PRESENTATION
I.E. Introducing the Southwestern Advantage program in details to potential prospects
INFO MEETING ETIQUETTE:
Interview etiquette makes you professional and helps the info meeting be a success.
BEFORE:
- Be dressed for the day one step above the prospects (business casual- involves wearing traditional business attire with a couple of relaxed tweaks here and there. For Ex. clean jeans/kakis with a shirt and clean walking shoes)
- Be early (20 minutes is ideal).
- Help screen, greet and explain green sheet to each prospect. Set the warm, welcoming mood!
DURING
- No talking to other SM’s
- Pay attention to what the prospects are saying (especially during rapport and in the wrap-up) so you know how to tailor your testimony at the end
- When you are asked a question during the session to help explain something, be precise and keep it simple.
- Take notes especially to learn how to conduct your own info sessions
- Give a proper, enthusiastic demonstration of the products
AFTER
Testimonials (sharing what you got from the summer): Be specific and tailor them to your audience and help to answer objections; A basic structure is to share BEFORE the bookfield how you were, what changed DURING the summer, and how it has benefited you AFTER.
For example, if there are freshmen at the info, you might share about your fears of being away from home/friends, how much independence and self- confidence you gained in the summer, and how being an adult has changed your relationship with your parents/friends now.
If they’re premed or engineering, you might talk about differentiating yourself from everyone else applies to med school and learning to work with people. Always sandwich challenges with positives. Watch and learn how to be do the close and wrap up well
HOW TO SHOW THE PRODUCTS:
When you properly show the products, prospects build conviction in the product and in their ability to sell it, and they’ll be able to explain it to their parents and friends better.
Smile and be enthusiastic (but not salesy)
Explain the concept of the books before you open them to immediate differentiate from other resources families have. The products aren’t for papers (that’s what the internet and library are for) but it is for homework, studying for tests and quizzes Table of contents on the back
“This is just my sample. There’s actually 4 books and 4 websites...” Run through examples of what they contain.
Show Math and 1-2 other sections. Paint pictures, show where it helps parents help the kids, saves homework/studying time, helps when they’re stuck… Show it as a system—how it works with the websites.
Use phrases such as, “Can you see why so many families bought this?” “Another reason I was able to do well was because of the ______ section”
Price build up – compare to prices of college text books. Residual income—explain similar to Netflix for them to understand.
TRANSCRIPT OF AN ACTUAL PRESENTATION:
Names are used for illustration - please use appropriate name from your campus
1- BUILD REPORT
The presenter introduces himself/herself to the group and asks each of them their names, what year they’re in and what they did last summer. He/She also acknowledges those that were there the previous day.
What I’m going to do is to take about 45 minutes and explain how the program works and go through the background to the company and explain a little bit about the advantages of taking part in the program, go through what I’m going to cover, especially explaining the selection process that students go through. What I’d like to ask you to do is to take a lot of notes, you’ll probably forget about 80% of what you hear. I can’t remember the exact number because I didn’t write it down (ha, ha) and if you have any questions then scribble them down and I’ll cover them all at the end of the presentation. I’ll probably cover most of them as I go through. Could you just pass your green sheets up, don’t worry if you haven’t finished them, I’ll give you them back at the end. It’s just to tell me a little bit more about you
2- BACKGROUND.
Okay, the first thing to write down is the name of the company; the name of the company as you’ve probably gathered is Southwestern Advantage. A little bit of background to the company, I’m going to ask you lots of questions as we go along, so if you could help me out by answering them f that is ok with you. We’ve been working with university students since 1868, so what does that tell you about the company straight away? Responses from the group, which the presenter repeats: “It’s old” “It’s been around for a long time’” That’s right, it’s been through two world wars, the great depression, it has even been around about before the telephone was invented, so there has been a lot of change and it’s not going to disappear tomorrow. It has definitely stood the test of time. Our corporate headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. Does anyone know what Nashville is famous for? Response from the group: “Jack Daniels” “Country and western singing” It is. It is music city USA. We are not involved with music, but that is what Nashville is famous for. The turnover of the company last year was $171,000,000.00 (one hundred and seventy one million) US dollars and our student division had a turnover of about $31,000,000.00 (thirty one million) dollars, so our student division is a really important part of our company. We work with 2,500(two and a half thousand) students each year, in a ‘Sales and Management’ training program, from over 400 universities worldwide. My name is (Name), I’m a graduate/student from the university of (City). I did study (Major) and was involved in (Extracurricular Activities). I started working in the programme in (year of 1st summer) and I’m basically in charge of presenting the programme to students from everywhere from (Country, City...), so I get to visit lots of different universities. I present our programme and then help select the students that I think will do well working with us and to oversee their training in the summer time. I usually find that students fall into one of two categories when I have explained the programme. Either one will definitely want to find out about it and take their application further or two, it might just not be for them and that’s okay as well but hopefully from the two you’ll have more of an idea which category you fall into.
3- ADVANTAGES
Our first sub-heading should be Advantages. There are six main advantages to working in the program. The first one is to develop an outstanding CV. What sorts of things would you put in a CV if you were going to write one? What sorts of things? Responses from the group, which the presenter repeats: ‘Work experience’; ’Qualifications’ Good. What do students usually do for work experience? What sorts of things? Responses from the group: ‘Restaurants’; ’Bars’; ’Shops’; ’Internships’; ‘Placements’ Good. Anything else? ‘Voluntary work’ Great. Sometimes call-centers... It is pretty fair to say that students don’t usually get massively glamorous jobs is it? Is that fair to say that? There is not a massive market in there for glamorous jobs for university students? And it’s really difficult to drag those jobs up in your CV: ‘I worked behind a bar as part of a team’. They can sort of read through that sort of stuff. This is something that stands out like a lighthouse on people’s CVs. I am going to give you a few examples of that*. *The following examples were extracted from the original presentation. Please feel free to give example with alums from your country/campus. Who’s heard of Unilever? Anyone? Unilever will guarantee a first round interview to anyone who’s done at least one summer in our program, so it doesn’t guarantee you the job but it does guarantee you an interview, which is a good start. Proctor & Gamble? Who’s heard of Proctor & Gamble? Yep. We’ve got about nine people working at Proctor & Gamble at the moment, so it’s definitely something that helps with the CVs. The second advantage is the opportunity to make above-average money. Did anyone make too much money last summer? I don’t usually get that complaint from college students that they’ve been over-paid! The average first year in our program last year made about $9,500.00 (nine thousand five hundred) dollars, Now some of the students from here (Campus Name) did even better than that. These are the top first years last year, the top first year from (the name of the city) was a girl/boy called (name of the person). He/she was number __ (give ranking) out of 500 first years last year and he/she made about $(check size), he/she is doing (the name of degree) at the University of (campus name). (Tell stories about people...) (Name another dealer) is doing (name of degree) and he made $(check size) and he/she was number __ (give ranking). So, these are the top first years from (name of the University/country) that worked with us last year. The third advantage is the chance to get some good experience. There was a study recently in the prospect directory on what employers want and the top five things are; willingness to learn, commitment, dependability, self-motivation and team-work and students in our program get to develop all those different aspects, they’re called transferable skills. The fourth advantage is the chance to travel. Who’s been to the States before? Right. Some people have and some people haven’t but I’ve met many students like (name of a manager sitting at the presso) that have had the chance to live and work and run their own business there in the summertime. Because you know when you run a business somewhere you really learn a lot about the culture and the people so it’s kind of a plus on the travel thing. The fifth advantage is that opportunity of advancement. Students in their first year in the program learn how to sell, they learn how to be part of a team, they learn how to motivate themselves and set goals and they learn the basic concepts of the cycle of selling. If they do a good job their first summer, then they can be selected to come back and work in our Student Management program. That is what (name student managers sitting there) and another couple of students at (name of the University) are doing this year and they get to help to interview and select and train a team from anything from five to twenty people for the summertime. Does anyone know what percentage of graduates have management experience? Rough guess? No? Okay, it’s about two percent. Two percent of graduates get management experience, so it definitely helps out with that. After a successful second summer, students in their third year in the program can be selected to be an Organizational Leader. That’s what (name a manager sitting there) is getting ready to do next summer and they will be in charge of a group of 15-25 students that will do about 300-400,000 (three hundred to four hundred thousand) dollars worth of business. These students will be responsible for all of that. (Name of the manager) also has some junior managers reporting to him. Most people don’t get managers reporting to them until they’re about 40, 45 years old, so there are definitely some advantages when that happens very quickly in a company. If students do a good job while they are at university, there are career prospects with the company in our graduate training program, our Sales Manager program. We’ve got about 10 graduates from British and European universities at the moment that are working in our Sales Management program. That’s the advancement one. The final advantage is the chance to do something challenging. Is anyone ever had a summer job that was brain optional, that they didn’t have to think an awful lot? This is the offset of that, kind of like the rally international of summer jobs; it will definitely push you to your absolute limits. I’d like you to take a second to look through those advantages and then circle the two that appeal most to you and I’m going to ask a couple of quick questions about those. Pause. The presenter asks three members of the group - each by name - to read out the two advantages they chose and asks them why they chose them. Good. One of the students I worked with at the university of (name of the University); (name of the student), he/she has done three summers and always tells me that it’s between travel, make money and get experience. That’s good. (name of the student), is it? (name of the student) which ones did you pick? Chris replies. Okay, why did you pick them? Chris replies. Good. The presenter asks another member of the group to read out the two advantages she chose and ask her why she chose them. Good.
4- TRANSITION
Well the philosophy of our company is to develop character in young people and it does that by teaching them how to run their own sales business and it’s quite important to learn how to sell. Does anyone know why it’s important to learn how to sell? When are you going to have to sell yourself? Response from the group: ‘All the time. Every situation you’ re going to have to sell something, your service which you’re...’ Good, yes, all the time. That’s pretty much perfect actually, you’ll always have to sell yourself to maybe to new people in the job. Going for a job? Who said that? Yes, going for a job. Corporate interviewers make their mind up about people in about 90 seconds of meeting them, so it’s important to develop the skill of making a good first impression. And also, it takes about 14 job interviews on average to get the career job of your choice, so it’s definitely an advantage to be able to sell yourself. So, we were trying to figure out what a good product for students to sell would be, so what does everyone associate students with? Response from the group: ‘Fun’ —> Everyone laughs. Yes, that’s one thing! What else are students associated with? Response from the group: ‘Books’ Books, education, right? That’s why you came to University, to study? You guys are the best of the best here at (the name of the University), so... We sell educational products. Three types of products we sell; we sell educational software, a website subscription and educational books. We sell kids’ books, which are designed to get kids excited about learning, a set of ‘Ask me’s’, ‘Explore & Learn’s’ and ‘My books’ for the youngest kids. And we sell ‘Advantage’ handbooks which is our lead product. It is a six volume set of books that are designed to help with homework, day to day assignments and revision before tests. It covers kids from Primary school all the way through to college. The books look like this and I am going to have (names of student managers attending the presentation) show you through how the books work. Each book is the same size and shape as this sample, so we just carry a sample around in the summertime, so we don’t have to carry all six of them. As we show you through, just ask yourselves three questions. Number one is; is this a good product? I wouldn’t even apply to work in the program if you don’t think it’s a good product. Number two is; what would be a fair price for the product? What would be a fair price for the product? And number three is; if you showed this to 30 families a day, with kids, how many would buy a set? We sell these directly to families in their homes in middle-class areas in the States. We don’t work in downtown LA but by the same talk we don’t work in Beverley Hills. Have you ever seen ET or American Beauty? That’s how suburban America is, kind of where we sell. So, (name of the student manager doing a demonstration) why don’t you through and explain how the books work and go through volume one? And then (name of another student manager demonstrating), you go through volume two and then (name of another student manager) you go through volume three, four, five and six.
5- DEMONSTRATION
Alright. What sort of things do you notice just by having a quick look at the books? Response from the group: Detailed, good, what else? Okay, well presented, easy to use, good. Good, yes, approachable, Hell of a lot of information and it’s not in like 18 volumes like an encyclopedia’ It’s just six books and a lot of information there. And these books are really for homework and tests, but in America kids get homework almost every single night, from P5 onwards, so there’s quite a need for them. They’re not really for research, what would you use for research, nowadays? Response from the group; ‘Internet’ Internet. Most families use Internet, but this is just for homework, you know, quick reference, look up a formula, check maths, physics, physics questions... Yes? Question from the group; ’What do American teachers think about them?’ They love it. Yeah, they love it. The people that write the books also help write an exam called the SAT, which is the final exam the kids take before they leave school. I mean I sold books, everywhere in the company people actually sold books, like I sold books for six summers, when I was a lot younger. I used run into a lot of teachers that would buy them, they use them in their class, they use them with their families... They enjoyed it as a reference, which is good. So, it’s a good product. What about a fair price? Has anyone bought any books recently? I usually find that if you buy a paperback book about that big you’d spend about $120.00 (one-twenty) dollars. Hardbacks, usually double that, about $160.00, $180 (one-sixty, one-eighty) dollars. I think one of the reasons we do really well is that each volume is an average of $135 (one-thirty-five)… Now some families buy just one book, some buy all six, but on average they pick out about three books each, that will suit their families. So, they’ll sell about $… dollars each. Now this is a lot of money to university students, that’s three, maybe two good nights out (ha, ha). But to a middle-class American family it’s not that much. It’s the same as a couple of pairs of Air-Jordan’s or a few Nintendo cartridges, believe me they’ve got plenty of them! So, if you showed it to thirty Mums a day with kids, how many do you think would buy a three-volume set? Just write that number down on your page. Keeps me amused as I get through my weeks traveling about the place. What did you think (name of the student)? Response from (name of the student); ‘Probably about fifteen’ Fifteen. Fifteen’s great... (ask another student) Response from (name of the student); ’About twenty’ About twenty, good. (ask another student) What did you think? Response from (name of the student); ‘Depends how well you sell it, probably twenty, twenty-five’ Twenty, twenty-five. Okay. Good. (ask another student)
6- ASK ALL STUDENTS
Well, when I first came to one of these presentations, I didn’t know much about the company. I was very young, I hadn’t done my research or speak to the careers service or looked up the Internet. I guessed __ (say a number). I’ve always been a bit of an optimist. Does anyone remember what the average student made last summer? Response from the group: ‘About $8,000.00 About $8,000.00. The average student had two customers a day last summertime, so you don’t have to be a super sales person in order to do that. You only have to have two customers a day. And by picking out two customers a day, students receive 39% of the retail price of the books. That is how they get paid. So, if you have two customers a day who buy three volumes each, you’ll make about $220 dollars. Every time a student has a customer he makes about $110.00 dollars, if they buy three books. Two of these all you need. We work with university students who have never really worked in sales before and we don’t look for sales experience. What’s the downside of that? If two people out of 30 say ‘yes’, what’s everyone else going to say? Response from the group: ‘No’ No! So what do you have to be able to handle? Response from the group: ‘Rejection’ Well, rejection’s more like when you ask someone out to dinner and they say ‘no’. I mean I don’t get a lot of that!... (name of A student) tells me it’s terrible!... You have to be able handle ‘no’, rejection, refusal, knock-backs, and that’s why a lot of companies are interested in working with our students, because students proved they can be resilient, so…
7- QUALIFICATIONS
Now there are five main qualifications that we look for in students we select to take part in the programme. The third thing we look for is people that have got a lot of vision. One of the reasons that (name of another student manager) has done so well in our program and that he/she is the most experienced person here at (the name of the University) is that he/she has got a lot of vision. And he/she is not the type of person that gives up when things don’t go his/her way. I’m sure Dave will agree with me that there were a few times his first summer when he had some challenges, but he was really focused on finishing the summer and did really well and ended up being the most improved person from his first to his second summer in our whole group. So those are people who have got a lot of vision. The forth qualification we look for is people that embrace challenges. (name of another student manager) is someone who likes a challenge. He/She in his/her past has (choose on of his/her accomplishments). He/She is someone who really, really enjoys getting his/her teeth into a good challenge. That’s why he/she has done really well with our company. (Use appropriate name of someone from your country). The final thing we look for is people with high levels of personal integrity. The only representation we have to the public are the students that we select to take part in the program. So, we’re looking for people who will go out, treat people properly, be nice and be polite and just work hard for the summertime. These are the main qualifications we’re looking for. At this point, I always ask people two questions; number one, do you think you need these qualifications? And, number two; do you want to find out a little bit more about it? And for those of you who do want to find out some more about it, I’m going to take about five more minutes and explain how the selection process works. So, (name of the student), do you think you’ve got these qualifications? Response from the student: ‘Yes’ Okay. Does it sound like something you want to find out more about? Response from the student: ‘Yes’ Using the green sheets, the presenter continues to ask the rest of the group if it is something they want to hear more about. They all say ‘yes’. The first qualification that we look for is people who are willing to work hard for the summertime. You’ve probably noticed that (name of another student manager) and I, we are all quite different. We all get on really well, but we all got different interests, different hobbies and all that type of stuff. The one thing that we have got in common is that we all work really, really hard. That is the one thing we have got in common. So, this is really hard work. It is not a get rich quick scheme or anything like that. It is, go out, work hard and get paid well for it at the end of the summertime. So, we look for students that are willing to work hard through the summer. If you’re looking for a summer on the beach then that is fine, but this isn’t the right thing to do. The second thing to look for, that we look for in qualification is people who are ‘coachable’. One of the reasons that (name of another student manager) does so well is that he/she is coachable. He/She doesn’t need to be asked to do something more than once, he/she learns. The company has done this for 146 years, so it pretty much works. They’ve already made all the mistakes in the past, does that make any sense? So, be really, really coachable.
8- SELECTION PROCESS
The way the selection process works is that in a couple of minutes I’m going to give you back these green forms and there is a space on the back where you can indicate your interest in taking part in the program and go through our application process. You might want to scribble this down; we have a ten-day selection process. Stage one ...of the selection process is to have a quick interview today with one of the student managers and go through any questions you have and they’ll also have some questions for you. And if you do a good job with those questions then you can go ahead and fill out one of those white forms called a J-1 Exchange Visitors Dealer Agreement which is quite a mouthful, but what it does is it puts down the conditions that the student agrees to follow and the company agrees to follow, should you be selected to work in the program. It does not guarantee students a place but by the same token it doesn’t bind them into working with us for the summertime. he second stage ....in the selection process is to sit through one of these presentations again. I like everyone that is working in the program to be really, really clear on how the program works, so that’s why I ask to you to do that. The third stage ...in the selection process is to meet up with one of the student managers and go through some questions with them over the next few days. Then the final stage ...in the selection process is to write two essays. They’re only about 300 words long each, but they do need to be emailed to your Sales Managers. And returned with one of these blue forms, which is called a Parent/Guardian Support Letter. Parent/Guardian Support Letter is the second most important piece of paper that students in our program deal with, the first one being their paycheck at the end of the summertime. And it is a limited guarantee that you need two people in gainful employment to fill out that basically says that you’re not going to run off with all the company’s money. For example, last summer (name of another student manager) handled probably $24,000 (twenty-four thousand) dollars in cash: 40% of that was his/hers and the rest belonged to the company. Once your Parent/Guardian Support Letter and essays are in and they will be due on the (give them a specific deadline), you’ll have a final interview with one of the student managers here on campus and they will let you know whether or not you’ve been selected to work in our program.
9- STEPS OF THE SUMMER
If you do get selected you will have some training before the summer. Our Sales Manager comes here once every three or four weeks and we have a big group meeting with all the other students. We’ve already selected about (estimated number of people selected for this campus) students from (name of the University) to work in our program. We have got spaces for about (estimated number of people to be selected in total for this campus), so we’ve got about (number of spaces left for this campus) spaces left and we’re going to interview about another 300 students between now and the end of the year to fill those places. We have also weekly training meetings as well, which are great fun. You get to know all the other people on your team. So, it is not like we are just jetting you out to America and saying ‘all the best’, ‘hope it goes well’: we give you pre-summer training. In June, we have a week of Sales School; it takes place at the corporate head quarters in Nashville. Let’s see, (name of another student manager) do you want to tell them more about that Sales School? (Other student manager) ‘In Sales School we went, obviously, to Nashville, where the company’s based, in Landers Plaza. It is like a big glass village and I am sure some people go up against it and check their hair out in the mirror! So, we do that, then it is a six days intensive course of training and valued at about $2000.00 (two thousand dollars) worth of sales training, which is paid for by the company’ You have lectures in the morning, you get speakers/lecturers coming on to talk about sales up to about 12 o’clock. Then, we go outside and actually do role-plays. It is pretty much just prepares us for the summer, what to expect...’ Okay, good. Yes, Sales School has featured in the Sales and Marketing Management journal as being the best training that university students can get, as an under-graduate. The training really is phenomenal. At the end of Sales School we head out, we live in groups of two, three or four with close families or in apartments, get around by bicycle or car. For most students, being students, that’s the former, so you get to develop some good cycling skills over the summertime (ha, ha)! We work Monday through Saturday. Why do you think we work on Saturdays? Response from the group: ‘Everyone’s home?’ That is correct, everyone is home. It’s the best day of the week, so we call it ‘Hammer Saturday’. A very important aspect of our job is to make 30 presentations a day. On Sundays we have a quick training meeting in the morning and then in the afternoon we do some fun activities. (name of another student manager), what were some of the activities you did last summertime? (Other student manager): We went white-water rafting in Montana. We had BBQs, went to a baseball match. It is just a really fun day just to get together, just help each other out and to share a few stories... Yes, they are great. That is the bit you look forward to, because get what happens on a Monday? You go back to work again! So, Sundays are good. At the end of the summer, we all come back to Nashville to complete our paperwork and check-in. We do not party during the summer, but we can make it up during checkout! Once everyone has picked up their BIG CHECKS! Some of the big checks last summer includes people like …. At the end of check-in we head back to university. We select the managers for the following year then and some of you might be on our management program this time next year. That is a really fun part of the program. In the fall, we have an Awards banquet that takes place (in February). (name of another student manager), please tell us a little bit about the awards banquet. (Other student manager): Better than graduation! An opportunity for you to invite parents or friends to come and have a big black-tie dinner in Edinburgh/Sofia/Prague/LA/Seattle. Everyone you made friends over the summer come together and you get recognition for everything you have achieved. It is a really, really good time. We have music and a really good dinner. It is just fantastic. It is also really good for your parents to see what you have achieved and to actually see you receiving the awards won throughout your hard work from the summer. It is a lot of fun! The final thing we have is an incentive trip that students can win, which I suppose you could call the icing on the cake. It is called the Sizzler trip. It is an incentive trip, which students can win different levels of and this year we are about 30 going to an all inclusive resort in Cape Verde in January. It is really cold, miserable and damp in Europe and (name of winners from your campus/country) and myself are all are going. (name of another student manager), why don’t you tell them a little bit about what Sizzler is like? (Other student manager): The Sizzler Trip is nice. Basically, you get the chance to meet a whole load of new people. It is hot, in January, right after Christmas and it is just really nice to be in a really hot country and relax after the first term/semester at uni. It is kind of like Freshers week in the sun, it is a lot of fun, and really nice!
10- HOW THE MONEY WORKS
please refer to the ‘How The Money Works’ of the Highlander Presentation Booklet Last thing, can I ask you to put three columns on your page? We are going to go through how the money works. Put a one at the top of the first column and a two at the top of the second column and a three at the top of third column. That represents the number of customers per day. When a student gets selected to work in our program and they have one customer per day that buys two books: does anyone remember how much they would make? Response from the group: ‘$323.95 dollars?’ That is what the price would be, but you get 39% of that which is $129.58 dollars. Student managers do it for four, five and six customers a day, because you improve your sales skills every year you come back. How much profit would be 2 customers a day? Response from the group: ‘$259.16?’ $259.16 great, and three a day would be? Response from the group: ‘$388.74?’ Next line down, we work six days a week, so multiply by 72 and that gives you the summer profit. If the student gets selected to work in the program, they have one customer per day, they work for a 6 days and 12 weeks, how much will they make (considering some overall expenses of $2,600)? Response from the group: ‘$9,329.76 Correct! Two a day is $18,659.52 . Three a day is $27,989.28. Now one of the things I learnt from my summers on the bookfield is that it is important to eat, have a place to stay and money for the fun activities on a Sunday. You need to take some money off all those things. Some students are great at spending money; some are good at saving money. A reasonable figure to use is about $2,600.00 (two thousand, six hundred) dollars and you just take that out of your collections as you go along. So, take off $2,600.00 (two thousand, six hundred) dollars from each column and that will leave you with your net profit or your take-home pay at the end of the summer. If you have one customer per day that leaves $6,729.76 . if a student works with us and they have three customers a day, they will be able to do something that is quite alien to university students: investing money. one of our goal, as a group, is to have students who have money invested by the time they graduate instead of a loan to repay. Thank you so much for listening. I am now going to give you back the forms you started to fill in
THE ‘SCREENING INTERVIEW’ OR THE CLOSE:
Close and Wrap Up – How it works:
A sales manager or full-timer may have you take your friend or a prospect separately at the end of an info session to “CLOSE” them—to come to a decision about whether or not they’ll be put into the interview process. Then prepare them for the next step in “WRAP UP.”
What to do:
Determine if they are interested in interviewing.
The student needs to sell you on why to select them into the interview process. You are looking for their desire and ability to do SW. “I’ll just ask you a few questions to see if you are qualified for the interview process.”
*Pick 3-5 that you feel are suitable for the student.
- What appeals to you most about the program? - How would something like this help you with your future plans? - How does this compare to your other options for the summer? - What gives you confidence you could do something like this? - What would be the most challenging/difficult part for you, at least at first? - What gives you confidence that you could overcome that, and what would you gain in the process? - How do you think your parents would react to this? How would you convince them that this is something you want to do for the summer? - Do you feel you are a hard worker? Could you give me an example of a time recently that would illustrate your work ethic? - I am putting together a top team. Have you ever been on a top team? How did that feel? Was it worth it? (The sacrifice, commitment, practice, etc)? - Our team has some really big goals for this year (share goals for your own team or campus). When you’re working on a team, what qualities do you feel you have that you bring to a team environment? - Do you have any other questions for me about the program or the selection process?
Then ask the final question: “Why should you get an interview?” If you think they meet the initial qualifications, you can move them into the selection/interview process.
Reach out and shake hand, congratulate for making the interview process. Share why you decided to put them into the interview process.
Give them a Dealer Agreement to fill-in and explain how they will be receiving it electronically for them to fill in and sign online..
Hand out the Follow Up packet, explain the process and set up a time for DAY 1 (Give assignment)
Talk about the EMOTIONAL ROLLER COSTER (what they will experience over the next few days)
“When you go home tonight you’ll probably be excited about the opportunity and you’ll maybe be at about point 1 on this chart. Then you’ll speak to your roommates and they’ll think it sounds a bit crazy so you’ll maybe slip down to about point 2. Then when you come to meet with me tomorrow I’ll answer all your questions and concerns so you’ll maybe go up to point 3. Later in the week you may speak to your parents and they’ll think you’re crazy too and have lots of questions you can’t answer by which time you’re at point 4 and wondering if it’s such a good idea after all. So the point of our meetings is really so you can find out as much information as you can about the program and speak to other people that have done it and that way you’ll be able to form an opinion based on knowledge rather than just assumptions or emotions. Does that make sense? So if you have any questions just write them down and either myself or someone else that has taken part in the program first hand will be able to answer them for you. Does that sound ok? So what are your plans for this evening, anything fun?”
