RECRUITING SALES STUDENTS: THE VALUE OF PROFESSIONALS IN THE CLASSROOM

It can be difficult for employers to recruit sales students because of the supply/demand gap. This is true despite increases in university sales education programs. This study investigates the impact of a sales organization representative giving an in-class presentation about student intent to pursue employment at the organization. The results indicate that a quality in-class presentation can improve students’ desire to work for the organization, but an average in-class presentation or shorter extracurricular presentation had no positive effect. These results imply that an in-class presentation should be taken seriously and done well in order to positively impact the recruitment process

The Impact of Live Cases on Student Skill Development in Marketing Courses

Live cases, where students work directly with an outside organization to solve real-world problems, can be an immersive learning experience for marketing students. Current scholarship on live case usage in marketing is limited to small samples from a handful of live case devotees. This article draws from a large, international sample of 169 marketing educators to investigate the perceived educational impacts of live cases on student skill development. Specifically, the paper explores student teamwork, conflict handling, time management, presentation, communication, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, the article explores how student skill development is affected by the amount of course time dedicated to the live case as well as faculty experience with live cases

Using Sales Competition Videos in a Principles of Marketing Class to Improve Interest in a Sales Career

Purpose of the Study: This study describes an easily conducted teaching innovation to enhance introductory marketing students’ perception of sales and selling. Sales jobs are plentiful; yet, many marketing students do not pursue sales courses or sales careers. Our purpose is to describe a classroom intervention that improves students’ intent to pursue a sales career. Method/Design and Sample: This study tests the classroom inclusion of an actual student sales competition video from the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) to provide visual as well as verbal learning stimuli. Following a 45 minute lecture on sales, students were exposed to the 20-minute final round winning NCSC video. During the video, the instructor stopped the video 12 times to relate specific aspects of the video role-play to the lecture. Students completed a pre- and post-intervention survey of the Intent to Pursue Sales Career Scale (ITPSC). Results: Results show that the educational intervention positively impacted students’ perceptions of a sales career, salespeople, salesperson ethics, sales knowledge, and intent to pursue a sales career. The largest student perception increases were within the sales knowledge dimension. Value to Marketing Educators: Graduates with degrees in marketing, business, and other areas often begin their careers in entry level sales positions. Sales skills are transferable and have utility in marketing and other careers. Instructional innovations designed to enhance student interest in a selling career, and that also advance sales training, have tremendous value. The use of an exemplar video from a sales competition is an easy way to accomplish these goals

A Cross-Cultural Negotiation Role-Play for Sales Classes

Purpose of the Study: International sales jobs are plentiful; yet many marketing students do not pursue them. This study describes an international negotiation teaching innovation that improved student awareness of both the challenges and rewards of a career in international sales. Method Design and Sample: The use of a cross-cultural negotiation exercise in sales classes from two countries is tested to provide an experiential learning opportunity in a computer-supported, collaborative learning setting. Prior research has shown that the use of web-based technology can enhance collaboration and construction of knowledge (Comeaux and McKenna-Byington, 2003). Students first engaged in a virtual ‘get-to-know you’ exercise. Following lectures on cultural differences and team negotiations, they followed guidelines of a fictional cultural briefing to conduct a cross-cultural negotiation exercise. Throughout the experience, students completed surveys and maintained journals. Results: The innovation increased student knowledge of sales and negotiations while simultaneously improving attitudes toward, and confidence in, international collaboration. Students reported higher intent to pursue international sales careers over the control group. Value to Marketing Educators: Business schools and sales students can increase job market competitiveness through intercultural skill development (Kurpis and Hunter, 2017; Delpechitre and Baker, 2017). Despite progress in sales course offerings, international exposure is still lacking. Soft skills, such as cultural literacy, are considered key to success in the job market (Tuleja, 2014). This negotiation exercise between classes is a realistic way to enhance intercultural skill development within the sales curriculum

Disaster preparedness and response in older adults: a review and discussion

Older adults are disproportionately affected by disasters when they occur, from health, psychological and social perspectives. The needs of older adults are different, complex, and are often overlooked during disaster planning and response. The aim of this study was to review the current literature surrounding the needs of older adults from disaster preparedness and response perspectives

A Critical Review of the Literature for Sales Educators

The Journal of Marketing Education is publishing a special issue on Sales Education and Training in August 2014. In this article, we review the sales education literature from four primary journals and the business literature at large. The four primary journals are the Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, Journal of Education in Business, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Of the 107 identified articles, experiential learning, assessment, and career development were the three most prominent topics. Future research opportunities in sales education, including those for the special issue, are offered across nine topical areas

TONS: A Guide to Teaching On-line Sales Courses

Purpose of the Study: This study describes a creative solution to teaching on-line sales(TONS). On-line education is increasingly in demand; yet, many sales instructors are unsure of how to transfer this interactive, skills-based course from face-to-face to an on-line format. The on-line course is described in detail, with weekly topics, assignments, rubrics, and teaching materials available. The skills-based active learning format develops student knowledge and know-how while building to a final project. Importantly, the technological and time considerations for instructors are kept to a minimum. Method/Design and Sample: This study tests the use of the on-line TONS teaching method through qualitative and quantitative student responses and evaluations from three classes. Qualitative data was analyzed to identify themes of learning and satisfaction. Quantitative course evaluations provide a comparison between on-line and in-person introductory sales classes. Results: Qualitative results show that the TONS innovation was successful in promoting experiential learning in the on-line format. Identified themes indicate on-line students learned key aspects of the sales process, valued the interaction provided, and believed the course resulted in cumulative learning and was applicable to their employment. Quantitative evaluations show that on-line courses were rated equally to a comparable in-person course. Value to Marketing Educators: As educators are pushed toward on-line, blended, and otherwise virtual course formats, it is critical that student learning not suffer. Also important is the need to minimize instructor time investment in course preparation and teaching. This study provides detailed instruction of how any instructor can use TONS to deliver experiential learning on-line

Congruence between Course Modality and Professor Communication: A Study of Pedagogical Impact using Sales Techniques

Purpose of the Study: Given the similarities between influencing others when teaching and when selling, this work explores student perceptions of selling techniques used by professors. This work investigates faculty instructional methods informed by the prospecting and follow-up sales process’s steps to positively affect student perceptions, and to attract and retain students in online and traditional formats. Selling efforts are developed, described, and examined to see how prospecting and follow-up can be used to increase course learning, retention, and subsequent course enrollment. Method/Design and Sample: The study used a 2 (Professor Communication Type: Face-to-face vs. Virtual) by 2 (Selling Stage: Prospecting vs. Follow-up) within subjects experimental design with a third between subjects factor measuring Student Modality Type (Online vs. Ground). Student modality refers to the students’ preference for online or in-person classes. 274 completed surveys were collected from online and traditional business school students from two large U.S. universities in the southeast. Results: The results suggest that applying steps of the sales process in the classroom positively impacts student perceptions relating to instructor responsiveness, pedagogical affect, and likelihood to enroll. These findings endure across course formats, before or during a class, and virtually or in-person. Importantly, we find if faculty match their communication methods (Face to face vs. Virtual) to the course modality type (Ground vs. Online) there is higher pedagogical affect from the sales techniques utilized. Value to Marketing Educators: This work proposes a starting point for faculty engagement within the higher education marketing effort by utilizing personal selling techniques to appeal to online and traditional ground students. Examples of how educators can use sales techniques in the classroom are shared. The findings guide administrators in applying marketing concepts to higher education as a solution for enrollment and retention issues without micromanaging teaching methods, and also provide guidance for engaging student learning, using prospecting and follow-up techniques

A Parsimonious Instrument for Predicting Students’ Intent to Pursue a Sales Career: Scale Development and Validation

Students’ desire and intention to pursue a career in sales continue to lag behind industry demand for sales professionals. This article develops and validates a reliable and parsimonious scale for measuring and predicting student intention to pursue a selling career. The instrument advances previous scales in three ways. The instrument is generalizable across academic settings and is shown to be sensitive to differences across varied course coverage and learning activities. The instrument is parsimonious and offers a high reliability coefficient. Finally, the instrument is validated both before and after exposure to a sales module, thus capturing perceptual and attitudinal changes as students become more familiar with this career option

Evaluating Educational Practices for Positively Affecting Student Perceptions of a Sales Career

Despite demand for new graduates seeking a sales position, student reticence toward pursuing a sales career remains. While all students will not choose a sales career, diminishing the existence of sales-related misconceptions among the student population should establish sales as a viable career path for a larger number of students. We test six educational interventions in large Principle of Marketing classes from three different universities (n = 1,355) to help identify educational practices for reducing student reticence toward a career in sales. Our results show that while all six educational approaches raise students’ perceptions and interest in a selling career, the utilization of experienced salespeople to present classroom materials and to discuss their sales career was the most effective. Classroom lecture and role-plays by university sales students had the second highest intent to pursue intervention scores. We offer recommendations for how to best present sales material to these large, lecture-based courses