In today’s sales class a great point was brought up about how the process of finding pain does not always have to necessarily be painful. This past Saturday at Grove City College’s first ever Shark Tank event the contest winner ended up pitching an idea that did not seem to dig for pain within the audience. But, obviously the “sharks” thought differently.
Recently Grove City College has been having a difficult time increasing applications, which means that the overall acceptance rate of the college is higher than desired. Without most of the audience realizing this issue, the sharks viewed Sam Calhoun’s IM Spikeball idea as a way that could help. Sam communicated Spikeball as a game which builds comradery, community and energy on campus. Although all of these words do not sound painful, the “sharks” realize what this could do. The other ideas were thoughtful and very useful, but none of them may really help prospective visitors to view Grove City College as a vibrant place to be. 
BoweryJE22
Brian, I also thought this was an interesting point that was brought up in class. It never really occurred to me before how you could frame the pain in a positive light. I’m generally a pretty optimistic guy so I really like the idea of framing pain in a more positive way. I’m sure there are still occasions for bringing up pain in the traditional way, but from here on out I’m going to be looking for opportunities to frame pain in the light. Thanks for sharing!
It is crazy that pain can be brought forth in a positive manner, and you’re definitely right about words like comradery, community, and energy. These words are hard to be viewed as something that is painful, but that is ultimately addressing the pain that Grove City College is facing right now.
I love this idea! I wish I would have been at Shark Tank to see it pitched! This is a great example of addressing pain in a positive way. I know Grove City has had issues with applications and this is an innovative ,fun way to address the pain and show future students how much fun Grove City is!
I think it is very interesting that his pitch won. He pitched to the judges and not to the audience which is always the best thing to do. It is good to get support from the audience, but you want to win. To do that you have to understand the judges and what they want.
This is a great point Brian, and also shows how innovation and entrepreneurship doesn’t necessarily just have to come from problem solving, but this is where creativity can come into play and make a big impact! Sometimes these products are the ones which bring the most value, and while they aren’t necessarily fixing anything, they add value to society, and something new and fresh which didn’t exist before!