Sales for Greek Groups

     Two weeks ago, rush for my housing group (Alpha Sigma) ended after three weeks of events and hang outs. I always recognized that certain levels of sales existed when it came to rush, but I never really took the time to think about just how unique of a selling situation it actually is. After all, both parties, the rush and the active member, have to sell each one on something, in essence making both of them a salesperson and both of them a customer at the same time. After experiencing both roles over the past three rush seasons, similar, yet very different sales lessons can be taken away from both roles.

     To begin, when it comes to being a rush, selling yourself is obviously important, but what’s arguably even more important is asking yourself whether or not the group you’re rushing is a good fit for you. I remember that when I rushed Alpha Sigma, the first thing that I did was decide on whether or not I liked the group. After going to a few rush events, I noticed that the group had a similar sense of humor, community, and priorities that I did. This helped me to see that the group would not only be a good fit for me, but that I would be able to sell myself simply by bringing out certain aspects of my personality that were already there. This experience taught me that selling oneself is a two way street: in order for someone to authentically sell themself, they first need to find a good organization to sell to!

     Now obviously, when approaching rush from the perspective of an active member, the role completely shifts. In a lot of regards you need to decide whether or not the perspective rush is authentically offering what you want for the group. Additionally, you need to sell the group in a way that shows what it has to offer, but that doesn’t overwhelm the perspective rush with a radically different culture than what they may be used to. Based on what I’ve seen, groups who don’t succeed fail in one of these two regards. They either let in a bunch of rushes who are radically different from the group culture, leading to internal strife, or they don’t sell the group in a way which is appealing to join. Obviously you never want to paint an inaccurate picture of the group and you want to be able to accurately discern if a rush is a genuinely good fit, but the two things are not mutually exclusive. Selling oneself is, again, a two way street, and both parties need to play their respective roles well in order to succeed.

     While this information is generally applicable overall, it’s not always universally true. Obviously other factors play into rushing a Greek group and sometimes groups will succeed when they don’t follow this approach, or fail when they do. But in my personal experience, with a group that I consider to have a very tight community, this is the best mindset to have in order to have a successful rush season and Greek group overall. Rushing is by nature selling, and it can teach a lot about the sales process to an individual. In essence, it can turn any college student into a salesperson, but specifically into a salesperson that understands both ends of the process very well.