Sales is in Everything

Sales is in Everything

Leah LaMont

April 9th, 2024

One thing I’ve realized within just a semester of studying sales is that it truly is the basis of (pretty much) everything. Specifically, when speaking on professionals. As a junior, I’ve been in search of an internship for this upcoming summer within the last semester. And really, what I’ve been focusing on is how to sell myself to potential employers. I know as a student I have value, however, really when seeking an internship, employers are looking to make an investment in young professionals. Therefore, this process is largely about finding ways to tailor my skills and experience in ways that employers can clearly see the ways in which I can add to their company. It’s the sales process.

To start, when looking for internships I began prospecting, researching companies that were searching for interns to fill summer positions. At this point, for the positions that seemed to match my needs I began tailoring my resume based on the skills I possess that relate to the position. Then came the waiting game, waiting to hear back from various companies. This process can seem like the longest of them all because you have little control over what happens from here. From some companies, I never heard back, however from others I began setting up interviews. These interviews were mainly focused on the value I could provide to the company I was interviewing with. While I didn’t experience objections, it isn’t uncommon for others to receive some sort of push back from their potential employers when interviewing.

And while these interviews went well, I sit today still in search of a company to work with and learn from over the summer. This process is difficult and at times can seem unrewarding. Repeating the process over and over and not seeing the ideal end results. But that doesn’t hinder me from continuing my search and pressing forward. This is sales, it’s a never-ending process, forcing sellers to feel both great heights and low lows in their search for new business or even maintaining other business. However, this is what excites me about this industry, and ultimately why I think sales is essential in education. It excites me that sales is far from stagnant, that I will face failure but that this failure will provide me guidance moving forward. It makes the wins that much more meaningful and the losses a learning experience.

Students need this education. Students need to experience failure and learn to get back up and keep pushing. Life is far from a perfect sale. Life is far from easy and prepping students for this reality is necessary to make students stronger and build up their tolerance for disappointment. Because that’s the reality of everyday. And the difference between students who learn to sell and learn to feel defeat and students that don’t is just that. Students who learn sales learn to persevere and continue growing seeing failure as a good thing. The world is competitive, and I won’t sit back and hope good things come to me. And my sales education has fostered this within me.