Building World-Class Sales Education with Iconoclass

My story with education starts almost 100 years ago, in a village not far from Alexandria in Egypt. My great grandfather wanted to move from his family’s farm to get an engineering education. He had understood that education alleviates humans from poverty and gives them the knowledge and the tools humans need to be free to work on what they which, to imagine things and go build them.

‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’- Nelson Mandela

He also understood that education is continuous during a human’s lifetime. Most importantly he instilled these values of education in the whole family.

Fast forward to 2013, technology has changed the world faster than ever and the economy too. The economy is more entrepreneurial and you can’t really predict what the jobs will be years from now(Nicolas Colin goes deeply through this subject and more in his book Hedge). Education is having to change too, the resources of knowledge are commoditized and you can learn anything you want using the internet whether you are in Paris, France or New Delhi, India. I am 18 years old just out of high school in Saudi Arabia. I was very excited about changing life from high school and looking forward to gaining the Business Knowledge I need to work later in high growth environments. I have a belief that I was born to create and scale companies. I knew I wasn’t going to be a web developer but that I would love being a Salesperson to an awesome product.

As an Egyptian who went through the French educational system, it made perfect sense to pursue my higher studies in France. I had a very objective view, I am sacrificing time with my family and my comfort in order to grow and learn and get prepared to join the employment market being a world-class Business Developer.

The pursuit of excellent Sales education 1: The Publicly funded Faculty of Economics

I joined a Faculty of Economics that I will leave un-named in a city in the French province that is prided as a city of Innovation. I joined a Bachelors degree in Economics and Business Administration and from day one I understood there were four types of students :

• The lost ones, they are here because they thought they had to apply somewhere and found this diploma generalistic enough to think about it for the next few years.
• The ones who want to be economists, writing academic journals and doing research on interesting economic matters.
• The ones who knew they wanted to join the workforce with two main objectives, going to make careers in big companies and make as much money as they can before retirement.
• The ones here for the wrong reasons, from wanting subsidies to satisfying their parents by saying they are pursuing higher education but will never enter a classroom after the first day

A few weeks into the program, you learn about the realities of education that was made for the masses :

• The program is designed to be as generalistic as possible and you will not learn any touchable skills. If you are lucky enough to be curious you will go learn yourself but that’s not what 90% of students did.
• Most of your professors are academics who never set foot in a company and are more interested in trying to validate 19th-century economic theories than guiding their students to build great careers or trying to link their material to the realities these students will be facing once in the working force.
• You will not build a professional network, you don’t meet any people working in world-class companies and don’t have an active alumni network.
• You probably won’t meet students from other environments. The chances are very tiny that a student from a BA in Economics will meet a computer engineering student.
• In a digital economy, this is definitely not the place to hone your digital skills.
• Internships are a no show during the program.

Finally, you learn by speaking with all the recent alumni of the program that no one goes out ready to join the workforce and build a career. Your ‘general skills’ will not be of help. If you are in it for employment, getting a job is not guaranteed.

The pursuit of excellent Sales education 2: The ‘école en alternance’ model

I knew I couldn’t continue going this way. I needed to get ready for the job market. My rebound idea was doing a co-op (alternance). It has existed for years, you find a company willing to hire in a junior or assistant position and they pay for your school fees. There are different rhythms but it must mix education and work. A month before the deadline to find a company, I found an opportunity with Eatwith which turned out to be my biggest learning experience ever learning about tech, the adrenaline of creativity when building, the thriving french startup ecosystem and the first time I visited The Family. Most of the students were professionals: They have been through this educational model since their high school years. They more or less like to have a job and be working and independent at this young age. They are definitely harnessing their operational skills at work. Once again a few months into this new life I learned a few things :

• These types of schools don’t care about educational experiences. As the companies are sponsoring the students, they want to show a number of hours where the students were present. The content and education of these students don’t matter.
• The education was far from structured and the material empty to say the least. The only education you are getting is what you learn while which is great in itself at this point.

I was still far away from the excellence in education that would have me prepared to join the workforce as a beast. It just felt like another dead-end.

The pursuit of excellent Sales education 3 — Business School :

This is the third year where I am changing my educational institute again. Going into the program was not as hard as it seemed and it was the first time that I am in contact with an educational model that serves a lot of my objectives :

• Some professors are executives and managers in world-class companies. They probably don’t have the time but will help on call.
• You will learn how a business should work and the different pieces of the puzzle it takes to put together.
• The internship offers in big companies and you can give it a try with the alumni network.

A few months into the program, you learn a few limits of this education :

• You will never learn how to sell in Business School. Most students want to be Consultants or work in Finance which is great but what if you want to be a Business Developer.
• The course material is quite disconnected from the digital revolution that is happening. Nobody will speak to you about growth hacking or teach you how to use digital tools used by companies in general.

The pursuit of excellent Sales education 4: Let’s just build it

‘‘All about the potential and the future Benjamins’’

The first time I visited The Family was for a talk in 2016. I quickly fell in love with how they developed a culture of education directly linked to the needs of the actual job market and also seeing education as continuous. They launched Koudetat, Lion and many other ed-tech startups. The job market seems to have a problem finding salespeople too. In France alone, there are 200 000 Business developer jobs with no candidates knocking at the door.

I have recently joined Iconoclass after meeting Marie Taquet and Talia Cohen Boulakia who also had the same pursuit and who happen to be Salespeople, we are building the world-class Sales School I wish I could have joined as an 18-year-old.

A 4 months intensive program where students follow modules on lead generation, sales techniques, and negotiation, followed by 6 months of internship. Here is how it looks from the inside :

• Learn how to sell by selling. The students train in the field, with real products made available to the school by its partners. We already partnered up with tech companies such as Doctolib, Tiller Sytems, Doctrine and many others.
• Mastery of essential digital tools: Office, Drive, CRM(Hubspot, Salesforce…).
• Personal development: with courses on public speaking, eloquence, improvisation, and stress management to acquire soft skills necessary for future world-class salespeople.

Anyone above the age of 18 is free to apply, the professional and academic background of candidates doesn’t matter and the students are tested on their potential to become business developers of high caliber.

With Iconcolass the students are sure of :

• Being surrounded by motivated world changers from very diverse backgrounds.
• Building a network in the french-tech industry(more industries coming soon)meeting inspiring CEOs, Heads of Sales, Sales Managers, and VCs who are here to share their knowledge and find their next big talent.
• Learning tangible skills that will be used after the duration of 4 months from day one.
• Attending physical classes in Paris, with theoretical classes and more content available online using a secured Learning Management System.
• Have personalized support by our Sales Coach and during the 1 on 1 session with expert tech recruiters in order to plan their careers depending on their passions and ambitions.
• The 1-year program costs 4 999 euros. Iconcolass guarantees: you are either employed after the program or you get your money back.
• Continuous support whether in learning or in your career for the rest of your life by Iconoclass.

Sign up here: https://www.iconoclass.eu/inscription-iconoclass

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