A crash course on selling: attending the Selling to Grow workshop

Ruby McNaughton from The Moore Street Journal attended the Selling to Grow session of the Advance Startup Workshop Series hosted by The Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) and Nick McNaughton. And she was surprised to discover that she would actually speak to customers and make sales.

I went into the program with zero prior selling experience. My peers had varied levels of experience. Some came into the program with a startup idea, while others had over $20,000 of sales already under their belt. It was a melting pot and a great place to network.

At the beginning of the course, four people volunteered to do a one-minute pitch of their business, and participants then chose which team to be on. I picked Phillipa Leggo’s team. She runs an Australian landscape photography and wall art business with her husband, leading Australian landscape photographer Scott Leggo. I then worked with her as part of a team of four people for the next 2.5 hours.

Thrown in the deep end

Nick McNaughton gave us a challenge to cold call ten people or businesses that we could sell our group’s business to. I was nervous before my first call, but after listening to Phillipa make some calls, I felt calmer. My nonchalance went out the window once my first call went through. I called a medical clinic in Queanbeyan. The receptionist was very nice, which made it easier to continue the call. My group wrote down phrases to use: we would ask for the practice manager, emails and schedules. Having a script made it easier to make the calls.

It got better

We all eventually got our cold-calling legs after a nervous start. ‘Nick is putting some good processes in place for us and making us get pretty uncomfortable. You need to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s a really good skill to have at any age,’ said Phillipa. ‘It definitely gets easier the more you do it,’ reassured James from another team.

In almost every call, we progressed. We either got email responses or information about when the practice manager would be working the next day. ‘After a while, you develop your own style, but there’s a degree of authenticity that comes about that makes it a little bit more fluid,’ said Malcolm from team 3.

We learned that getting information from people can be incredibly easy if you use the right words and tone. ‘I’m learning from watching and from everyone around me. Tailoring the approach to the person you get on the other side of the phone. It might be a different approach to what you’re used to. So that’s what I’ve learned today,’ Harsha shared.

We got results

Our team reached our ten-call goal. Each call was faster and more articulate than the one before. ‘We’ve got a couple of email addresses, which I’ll follow up. Largely, we’ve got somewhere with most calls, which was pretty successful, I’d say,’ said Paula from team 3.

This course was hard and nerve-wracking, but extremely rewarding. Not only did I – and the other participants – learn valuable techniques that will serve us for a lifetime, but we also gained confidence that can help us in everyday life. Selling is an essential skill for any startup founder, and thankfully, it’s a skill that can be learned and practised. Plus, we helped four people progress their businesses by making sales and contacts.

About the course

Campus Plus CEO Nick McNaughton runs the Selling to Grow course as part of the Advanced Startup series, in conjunction with the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN), a few times a year.  Check the CBRIN website for information about future events and courses.