This week we learned about bringing up a more sensitive subject with clients and customers: money. Specifically, how do we ask for money and talk about pricing as a sales person? During our Friday session we had an impromptu GCC staff member come guest speak with us. While I forget what his name was, I remember that he worked with the Alumni Giving department at the school. Right off the bat, he began by telling us about how sometimes in his line of work he would need to ask people for thousands, hundred thousands, or even millions of dollars in college donations and giving. It’s pretty tough to work up the nerve to ask someone for a thousand dollars, let alone millions. So, how did he do this? His greatest strategy was this: to become friends with his clients. Unlike other sales, lots of the donations given to Grove City College are given by people because they want to see the college succeed. For him, it was a matter of knowing his clients well enough to see where they would want to see GCC succeed or grow. How did each customer want to make an impact, and could the college flex to use that money for those things? Apart from that, he had to know his clients very well personally. He spent time getting to know who the kids of each of the client members were. He would take time to know what their addresses were, how much they spent on their homes, their annual incomes, a bunch of details to help him better understand what they may or may not be willing to spend. In the end, I learned that sometimes the best way to bring up money is to establish relationship with people, and to be bold in talking about money.
BoweryJE22