My experience selling a pen

On Wednesday the 28th, Coach DiDonato visited class and spoke about how to sell a pen. Not only was the lecture very engaging and entertaining, but it also taught me a lot about sales. Coach D’s lecture began with the classic example of asking someone to sell him a Grove City College pen. At first, I was hesitant to accept his challenge, but in the end, I gave it a go.

I began by asking him if he used a pen often, and what his go-to pen was like.  However, when he quickly answered my questions, the conversation died. I tried again to gauge interest by asking what he uses a pen for, but Coach shut it down again and said that he didn’t care much about his pen. I then made a common mistake by taking advantage of his response to talk about the product NOW. I mentioned how cheap the pen is and told him I sold it in bulk. “Uninterested.” I told him about the quality of the pen. “No thank you.”

I only realized my two biggest mistakes after the lecture. Firstly, I should not have focused on the product so soon. Coach D explained that there are three players in every sales conversation: you, the prospective client, and the product. I chose to talk about the product’s features as soon as I got the chance, but that was not a strong strategy. In fact, Coach D said that features tell, and benefits sell. This issue ties into my second mistake: not building a relationship with the person first. If we focus on the product and not the person, we never truly understand what the prospective client is interested in and thus can never meet their needs. When I was talking to Coach D, while I did ask some questions, I never actually got to know him and his problems and interests. As a result, my comments about price or quality were futile. In the future, I will take my time when talking about the product and will instead focus on the person first.