When we think of spring break, we think of warm sunny days on the beach with our friends or even having some side quests. But on spring break, college students at Grove City also have the opportunity to serve and go on an ICO trip. When I first got introduced to ICO trips, it was kind of hard to get sold on sacrificing my whole or part of spring break to do something else, but as I got more information and more testimonies of how ICO trips were so amazing and powerful, my life changed. ICO trips can go hand in hand with selling because team leaders are trying to sell a life changing experience to college students who may have never been on a short-term mission trip. The team leaders have to ask prospects questions and gather any information they can to understand why a prospect would want to go on their ICO trip. Finding the root of the pain of the prospect can be hard in this sense for the leaders, but if they get to understand who a prospect is and ask good questions, it won’t be as hard. While on an ICO trip, the team is also selling their labor to different organizations and trying to ask questions to understand the people around them. While I was on my ICO trip, I used some selling tricks such as “answering a question with a question” to some of the people I met around Aliquippa. This tactic helped me to understand the people around me better and understand what some of their pain points are. I also learned a lot about failure, how to bounce back from it, and learn how to move forward. Sometimes not all the conversations I had with people were super successful, but learning the difference between the “role” and the “real” me helped me to see this in a different perspective.
Bondre24 
kingeryjj25 
principera24
This is great, Hannah! You’re totally opening up another non-selling sales experience for both your leaders and you. As leaders of ICO, it’s important for them to do some prospecting to know who is right for their work. Not everyone is fit for certain roles, but it’s the leaders’ job to prospect and engage with potential “customers.” During your trip, you became a salesperson. I’m sure the conversations were very eye-opening in how sales are important within dialogue between those you’re sharing the Word to.
I really like how you were able to link the concept of sales with what you experience before and during your ICO trip; I never would have thought of those things being connected! Using the “answer a question with a question” tactic is especially smart as it gives you a deeper understanding of the people you are ministering to.
I love this Hannah! Going on ICOs are such a life changing experience and I understand now why people encouraged me so much to go on one. It will be great for you to be able to sell this trip to future students and encourage them to go on it as well.