Robert began his first search in 15 years for an executive position by mailing hundreds of resumes and answering a few ads sporadically. Then, he simply waited for the phone to ring or the emails to pile up with invitations to interview. After all, he had achieved successful results 15 years ago with this exact strategy.

This time, however, his methods weren’t working. No interviews were on the horizon. He had no particular game plan for his search from week to week—and, therefore, no clue as to where his search would take him on any given day.

Clearly, Robert was not conducting and managing his search efficiently or effectively. Once Robert realized that his job search is actually a sales campaign, and he implemented a sales and marketing process, his results changed dramatically. Here’s how.

The first key is to know your product — you, Inc. — and position yourself accordingly in the marketplace. If you haven’t done so yet, start by taking stock of your marketable skills, unique talents and personal brand. How can you help organizations achieve their business goals and objectives — in essence — what benefits do you offer? You may have 18 years of experience in operations, human resources, finance, sales, marketing or other field (these are features), but your benefits may be a track record in: exceeding annual sales plans, restoring profitability at a non-performing plant, capturing major accounts in a tight market, marketing and launching a top-selling product and so forth

Then, your next step is to plan and organize your search according to the principles used in sales campaigns. In doing so, you will find yourself increasing in efficiency, productivity, motivation and focus to sustain you through the peaks and valleys of your campaign until you reach your goal.

Picture yourself as a campaign manager where you are driving a steady flow of prospects and opportunities to pursue simultaneously at different stages until you win—and accept—the right offer. As you move through this process, you will be identifying and eliminating any inappropriate or unlikely prospects leaving you to concentrate on the best ones. Similar to the sales process, your job search has six distinct and sequential steps or phases that you will be going through. They are:

1. Identify targets. Identify and target potential employers that meet your criteria through research, ad searches, recruiters and personal contacts. Create a written plan with a database of your employer targets, hiring authority name and contact information, as well as other information about each organization gleaned through your research and contacts.

2. Contact Prospects. In this step, turn your leads into job prospects through conversations with contacts (personal and referrals) to identify potential opportunities, to learn more about organizational needs and where your skills will fit, as well as their interest in further discussions. Record in your plan the problems/challenges/needs that you have uncovered and how you can help solve them through your talents.

3. Qualify leads/prospects. Outline your criteria to include your preferences in types of environments, culture, reputation, industry, financial status, location and any other factor that is important to you. Screen out inappropriate employers and opportunities through research (print and online) and networking for information.

4. Development. In this phase, your efforts are materializing, and you are developing job prospects. You are generating job interviews, or further informational meetings that can lead to job interviews, through phone calls and correspondence or by attending professional association conferences, industry trade shows or other related events.

5. Negotiation. At this point, you are entering into offer negotiations. Remember to wait until this stage to discuss compensation and possible severance packages. Weigh each offer against your criteria and any other present opportunities before making your decision.

6. Acceptance. After carefully evaluating the package, you have landed the position you want!

The following are a few tips to help you stay on top of your campaign. Review your plan and progress on a weekly basis by each lead/prospect. Maintain all activity up-to-date: people you have contacted, dates, calls, face-to-face meetings, correspondence, follow-up steps, and so forth. As you review the list, determine what steps you can take to move each viable lead along to the next phase in the process. For example: making a follow-up phone call based on your last meeting, writing a letter with an article of interest that you found for your contact, scheduling a meeting with a third party who can help further your cause, etc.

Record your activity so that you can see your progress daily and weekly. This will help you spot and troubleshoot any critical campaign issues you come across. Then to keep you on track of your campaign, apply the following sales strategies:

• Create accountability through a campaign schedule that you review daily.
• Set a realistic rather than an arbitrary employment target date.
• Manage multiple prospects concurrently in the pipeline rather than one lead at a time.
• Keep the momentum going with proactive follow up that can bring solid prospects closer to a decision.
• Regularly weed out unrealistic leads that only serve to distract you further.
• Above all, don’t stop pursuing prospects until you have accepted an offer—in case it falls through. Anything can happen even at the end stage.

By using an organized sales approach to your search, you will be in the driver’s seat as much as possible—and will likely feel more in control and energized as you experience the results of your efforts. Soon you will be congratulating yourself on a campaign well-done!