Sales Training For The Very Young: A Writer Reflects

In a recent episode of Bubble Wrap Kids, the worlds worst mom

, Lenore Skenazy, who created an international uproar when she wrote about her decision to allow her then 9-year-old son to ride the New York subway on his own, helps an anxiety-ridden 10-year-old girl and her slightly younger brother develop confidence by giving them $50 and telling them to organize a fair in a local park. The sister is put in charge of sales management, but Skenazy gives them a hand with sales strategy: she tells the children to approach local businesses to ask if they can post signs in their front windows.

This is not the first time that Skenazy has used guerilla sales training to boost the confidence of over-protected children. It is a familiar tactic on this reality show featuring families that have taught their children to fear everything, including strangers. Typically, older siblings are asked to assume sales management duties and organize a children-run bake sale or lemonade stand. By interacting with customers and assessing their profits, which are often considerable (the aforementioned siblings made a couple hundred dollars for charity) children start to question the false beliefs foisted on them by virtue of their parents helicopter style.

In my own personal experience, I have seen how even the most reserved of children can break out of their shell at a lemonade stand or bake sale. One would think that they had years of sales training under the belt! And, youve got to admit, as a sales strategy, children selling tall glasses of cool lemonade on a hot sidewalk in summer is pretty much unbeatable. Many a sales management team has spent meeting upon meeting trying to dream up something better.

Ive also seen children turn into rather effective if pint-sized sales management teams when it comes to that time-honoured sales training tradition of having children raise funds for their teams and clubs by selling such items as chocolate and fruit. The main sales strategy here is: boldness (knocking on doors), good manners and old-fashioned charm.

One wonders if the best sales management teams are the ones whose members began their sales training early, in childhood. Who says that sales strategy has to be learned in college?

As a parent, it makes me want to foster sales management skills in my own children, to give them a solid foundation in sales training and sales strategy so that they can draw on it in the future.

A little bit of sales training can help advance almost any career, as one must always be prepared to sell ones own skills. So although not all children may be headed for a career in sales, some exposure in the early years may be helpful for almost everyone.

by: Percy Evans

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