Today, we put our sales skills to use by selling around campus for the Okie and ABT Ducky Derby. Ava, my teammate, and I discussed many sales tips that we found that we naturally used in our interactions. Some obvious ones were trying to build a relationship with the prospect or starting casually with someone we already had a relationship with. We went to the business suite first and saw many teachers that we knew, and therefore started those conversations off more casually before bringing up the reason for our visit. In addition, we practiced the importance of body language, being receptive to their responses as well as showing interest and integrity in our visits. However, the most memorable part of our journey today was a visit with a professor in the psychology suite. There were only a few professors in the suite, and we stopped by the first one we saw with a teacher in it. I don’t quite remember his name, and probably would not include it in the post either way, but he was a little bit dismissive and ultimately quickly told us he was uninterested and to have a good day. Not only was this difficult because we were really gunning for as many sales as we could, but it was surprisingly hard to walk away from. I am a people pleaser, and struggle when I see someone who is either not interested in hearing from me or about something I have to say, and it almost felt embarrassing as we walked away after a rejection. However, we needed to remember not only that he had a job to do, but that people saying “no” is not personal, just as we have learned in class. From there, Ava and I sucked up the loss and moved on to our next location. In whatever job I have in the future, let alone if it ends up being in a sales field, there will be rejections, and it is important to understand that they are (most of the time) not personal, and it should only drive you to succeed on the next one.
Hannah Ya
That sounds like a very similar experience to what myself and my teammates went through. We went to several professors offices in Stem, and while some were receptive to the idea, others quickly brushed us off or said sorry they didn’t have any of the payment methods. It was definitely interesting to see how we could improve our sales, and as we went we noticed that people were definitely more receptive as we improved. Also worth noting that people we already knew were much more receptive to the pitch, possibly due to already having a trusted relationship.
Honestly me and my teammate went into this with the mentality that we are going to have to accept that a large portion of the people wed ask to buy would say no, but then we remembered we are at grove city and as soon as we mentioned charity, then we have them hooked. Taking this approach, every conversation we started with asking them one question, an unavoidable one. Do you care about charity? They’d say yes, then we’d ask if they would support, bam hooked.
The fear of rejection was definitely a guiding factor in my team’s sales approach too, even though it should not have been. I didn’t realize until too late that what we were really doing was just prospecting. After I remembered that, I remembered all of the tips about prospecting that we have learned, including managing buoyancy. I was surprised by how hard it was to implement! When I prospect in the future, I will also remember to approach it with an open mind to rejection.