A career lesson from Carolyn Cooper's 'hot sex' column

Glenford Smith, Career writer

Forget about Thomas Edison's famous saying about genius being one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration. How about this instead: Genius is making a way out of no way.

At any rate, that was the quote that came to mind as I guffawed my way through colleague Gleaner columnist Dr Carolyn Cooper's delightfully risqué article of September 18 titled, of all things, 'Looking for hot sex (and romance).'

That was the alluring headline of an ad for one of her courses in the Department of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies, Mona, which was at the risk of being cancelled due to low enrolment. She reported that within days of putting up the ad, the number of students registering for the course more than doubled, then subsequently tripled.

Upon being enticed by the irresistible headline my first thought was, "No way, Dr Cooper! How could you?" And just as quickly I thought, "Carolyn, you're the epitome of pure marketing genius!"

Finding the secret

My next thought was about you, the reader of the Careers section of this newspaper. I thought about how your career would rocket to the next level if you learned the secret behind Dr Cooper's 'hot and sexy' marketing campaign. You would instantly gain a massive edge in finding a job, getting a desired promotion, or exponentially increasing your sales revenues whether as a sales professional or entrepreneur.

Okay, so what's the secret? And how can you use it to find a way out of your desperate career situation?

Here's the answer to the first question: The secret is sales and marketing mastery. Let me tell you the common responses I get when I teach this principle: "I didn't go to university to become a salesperson. Marketing is for the marketing department. I just want to get a good-paying job appropriate to my qualifications."

If Dr Cooper had not awakened her inner marketing genius, however, her course might well have been cancelled, despite her PhD and the exciting literary merits of her course. She knows what many jobless PhDs, MBAs, and assorted degree graduates don't know, which is, the art of effective marketing.

How do you awaken your inner marketer? Start by modelling the following strategies from Dr Cooper's unorthodox marketing campaign:

1. Stop selling what you have to sell and offer prospects what they are looking to buy. Employers and customers don't care primarily about your degrees, but they are looking for solutions to their problems, and to fulfil their desires and fantasies.

2. Appeal to people's emotions. People respond to what feels appealing then justify their actions by logic.

3. Make your offer exciting. Take a chance and do something bold, unusual, or even risqué.

4. Emphasise your USP. That stands for unique selling proposition. Dr Cooper highlighted the sexy aspect of her course in her ad rather than its literary virtues.

5. Now Google my column titled 'The Marketing Mindset: Key to a Powerful Résumé'. While you're at it, why not read Dr Cooper's article as well?

Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and success strategist. Send feedback to glenfordsmith@yahoo.com