Last Wednesday (2/7), our beloved Grove City Football Coach took time out of his busy schedule to come and speak to our class. Overall, his lecture was fun, memorable, and informative. Coach DiDonato spent majority of his time focusing on the sales funnel then relating it back to what he does to recruit students to play football at Grove City. Out of the entire 50 minutes, here are the 3 things that are the most important concepts to remember and use in future sales conversations:
1. TRUST
It seems like a no-brainer, but we all have experienced a sleazy sales call we considered “sleazy” because we thought the seller was untrustworthy. If it seems like all you are doing is trying to make a sale, it will not create a sale. Coach D references the Bible in John 1:14 reminding us that the most trustworthy person is our God, and in order to be more Christlike we need to be trustworthy ourselves. This means genuinely caring about the buyer and acting in their best interest, rather than our own.
2. Ask the Right Questions
It sounds like a broken record, but a person will not consider you trustworthy if you ask random questions that pertain nothing to their situation. Even worse, not asking any questions. Pitching to a person does nothing but waste your time. Coach DiDonato had us practice this technique by asking us what we would do if we were him recruiting a student, and it led to interesting insight into how important asking the right question is. Ask the wrong question and you could lose your buyer.
3. Learn First, Tell Later
Before even diving into the tunnel, do your research. It is a domino effect: if you do not know about your buyer, you do not ask the right questions, and then you come across as sketchy. If you can, do an internet search or a file search on your buyer. If this is not possible, Pink recommends carefully watching the behavior of the buyer. In some cases, it may even work to mimic the movements of the buyer (subtly) to cater to that person’s communication technique. Use your attention to detail to learn the most you can about your buyer before you try to sell them something – it helps to ask questions 😉
Coach DiDonato was very fun to have in class. He brought insights to selling that highlight how important transparency and honesty can be in a sales call. The most tender conversation can be between a soon-to-be-college kid and their future mentor, so I think Coach knows what he is talking about when it comes to catering to the buyer’s needs.
testacr22
I can definitely put that lecture up near the top in my favorite lectures here at Grove so far. Being an athlete as well as a coach myself, I could relate to both his side in talking to students as well as the student’s perspective. Some of the highlights he brought into his talk really opened my eyes to things that I can do better in my job as well as things I can pick up on when I’m the client. 10/10
Asking the right questions is one of the first things I learned I sucked at when approaching sales situations. In both customer interviews for class and nonsales selling for a nonprofit, I learned that benefits sell, feature tell and I had to narrow down to what kinds of points I should focus on in the sales encounter.