This past week, one of my friends here at Grove City sent me a text asking if I had any entrepreneurship classes that I would recommend. I was overjoyed. The college offers so many great entrepreneurship classes, it was very difficult for me to not just spill all my candy in the lobby and go on a thirty-minute rant about all my favorite classes and professors. Instead, a took a deep breathe and replied with a “Yes! If you have a minute I’d love to talk to you about it.”
We met up the next day, and one of the biggest challenges was trying to maintain control of the conversation. My friend was very eager to learn about my recommendations, and already had several assumptions about some of the classes. I had to find the balance between answering her questions while also discovering the real reason why she even wanted to take an entrepreneurship class in the first place. One strategy that worked really well was answering every question with a question. I found myself saying things like “Yes, we can circle back to that in a minute. Can you tell me a little more about XYZ first?” This allowed her to talk more, and forced me to talk less.
In the end, I was really glad that I took the time to find out her pain. I had made several assumptions from what I already knew about my friend, and many of them were wrong. The class I eventually recommended she take was one that never would have even crossed my mind at the start of the conversation. However, by maintaining control of the conversation and finding the true pain, me and my friend were able to come to a mutual agreement about which entrepreneurship class would be best for her to take.
BoweryJE22
I love the spill my candy reference in the beginning and it is a great use of the term. You did a really good job getting to the pain and taking your time in getting to know your friend’s side of the story. It is tough to be patient because going in most of the time you already know what the other client’s pain is.
This is so cool! Great example of selling outside of the classroom. When you step back you realize we are put into a bunch of sales situations. With the skills from this class we can finally use them.
This is a great example of how the art of sales does not always have to do with money. It also shows what we have learned can help move people in general.