Recently in class Coach DiDonato, Grove City’s head football coach, gave a presentation on sales and his own personal experiences with being a salesman. Coach DiDonato, before becoming our football coach, was a medical sales rep for three years. During this time of his life, Coach learned several lessons and created many valuable memories that stuck with him, and enabled him to be a successful recruiter for aspiring high school athletes today.
Much of Coach’s talk centered on his take on the “sales funnel” and the best ways to establish quality questions and create a relationship with the recruit. For example, one of his specific points of emphasis was to ask quality questions or “AQQ”. In class he asked several students one-word answer “yes or no” type response questions. He then asked a different student a more open-ended question, to which the interaction between him and the student lasted a bit longer that the others. With this demonstration, Coach explained that staying away from simple, one-word answer questions will help you establish a better connection with the customer or recruit. You may learn new information or find out more about the customer in general by simply framing your questions a different way. Another cool takeaway from Coach DiDonato’s presentation was when he explained that if someone opposes or rejects you, you may actually be making a long-lasting relationship that could be even more beneficial than a positive one. I though it was interesting on how a rejection of a sale could instead allow the salesman to bond with the customer in a new way.
The biggest takeaway I think I got from his lecture was a quote: “Be Where Your Feet Are”. Said to him by a teacher from his past, this quote really hit home for me and made me realize that it is critical to be where you are and live in that moment instead of having a ton of other things on your mind at once. As an example, he explained that having a family and spending time with his children is very important to him, and even though they are one of his biggest priorities, there are times when you have to really focus on what you are doing in the moment. This helps one stay focused on the goal or task at hand, and can provide you with more clarity when making important decisions in life. Having Coach come in and share these experiences with us was definitely very beneficial, and taught me many important sales as well as life lessons to take with me.
Josh Elverson 
Ethan David 
Aliyah Shelatz
Coach Didonato has the best phrases. Be Where your feet are is definitely one of the best. It was great to have him in class. I also thought it was interesting that a rejection can end up being positive.
Coach DiDonato definitely was an awesome speaker for the day in our class. He brought many interesting stories and quotes to the room including the one “Be where your feet are.” He had an outlook on sales that your typical salesperson would not have. I enjoyed his story at the beginning he told about the company he works for. They would let you fall flat on your face for the first two months in sales, then send you off to get training and he was a completely different salesman.
“Be where your feet are” is definitely something that I took away from that presentation that we got to listen to from Coach DiDonato. It is so critical in our lives that we are present in everything we do, such as sports, class, our families, and most importantly in our walks with Christ. This is an excellent way to live your life so that you are always present in all of the important situations that happen throughout our lives.
I really liked this part of coach’s lecture as well. I think it is especially helpful while we are selling to be in the moment and engaged with customers. Being where my feet are means listening well, and paying attention to the body language and mood of the customer I’m speaking with.
Having Coach Didonato speak to the class was really interesting and beneficial! I thought it was interesting when he said his company would have you “fall flat on your face” in the first few months of sales and then they would go get training. He said it helped the salespeople there become very humble very fast. I liked how he said “be where your feet are”. I think this is an important lesson for sales but also for life. You should be present in everything you do and have that be the main focus. I think it’d be awesome to have him come back and keep telling more sales stories and lessons!