How do we get beyond the stigma of a sales representative being that "slimy car salesman" and see the real benefit of the sales industry? Cindy Sweeney, Director of Career Services for the School of Business, offers great reasons to apply to sales jobs, including that 25% of top CEOs started in marketing and sales. See how Elon's connections with sales teams all over the U.S. can help you get that dream job you weren't expecting.
This is one of a series of columns written by the Student Professional Development Center’s professionals who offer industry insights and career guidance.
—
By Cindy Sweeney, Associate Director of Career Services for the School of Business
According to US News (May 2018), entry-level positions in sales, marketing, and customer service have been the most abundant over the past 12 months.
Twenty-five percent of top CEOs started in sales or marketing (Frank Germann, June 2018).
Job compensation and perks are high for sales positions.
College graduates with strong communication, organization and problem-solving skills are a good fit for sales positions.
So why aren’t more students interested in sales opportunities after they graduate?
“I believe that sales, unfortunately, has this stigma of the “slimy car salesman” and that is not the case. Truly great salespeople are intuitive, hardworking, extremely organized and confident. Sales is essentially the mastery of verbal communication- and not just anybody can do it. I think that once students get this notion of the car salesmen out of their head and start realizing that most if not all c-level executives have done some kind of stint in sales, they will realize that being successful in sales prepares you for a successful career in pretty much any other realm of the business.”
Recently, AT&T has become an Elon University Chandler Family Professional Sales Center corporate sales partner. They have a robust B2B (Business to Business) Business Development Program that includes four to six months of training at their headquarters in Dallas.
In AT&T’s program, students will train on all AT&T products and processes as well as obtain comprehensive sales skills. This division of AT&T hires 400-plus graduates annually. After completing the program (90 percent of participants graduate), employees work on sales teams of 10 to 12 with a dedicated sales manager so there are always mentors available. Sales graduates have the chance to select their preferred locations after training and will be assigned to one of their three top choices.
I asked Audrey a few other questions about their sales program and sales in general:
What are the benefits of starting in sales?
“MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. Sales is a great place to start because of the higher pay rate than most entry-level positions. If you are at a company with a strong commission structure and a proven track record at success you should be able to out-earn most of your friends in non-sales roles that first year out of school.”
What are the characteristics of successful students in sales roles?
“The characteristics of a successful student that transfers over to a successful salesperson is the ability to be self-motivated. Most of the time in sales your schedule will be yours to make- with a lot of your time out in the field with customers or working from home. If you are not able to self-motivate and keep yourself from succumbing to the temptations of having a flexible schedule then you will do great in the field of sales.”
If this has piqued your interest, check out Elon University’s Chandler Family Professional Sales Center link.
The Chandler Family Professional Sales Center promotes professional selling and sales management, provides high-quality instruction to both students and sales executives, and conducts research that advances the field of sales.
The program’s strong sales curriculum and experiential learning component earned it the distinction as a “Top University Sales Program for 2019” by the Sales Education Foundation, a section of The Dayton Foundation established to promote university-level educational programs in sales through the provision of scholarships, creation of educational materials and other methods.
The center is located on the first floor of Richard W. Sankey Hall.