Sales lessons from a desperate college student

by Jill Konrath

It's fund-raising time right now at our house. My 16-year old son is selling fertilizer for his football team and steaks to pay for the Young Life camp he's attending this summer.

My college-age daughter, Katie, is trying to raise $7,000 so her Destination Imagination (DI) team can attend global finals in Tennessee at the end of the month. (DI is a creative problem- solving program for students of all ages.)

But she's had it with nickel-and-dime fundraisers! After years of candy sales, car washes, collecting cans and begging for money, she's done with doing all that work for such minimal returns.

Katie has decided to tackle big companies - because as she says, "That's where the money is!"

After serious consideration, she decided to target Pepsi. Why? Because the 16,000 people (kids, parents) who attend Global Finals like their products. And to her, this meant synergy.

So how does a college sophomore pursue getting money from Pepsi? Especially someone who has never taken a business class, has no knowledge of sales, isn't particularly outgoing and has never met anyone in her life who works at Pepsi?

When she mentioned her plans to me, I wasn't very encouraging. In fact, I was quite the opposite. I told her it takes forever to get grants from big companies - and that most wouldn't fund a single team - that they'd prefer to donate to the national organization.

Did she listen to me? Not likely. I'm her mother - what do I know?

Katie told me she had absolutely no intention of contacting their foundation. She was going to marketing.

"Why?" I asked, surprised.

"Because I have a good idea," she replied confidently. "I've been searching through their Web site. They spend tons of money on promotions. Right now they even have a billion-dollar give-away going on. What I'm going to propose won't cost them nearly that much."

She shared her idea with me - and then we brainstormed a bit on how to make it happen. The next day she called Pepsi's vice president of marketing. (His name appeared somewhere on their Web site.) 

Of course she got voicemail. At the end of his message, he told how to reach his administrative assistant if immediate help was needed.

So Katie punched on through. She talked to his support person, shared her story and asked for his e-mail address. The next day she sent an e-mail.

The subject line read: "Marketing Idea for Pepsi from a College Student!"

In it, she briefly introduced herself and the DI program she's involved in. Then she wrote:

"I would do anything  to get back to Global Finals again. So would my teammates. Unfortunately, our team faces financial difficulties. That is why I'm writing you this e-mail. I've been doing a lot of reading about the type of marketing Pepsi does and I would like to propose a fun, cheap co-marketing venture with you.

"If Pepsi will get us to Global Finals, we will be your on-site marketing arm for the entire five days of competition. We are seven desperate college students who will go to desperate measures for you! We will wear clothing that prominently displays the Pepsi logo to all official events, we will write and perform an entire competition skit about Pepsi, and do everything possible to promote Pepsi in a fun, high-energy way. In fact, we are even willing to walk around the competition dressed as Pepsi bottles!

"We're just the kind of people that Pepsi will want to hire based on what Pepsi's Web site says about the factors contributing to its success. We are young, fun and are willing to try daring things. We have so many promotion ideas to use at the competition. Just think, for less than $10,000, you will have seven enthusiastic college students as your marketing slaves for five days at the largest creative competition in the world!

"I know this is an outrageous idea, but hope you'll consider writing back for more information! There's very little risk for you and some very positive public relations opportunities for Pepsi. With our team, you will get a lot of bang for every buck! We want to create excitement for Pepsi!

"Thank you very much for your time. Let me know when I can call you so we can talk!"

Several days later Katie received a return e-mail from a man who worked with the vice president. Her request was graciously turned down and her team was wished the best of luck.

Did that stop her? If you said yes, you don't know my daughter. It was simply another challenge to overcome. She wrote back again, proposing a slightly lower cost option. Then she wrote back one more time with an entirely different idea.

Katie hasn't heard back yet from the powers-that-be at Pepsi. I don't know if she ever will. But I think we can all learn a lot about selling from what she did.

1. It doesn't take a highly skilled professional salesperson to get through to an executive of a big company. If a sophomore in college with no training can do it, so can you.

2. Research is critical. Katie spent hours studying the Pepsi site. She knew all about the promotions Pepsi was involved in and what the company felt was important.

3. Align your offering with a big company's strategy. It makes you stand out from everyone else. Show that you've done your research, and show how your company can help the big company get where they want.

4. Use intriguing subject lines on emails. In order to get the recipient to read a letter from an unknown person, the subject line has to be enticing, but not one bit sleezy. Katie's was: "Marketing Idea for Pepsi from a College Student."

5. Big companies want ideas! That's right. Katie proposed an idea - and even though it wasn't accepted as is, her message was read and considered.

6. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!  But don't keep trying the same old thing. Think of a new approach, a new slant on the same approach. Keep at it! Penetrating a big company is a campaign, not an event.

Hopefully this has given you something to think about.
� What can you do differently as a result?
� How can you get your foot in the door of a large corporation? 
� What will it take?

Being successful in sales today requires research, alignment and ideas. It's also about experimenting. Don't worry about getting things perfect before you make the call. Good enough is fine to start with. Then just do it! And learn and adjust as you go. That's the only way you'll get better.

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