I am Franco Chavez, a Peruvian student from Lima on the Associate Degree Program at the Hubbard College of Administration (HCA), Los Angeles, CA.

I always asked myself why there were so many salesmen that couldn’t sell or why there were so many salesmen that have this superficial interest in you because deep inside they are thinking of something else? At least a couple of times, I’ve encountered some salesman in such a bad mood that I felt sad about it. While doing this apprenticeship, I realized that it really is hard, if not impossible, to sell a product that you have no interest in. If all these salesmen had at least some minimal interest in what they were selling, their jobs would be so much easier.

From the very first moment my apprenticeship supervisor told me about Vibrant Life as a site for my sales apprenticeship, I was very interested. I like all subjects about nutrition and exercising. So I had good affinity with the product. The vitamins and creams were a great product for me to sell, because I knew that by selling them I was in some way helping the buyers to improve their health.

So I personally think that these two ingredients are basic to getting a sale: 1) interest or affinity in the product you are selling and 2) interest in the person that you are selling the product to. This is applicable to anything that you want to sell.

The HCA is a self-paced business school that offers an exceptional business administration curriculum, unique learning technology, life-changing apprenticeships and internships, assistance with job placement and a lifetime warranty for students.  I am currently on the Marketing Apprenticeship.

Associate Degree and Sales

In the beginning of my program I knew that the Sales Course would be the last one in my Associate Degree and honestly I didn’t want to take this course.  It was probably because of the false data I had about Sales. But this course helped me realize what sales really is and that the ability to sell is very important to be successful. When I know that my product is a valuable one and that people will benefit when they buy it, then it is much easier to help people to decide to buy it. It will be an honest, valuable exchange.

If a company or a person can not sell its product in a short while it will be bankrupt even though they produce a superior product and promote it very well. My other biggest realization while doing this course was that every day we sell something: the idea to go watch a movie with friends, to go to a restaurant―just IDEAS! It is really cool!

By Elena Kalinina, a Russian student from Moscow on the associate degree program at the Hubbard College of Administration (HCA), Los Angeles, CA.  The HCA is a self-paced business school that offers an exceptional business administration curriculum, unique learning technology, life-changing apprenticeships and internships, assistance with job placement and a lifetime warranty for students.  I recently completed the Sales course and am currently on the Sales apprenticeship.

Associate degree program

The Associate Degree program was an adventure in itself.  However, doing the consultant levels is a next level experience. After finishing my degree program, I felt confident that I could run any company and run any division without any trouble. After finishing Consultant level 0 and Consultant level 1 and doing the internship for them, I feel even more certain that I can and have the knowledge to be an executive in any company. Being a Basic Consultant Intern is quite amazing.  For example, I was sent to a company to help them while I was doing my level 0 and 1 internships. It was interesting that the ED (Executive Director) of the company, the person who was working there for years couldn’t see what I could see. After a few hours inspecting their company, I knew what needed to be done and I obtained the ED’s agreement on everything. Here is an example: the ED wanted me to strengthen the company’s Public Relations Division.  She wanted me to help that division grow so they could reach more public. However, what I noticed was, their Sales Division was undermanned and the best thing for their company was to hire more sales personnel.  If I were to get more public flowing in the company, there was no one to sell to them, so the sales would be lost. This was one of the actions I performed in that company.

I feel great to be able to go in a company and help them grow. Helping others is great, especially in the economy we live in today, but I am confident enough that I can create a viable company in any economic situation.

By Eiman Rahnama, an Iranian student from Tehran on the Consultant Levels program at the Hubbard College of Administration (HCA), Los Angeles, CA.  The HCA is a self-paced business school that offers an exceptional business administration curriculum, unique learning technology, life-changing apprenticeships and internships, assistance with job placement and a lifetime warranty for students.  I am currently on the Executive Director Mini-Hat course.

All the courses I have studied in Hubbard College of Administration are very useful; they really helped me change my life for the better.

By Kenny Chen, a Taiwanese student from Taipei on the associate degree program at the Hubbard College of Administration (HCA), Los Angeles, CA.  The HCA is a self-paced business school that offers an exceptional business administration curriculum, unique learning technology, life-changing apprenticeships and internships, assistance with job placement and a lifetime warranty for students.  I recently completed the Formulas for Business Success and Management by Statistics courses and am currently on the Formulas for Business Success and Management by Statistics apprenticeship.

Every month or two, a variety of workshops in sales and marketing and other topics are presented, in which all the degree students can participate. I have already participated in four of them! These great workshops are attended by people from different companies from all over the country and we get to know them in order to expand our communication lines. I really like that opportunity because I get more contact with the people and the real business environment.

Janz Gonzalez

In the two days I took to sell, I sold a lady a month of service with me as well as did some cold selling on the street like the old days and sold five units in two hours! I also finally tackled my email files and compiled all of the names, numbers and email addresses of everyone who’d contacted me for services since 2007.  Now I know that when I contact these people I’ll get a much higher closing rate. I now actually have career education to back up my experience whereas before all I had to work with was trial and error.

When I went cold selling I took a good friend of mine along and gave him a quick rundown on some simple sales no-no’s as well as some tips.  Throughout the selling he made price concessions, which were unnecessary. I promptly corrected him after the sale and got across to him that if the person is receptive, you don’t need to make any price reductions. Only reduce when absolutely necessary, not as a courtesy. We both broke old habits and know we’ll do well in the future as a sales team.

Though I have done an entire course and apprenticeship on sales, I’m still learning on the subject and plan to attend the sales workshop here at the college June 26th and 27th.

Cassidy Turbin
turbinstudios@yahoo.com

Today I sat down in Interview Room #300 with Franco Chaves, a 21-year-old student attending the Hubbard College and talked a bit about his life goals and experience at the HCA so far.

Me: First off, where are you originally from?
Franco: Lima, Peru.

Me: And how did you hear about the Hubbard College?
Franco: I heard about the Hubbard College through a high school tutor who used the study technology that is used here at the college. One day she brought me here on a tour and then bang, I was interested. When I finished school and started considering college, my first choice was here.

Me: What program are you on currently?
Franco: Well, I first started on an Administrative Management Program. When I finished it I decided to do the degree program. So now I’m on the degree program getting my Associates.

Me: Did you attend the Sales Workshop here April 4th and what did you think about it?
Franco: Yes, I’ve gone to four of them now! I like that there’s practice of the techniques of how to sell! I also like that I could talk to the seminar speaker and he helped me with the application of the techniques.

Me: What in particular has made your Hubbard College career education stand out from the rest of the career colleges and business schools out there?
Franco: Because of the apprenticeships here- I can practice what I learn and I meet different business people at the same time.

Me: Have You Planned out how you’re going to find a job after finishing your program?
Franco: I will be working with the job placement service here at HCA. I’m not worried. Also I’ve made many friends here from different places: Los Angeles, Lebanon, Japan, Russia, Columbia, Cuba, and many other countries. I’m sure I will keep in touch with them throughout my career. You never know…

Me: Is there something that stands out in your experience here so far that you would like to mention?
Franco: Yeah, being sent to different apprenticeships gave me a real good understanding of how companies work and how the structure works. This helps because it gives me ideas of how I can use the structures and plans they use in my own company.

Me: What are your immediate plans after you get your Associate Degree here?
Franco: My plans are to become an American Citizen, work, save up more money and eventually go back to Peru and open a business consultant company.

I’ve been selling for a while, but there were always a few types of people who seemed to get me. Talk about some on the spot career training. Now I have no issues, and I thought that I could sell before this, I mean I did make a living at it. I personally have seen a lot of different sales training seminars and courses out there, but this sales training seemed to break down all the points that you need to know and show you what to do.
I’m still practicing, and I am by no means an expert yet, but at the very least I know what to do and I certainly don’t get tongue tied any more.

Have you ever been to a car dealership or anything else where there’s a salesman, they talk and talk and talk and really try to lay it on you why you should buy this or that. It’s like a really bad blind date that you just can’t wait to get away from. The sales dude practically runs you out of the sale. This sales training definitely fixes that.

If you have a good story of some salesman going horribly wrong, I’d like to hear it so leave it in the comments!

Redmond, Student at Hubbard College