So today I learned how to actually sell something. In the morning I attended the Sales Academy final presentation. Sales Academy participants made presentations for their graduation. These presentations were all real sales pitches they could be giving in the future. These pitches were for insurers, banks, etc. This was probably my highlight today because I got to see how pitching products actually works. Mrs. Cosby and other senior managers pretended to be risk officers of respective companies and asked hard questions for the presenters. I feel like sales is a lot like debate. I research a topic for months then present or argue another team just like the sales person will research the topic they are selling, the company they are selling to, etc. Then it is about presentation, speaking, and projection. Also the risk management officers will ask hard questions that the sales person might not know to answer to. So it’s important to know how to dodge questions, partially answer, and also have big topic knowledge. So, there are a lot of parallels to debate. This was the first time I had seen what “sales” is really about. I got to meet the sales academy people which is a really selective program. There are 28 students and only 7 of them are from the U.S. They also get paid while in the academy which is really cool. The rest of the day was lunch meetings and Webx meetings and then more meetings. I got to listen in on a bunch of interesting things such as Project Mercury. I don’t know if I am allowed to talk about it but it is pretty interesting. However, the best part of the day was definitely the sales presentation. Overall, today gave me a great realistic view of what it is like to work in sales.
This is the cafeteria in C building
Here is a cool Pi sculpture on campus.