Collaborating with Customers when interviewing

HOW TO MAKE COMMON SENSE COMMON PRACTICE-
The job market for high tech sales professionals is tough, you don't need me to tell you that but why are we making it even tougher to get hired?

Consider this; prospective employers know that if you were the top performer at your past company you would still be there. Period. If you have been out of work for a while they are wondering why you are still looking. So you better have the answers to these two basic questions going in. Here are some other common sense ideas to consider.

1) A prospective employer will only hire you if you can add value in the form of something they don't have now and need/want. How do you go about finding out what they need and want other than traditional notes from job boards or a recruiters spec sheet?

2) Using social networks and introductions from friends and colleagues does not mean that you can lob in a call to the CEO and expect her/him to automatically take your call. What are you doing to get the attention of the key individual(s) you need to impress to get the job? How do you prep? What do you look for to position yourself in the best light?

3) Graying hair can be a plus or a minus! The reality is the person interviewing you is most likely younger than you. How will you be able to relate to a younger person? A younger person is going to question (non-verbally of course) your stamina. Your intentions. Your longevity. Your desperation factor! What can you do to make all of these "concerns/question" a non-issue?

All these and more are common sense. Right? But in my part-time role helping folks interview better, I recently witnessed poor preparation, defensiveness, going in without a plan, inability to understand the buyers 1) priorities, 2) their requirements to add the next hire and 3) success criteria that will be measured to know that they made a good decision.

While I have only scratched the surface, these were top of mind today. I'd love to hear your thoughts around common practice and common sense.

Without a simple set of methods and tools making common sense common practice defaults to intuition. Intuition is very difficult to teach and the key reason that change managment is so daunting for sales professionals.