The Craft of Selling "YOURSELF"

2009-03-28T05:09:00.001-07:00

The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” is not a book about mere telling you how to make a resume or what to say in the interview. If you are looking for a book that says resume is everything to get the job. Then, sorry, this book is not for you.

You are the most gifted and valuable product on the planet earth. God never created and will never create a person as unique as you are. If you are so unique, then what stops you to package and shout your uniqueness? The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” will guide you to explore and discover your uniqueness, or in the language of Marketing, Unique Selling Propositions (USPs). Then how to package and shout your USPs to your potential employers so that you look indispensable to the job market is what is elaborately written in this book.

“This is NOT just a book about getting a job. This book is about building a foundation of success for your entire life. The priceless wisdom sits in each chapter like your own private master mind group of personal coaches and consultants that exist only for the purpose of making you a success.

Don’t just think about buying this book. BUY IT NOW. Don't just buy this book. READ IT NOW. Don't just read this book. Put this powerfully effective advice to work for you NOW! AND WATCH YOUR LIFE BECOMING SUCCESSFUL.”

Master Trainer
Stephen Reynolds
Stephen Reynolds Seminars International

You are not a commodity. You are not a run-of-the-mill job-seeker looking for a 9 to 5 job. You are a BRAND. You have a promise of value. This book will reveal to you the magic and sorcery of evolving you into a brand.

"Reading and applying the principles written in this book will help save the job seekers of months of effort and load of frustration of rejections. It's completely new and unique approach to enter the job market with the power of branding. It's packed with 'how-to' tools. Extremely inspiring!"

Dr. Ahsan Hameed Malik
Director Marketing & Commercial
Pakistan Cricket Board

The process of job-hunting is similar to launching a product. Your potential employers are your customers. You have to package yourself in such a way that the market takes you as a brand rather than run-of-the-mill commodity. The Craft of Selling "Yourself" will guide you step-by-step to get ahead of competition and sell your services at premium.

“Sales is all about engagement and the most important engagement you can have is with yourself. Ashraf’s book gives you the tools and the strategic edge to promoting and selling you, the most valuable product on earth. In the current global economic meltdown, you will survive and thrive by treading the path laid out for you in this book. Invest in yourself now and stand out in the crowd!”

Bob Urichuck
International Professional Speaker, Trainer and Author of
Disciplined For Life: You Are the Author of Your Future and
Up Your Bottom Line; Featuring the ABC, 123 Sales Results System
Internationally Recognized Sales Guru - Ranked # 7 in World's Top 30

The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF" will help you cut through the bureaucratic snags in the way of selling your skills and services. The Big Bang Letter, fully described in the book, is the only way to get immediate attention of the top decision makers. Once I scripted a killing Big Bang Letter and I got 16 interview calls against 26 letters. As a result of that interview, I joined one of the best FMCG of the country. This is how the CEO of that company says.

"I've had the good fortune of working with Ashraf and always believed that his huge reservoir of talent would shine through in every endeavor. His insightful book is a very useful guide to making executives realize and market their true potential in the highly competitive corporate world."

Aftab F. Tapal
Chief Executive Officer
Tapal Tea (Private) Ltd

"This book is a must read for all professionals who're in the job market whether they're starting their career or are in the middle of their careers, for those who're close to retiring they should read to learn how to extend their career by putting together a Big Bang Letter ensuring an audience with the top man."

Mohammedi Miabhoy
Chief Operating Officer
Tapal Tea (Private) Ltd

"If you are the kind of person who loves to serve others, you will be well served by reading this new book. When you sell yourself, you are selling a promise to serve other people well. Keep that promise and watch your business grow."

Ron Kaufman
Author, UP Your Service!
Founder, UP Your Service! College

Big Question

What will you learn by reading The Craft of Selling "YOURSELF"? You will learn:-

1. Comparison between job-hunting and a product launch

2. How to become CEO of YOU, INC.?

3. How to discover your USPs (Unique Selling Propositions)?

4. How to go for personal branding?

5. How to conduct SWOT analysis of your personality?

6. The importance of mastermind group.

7. How to position yourself in the minds of your customers (employers)?

8. How to build your brand equity?

9. Self discover lessons from movie Troy

10. The importance of wearing dress for success.

"USPs are the differentiators. They differentiate BMW from cars on the roads; Rolex from the wrist watches; you from run-of-the- mill candidates. USPs make you a garden variety rather than a wild weed."

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 18

"After reading this book, you should be on a fast-track to sell your most valuable product, your skills, to the highest bidder. Highly recommended…"

Waqas Mohsin
Chief Executive Officer
DHA Cogen Ltd

11. Tooting your horns in the market place.

12. How to write your advertisement, a Big Bang Letter?

13. How Big Bang Letter acts as a rifle shot?

14. How I used Big Bang Letter to market myself during my career?

Big Bang Letter is different like every advertisement. The beauty of Big Bang Letter lies in its novelty and distinctiveness. Big Bang Letter is only scripted and crafted and can’t be copied or imitated or transcripted. If it’s copied, it’ll remain no more a Big Bang Letter; its bang, if any, will fizzle out. Its copy will make it a circular with no bang and beat at all.

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 29

15. How to harness the TNT power of P.S.

16. How to copy the divine style of communication?

17. Who should Big Bang Letter be targeted at?

18. How to write your irresistible brochure (Resume)?

19. How to craft a value addition statement?

20. How to window dress your Resume?

21. Three secrets of irresistible Resume.

The era of commodities is over and gone with the wind. So stop commoditizing yourself.
Become a brand and become an experience.
Show that you’re unique.
Look that you’re unique.
Make people feel that you’re unique.
Become someone’s need.
Become indispensable for someone. As says Robin Williams (Mr. Keating):

"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."
MOVIE, DEAD POETS SOCIETY

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 20

22. Common Resume bloopers

23. Lessons from Resumes that fell in recycle bins

24. What are the laughing-stock Resumes?

25. Difference between two Resumes of the same person

26. Cover Letter is not a clone of your Resume.

27. How to write a Cover Letter?

28. Eighteen mistakes people make while writing Cover Letters

29. Example of a re-modeled Cover Letter

“Packed with meaningful information to grow your professional career, this book is worth a thorough read.”

Dr. Nido Qubein
President, High Point University
Chairman, Great Harvest Bread Co.

"For me, this is not just a book based on information but there's a whole lot of practical aspect to it as well. It very much shows that the author has had hands-on working experience in sales and marketing."

Muhammad S. Sajwani
Director OSS
Telenor Pakistan

30. Networking is the key to success.

31. Traits of networking nerds

32. What is Island Mentality and how it cripples your career?

33. 4P's of Networking

34. Requirements of powerful networking

35. A sample letter for harnessing the power of networking

36. Tools of networking

37. The Ten Commandments of networking

38. How to conduct intelligence on potential employers?

39. Internship is like free sampling.

40. The six terrific habits of interns

41. The seven terrible habits of interns

42. How to make a checklist of self-launch?

43. How to establish your distribution channels?

44. Why responding to job advertisements is the least effective way?

45. How can headhunters help you sell?

46. Importance of referral letters

47. Create your alternate sales channels

48. Lessons from the movie The Pursuit of Happyness

"A brilliant handbook for all professionals! Packed with invaluable advice and techniques, this book will help you build value in the most important piece of the sales equation - YOU. Highly recommended!”

Mike Brooks
Author of, The Real Secrets of the Top 20%

49. Secret to double your chances of interview

50. Interview Management

51. Why securing private victories is of paramount importance?

52. How to train mental muscles?

53. Necessary areas of preparation

As an interviewee, you must be exceptionally sensitive to the dress codes. As a serious and success-conscious potential corporate executive, you must broadly know the dress codes of different companies and industries. You must know that if you’re going to Levi’s for an interview, you better dress yourself in Levi’s.

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 24

54. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in the interview

55. What does Akio Morita, Chairman of Sony Corporation, says about preparation?

56. The 17 irrefutable laws of successful interviews

57. Why interviewers fear interviewees?

58. Absolute don'ts of interviews

59. What does Victor Kiam say on interviews?

60. Checklist for the winning interviews

61. Invaluable last moment advice

62. Science of first impressions

"You never get a second chance for making the first impression

The word ‘IMAGE’ represents the qualities of a confident professional: ‘I’ is for Impression, the first and lasting impression you make on people; ‘M’ is for Movement, basically how you carry yourself including your posture and body language; ‘A’ is the most important ingredient and it stands for Attitude, the thoughts you feed your mind with; ‘G’ goes for Grooming, your dressing and personal hygiene; and ‘E’ is for Etiquette."

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 21

63. Hiring a candidate is like choosing a mate

64. Why interviewer must fall in 'like' with you?

65. How the interviewer gets turned-off?

66. What questions should be asked by the interviewee?

67. How to handle telephonic interviews?

68. The importance of writing thank-you notes

69. How to conduct follow-ups without pestering

70. What to do when you're maltreated by the interviewer?

"The Craft of Selling "YOURSELF" comes from the core of Ashraf's heart and is the real essence of his experiences through which he morphed from being a loser to an extremely successful professional in the shortest possible timeframe. I remain confident that this book will prove to be one of most invaluable contributions to the well being of young graduates."

Ihsan Ullah Ihsan
Head – Corp. Banking
Pak Brunei Investment Company

71. Factors that spin the interviews out of control

72. How to negotiate salary?

73. Ace of the negotiators

74. The 6 myths of salary negotiation

75. Important factors of salary negotiation

76. How can a fresh graduate negotiate?

77. How to deal with rejections?

78. Lessons from cockroaches

79. Developing sense of pride

80. Formula to maintain healthy self-esteem

81. Traits of highly self-esteemed person

82. How to break away from the crippling chains of negative experiences?

“Ashraf has clearly articulated the first step to selling success. Once you understand the importance of ‘YOU’ in the selling equations, everything is possible.”

Barry Siskind
Author of, Selling from the Inside Out
&
Powerful Exhibit Marketing

"In today's competitive job market, you really need to master the craft of selling your services. This is an excellent book on preparing young graduates for making a roaring entry in the job market."

Farooq Ahmed
Head of Sales
UBL Funds

83. Power of persistence

84. Power of chunking

85. Lessons from frogs

86. Activating your firewalls

87. Why getting off the bandwagon is important?

88. Power of association

89. How to get exponential power by going one step further?

90. Applying 80/20 rule to get better Returns on Energy (ROE)

91. The lingo of success

92. Multiply your brand equity with ingenuity

"No one should remain jobless after reading this book."

Murtaza Hashwani
Chief Executive
Pearl-Continental & Marriott Hotel Chains, Pakistan

“This book will help you take the high road and transform your overall frame of reference - your attitude and assumptions towards ‘selling’ your most valuable product that is YOU. A must to own. A must to read. It is a shield in current recession.”

Tosheeba Sarwar
Entrepreneur, Trainer, Headhunter
COO, Experiences – www.experiences.com.pk

Tell Me Which Other Author Does It?

You will see majority of the authors whose sole objective is to sell the book. That is it. But, I don’t believe in One Transaction approach. That is myopic perspective. Perhaps, I am one of the few authors in the world who would love to interact with readers continuously and consistently through social online/offline. Buyers of the book will have the privilege to interact with me through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc. You will share your feedback, success stories and insights.

Lifelong Free Offer

This is something that no author in the world, at least according to my information, offers. I offer to critically evaluate and review your Resume/Cover Letter free of cost forever. You only have to do the following three steps.

1. Purchase the book

2. Email me the proof of purchase (like scanned copy of invoice etc)

3. Email me your Resume/Cover Letter

I will personally evaluate/review your Resume/Cover Letter and provide you the recommendations…….absolutely free of cost and this offer is forever without any strings attached.

“Along your exciting drive of selling your most valuable product in the market place, you may always take me as your trusted friend and mentor. You may contact me offline or online for advice and guidance.

As a mentor and couch, I’ll advise you to throw away old inhibiting, disempowering and crippling beliefs and ideals and replace them with dynamic, vibrant, buoyant, empowering and energizing and uplifting beliefs.

I’ll advise you to rise from the dust and ashes of the mediocrity, pessimism, low esteem and join the ranks of optimists and people having high sense of pride and remain unaffected, heedless and insensitive to the influences of external weather and create and carry your own weather.”

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 161

Why I Offer Lifelong Free Offer?

Good question. There are 3 reasons.

1. I am not a professional author (I am passionate author)

2. Writing is not my core business (My core business is Sales Trainings/Seminars)

3. My belief that ‘what goes around comes around’. If I help enough people, abundance will automatically come to me.

“All mastermind members must be genuine and honest friends. Their exclusive objective and intention must be to deliver something to the group. When everybody gives, then as a natural corollary everybody receives. What goes around comes around in bucks and bundles. Life is like a boomerang; what we send comes back. The relation among masterminds is a heart-to-heart relation based on the highest degree of sincerity, purity and singleness of the purpose. These friendships can be genuine, soul-to-soul and not just circumstantial and symbiotic.”

From The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF” page # 13

How To Claim Your Copy?

Very simple! Just click on www.amazon.com

Ashraf Chaudhry
Email: ashraf@ashrafchaudhry.com
Cell: 0092 321 9274 723
www.ashrafchaudhry.com

P.S: For more information on the book, please visit the blog htttp://www.thecraftofsellingyourself.blogspot.com