Your Fascination Advantage custom package will show you how.

In a crowded, competitive environment, the most fascinating option always wins. That means in a competitive and overcrowded world, you must fascinate stand out– to be noticed and remembered.

Discover your hidden fascination talents. Then, use them to color outside the lines.

The world is not changed by people who sort of care.

The world is not changed by companies who sort of care.

The world is not changed by employees who sort of care.

The world is not changed by leaders who sort of care.

Sort of caring will get you run over by someone who actually does care.

Sort of caring is the on-ramp to obsolescence– a road that starts comfortably enough, but soon leads to the despair of obscurity.

Who changes the world? People who are fascinated.

The world is changed by people who passionately, relentlessly care– sometimes, unreasonably so. People with the focus and excitement to bound through the Iditarod of obstacles that invariably blocks the path between “no” and “yes.”

When you’re fascinated by your work, you’re willing to personally invest yourself in the results. You come up with another idea, another solution. You don’t quit after the first “no.”

In my research, employees who fascinated by their company, are also more productive and more loyal. Think about it. When you’re fascinated by a project, you look for ways to build more, rather than ways to get away with less.

When you’re fascinated by your job, it doesn’t suck energy– it gives you energy. It adds to your sense of purpose, which in turn makes you care more the result.

If you want to sell anything worth buying,
or create anything worth owning,
you’ll have to more than sort of care.

My team has been working passionately, relentlessly, unreasonably hard on something. It’s the upcoming launch of our new site, at HowToFascinate.com. We more than “sort of care” about it, because we want you to know how to become more fascinating– and fascinated– in your work. I’ll keep you posted on the official launch, soon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to do something that matters,
then you must first do something that truly matters to you.

So here’s my question: What truly matters to you? What do you more than sort of care about in your work?  I want to know. Leave me a comment here.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Juicy tweetable bits for your following:

For the past year, I’ve been getting ready to show you something pretty cool. It’s a new personality assessment. (We haven’t released our newest personality research yet, but you can get a first look today).

It all began with my researching the science of fascination. I wanted to understand a few simple questions:

» How do certain people immediately captivate us?

» How do certain leaders influence our opinions?

And more to the point…

» What makes your personality fascinating?

My research has revealed that you can become more fascinating. (In fact, if you want to succeed in any competitive environment, you must.)

It all begins with identifying and applying your natural, hardwired strengths of persuasion.

There are 7 fascination triggers. Which 2 does your personality naturally use to fascinate?

Here’s the good news: You already have the ability to create this force of emotional focus. It’s built into your own personality. You don’t have to fake it or rehearse it— it’s already there. You just have to identify it, and use it.

The team here at Fascinate, Inc. is about to release our new system. It pinpoints makes you fascinating to others. We’ll show you how to identify these natural strengths, and then amplify them, to become more persuasive.

This isn’t about how you see the world, but how the world sees you.

The Fascination Advantage is not a traditional psychology test, such as Myers-Briggs or StrengthsFinder. Our test comes directly out of our research, specifically designed to pinpoint what makes you fascinating to others.

Fascination is an intense emotional focus.

The science of fascination begins deep inside the human brain. Fascination isn’t the same as paying attention — it’s an intense emotional focus. This state of intense focus has been studied repeatedly by the most respected academics. You can harness this neurological response, and use it in work.

If you can activate the hardwired “triggers” in your customer’s brain, they will become instantly and intensely focused on you.

Once they focus on you, they are more likely to buy from you, respect you, like you, and trust you.

There are 7 different forms of fascination. Your personality uses 2 of them already, every day. Deep inside your personality, you’re already using 2 of these triggers to persuade others:

» POWER: Taking command

» PASSION: Attracting with emotion

» MYSTIQUE: Provoking curiosity

» PRESTIGE: Earning respect

» ALARM: Prompting immediate action

» REBELLION: Changing the game

» TRUST: Building loyalty

Which 2 triggers does your personality use? Our Fascination Advantage system identifies your pattern of persuasion, and outlines how to nurture your strengths with customers, co-workers, and family.

Anyone can become more influential, once they begin to apply their personality’s own fascination advantages. So what’s your Personality Archetype? Find out here, in a sneak peek of our site.

When you fascinate someone, they open themselves up to you, and your message. That’s when you have an opportunity to sell, and lead.

You can do this. Being fascinating is a choice.

You can choose to create the moments at will.

You can create this intense emotional focus.

You can do it starting today, with your personality’s natural strengths.

Join us at HowToFascinate.com, and sign up for our launch in the coming days.

So, who won the game last night? (No, not the football game. The REAL game. The one played by brands competing for buzz.)

This morning, I’ll be heading over to ABC studios to discuss and debate the Super Bowl commercials with Kelly Ripa, on LIVE! with Kelly. Before I go, join me for a quick stroll down memory lane… a roundup of my previous Super Bowl roundups:

NBC TODAY Show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

NBC TODAY Show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

CBS’s Early Show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Queen Elizabeth I was known as “The Virgin Queen.” Yet now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s my pleasure to introduce our lovechild.

+

=

How did this Elizabethan portrait My friends Steve and Patrick took my Twitter icon, and added the Prestige trigger (along with a wallop of Photoshop sorcery).

Patrick described how he created the image: “The secret is almost do a forensic layering process – ghosting layers and changing angles so that all the facial planes are the same.” Ooooh. I think that sounds every bit as cool as it looks.

Voila! Royal fascination.