[MUSIC] In this lesson,
you'll learn strategies for creating a sense of urgency
in the hiring manager. You want the hiring
manager to feel like he or she needs to take action immediately,
to contact you now before you get away. Remember, that in the hiring game, hiring
managers are the customer, and you, or your services, are the product. Like with any other product, if you have limited availability,
you are perceived as more desirable. This strategy is time honored. A friend of mine used it when
selling hot tubs at trade shows. The first thing he did
when setting up a show was to place brightly colored sold
signs on several of the hot tubs. Without fail, people would ask
if they could buy those items. Why? Because people want what is not available
or what has limited availability. Real estate agents use
this trick all the time. They put up bright, red and white sold signs because they know these
encourage more sales in the neighborhood. Retail's a big ticket items,
know that sold signs encourage sales. People presume that if the floor models
are selling, they must be good deals. And availability might be limited,
they better get one while they still can. This is a go-to strategy that
experienced marketers are well aware of. Limited availability creates desire and
a sense of urgency. Your cover letter can do that same
with statements such as these. These statements do work. They create a sense of urgency and
limit your availability. After all,
there's only one of you on the market. Sure, you have competition. But, you are unique. When you create a perception
of your limited availability, you're using one of the most powerful
motivators known to all businesses. Think about how many times you've come
across a business using phrases like, for a limited time, expires on,
limited availability, first come, first served,
price guaranteed only until sold out. Businesses use this
language because it works. Remember, your services are the product,
the employer is the customer. Use the powerful principles of marketing
that businesses have been using on all of us for decades. There is one four-letter word that
has been found to powerfully impact the effectiveness of an advertisement. It's the word, call. Split AB tests have repeatedly
shown that placing the word, call, in front of a telephone number
increases an ad's response. The word, call, demands an action. This one word tells anyone who reads
the ad, and has any interest and desire whatsoever in the product,
exactly what action to take. Even though a telephone number would
seem to be enough, including the word, call, somehow adds motivation, for whatever reason,
the word is known to boost responses. So use it. You do not want to use
trite phrases such as this. This sounds like begging,
or the variation, please call me anytime,
which sounds desperate. No one should be this available. This sounds condescending. I've actually read cover letters that use, you have my permission to contact me,
which is even worse. I think it's a fair bet that anyone
receiving a cover letter and resume with your telephone number on it would
presume to have permission to call you. This is one of the worst. First of all, it's begging. Second, placing the phrase, if interested, before the call to action,
diminishes the power of the call. The prospect is being asked
to question their interest. It generates feelings of uncertainty. Gee, maybe you´re so unsure of yourself that you want
us to question our own judgement. This is limiting. Is this the only reason to call? This is presumptuous,
who´s to say you´re going to meet me, and it´s not much better if you write,
looking forward to hearing from you. This says, after all this matter's not
important, if you have free time during your busy day, when you never have any
free time, go ahead and pick up the phone. So what is good? Try this. A direct, simple,
straightforward call to action. Combine it with a limited availability
line, and you have a great close. Employers are people. They perceive more value in a job
candidate who is employed or who has limited availability. Whether you're employed or not,
you must demonstrate limited availability to create value in the mind
of the hiring manager, along with a sense of urgency
in their needing to respond. You create that sense of urgency through
one of the phrases you learned about for conveying your limited availability. In the example cover letter
from the last lesson, we used. A sense of urgency is a powerful
element of advertising and selling. Like most any method or idea, a sense of
urgency will not work in every situation. A sense of urgency is most effective
when responding to an open position. Otherwise, not advertising
an open position, the organization will have
no urgent need to respond. [MUSIC]