Sales (SLS)

This course introduces students to the world of professional sales. Students will learn the importance of sales to the firm, the historical view of selling and the ways in which sales careers may evolve in the future. The importance of professional orientation, career development, and timely, competent communication will also be a focus. Students will gain an understanding of the processes that salespeople typically perform, and will be exposed to demonstrations and exercises that will engage the students with these processes.

This course moves beyond the basic skills taught and practiced in previous courses. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the sales and interview processes with attention to prospecting, qualifying, and presenting to potential clients. We will also cover negotiating skills, the use of teams in selling, sales technology, account maintenance, and ethical behavior and practices. Case studies addressing important topics will help build critical thinking skills and role-play projects will bring together a complete sales interview process in real time. Area sales professionals will also visit classes to enhance learning on specific and current topics.

Effective communication is critical in all phases of life, but particularly so in initiating, nurturing, and sustaining business or professional relationships. Each student will develop a thorough understanding of the full range of business communication and reputation building tools and will be encouraged to develop a communication style with which they are personally comfortable. Students will also have the opportunity to learn how to communicate effectively in all phases of relationship development. This will be accomplished through extensive use of role playing, video-taping, and constructive review of student performance by both fellow students and the professor.

Negotiation is a very specific form of communication and most successful professionals need to develop facility in this area. Students will become familiar with multiple types of negotiation techniques and any number of circumstances in which negotiation will be required. Students will begin to develop personal negotiating styles to fit specific business and professional circumstances. Role playing will be extensively used and students will have the opportunity to refine their skills through video-taping and critiquing. In addition, local leaders with well-developed negotiation skills will provide guidance on what has worked for them and why.

This course is an extension of Sales Principles and focuses on how the philosophies and techniques learned earlier are applied to ensure that the highest potential customers and relationships are sustained. The importance of adding value is introduced and reinforced. Because it is a critical issue in both persuasion and sustaining buy-in, the psychology of selling is a major focus. In addition, the important role of orchestrating company resources and services (collaboration) to earn customer loyalty is a focal point. Reading and discussing relevant material will be augmented with student exposure to successful local sales leaders who provide background on how they have applied important concepts addressed.

While reading case studies of past situations has value, working with employers on current problems takes the student a step further in their understanding of business. Students will work in small teams with area businesses and their sales leadership to define, analyze and propose solutions to actual sales problems being experienced by the businesses.

This course introduces the student to sales in the sports world. Working with sports teams at the collegiate and professional levels, salespeople engage in ticket sales, package sales, hospitality agreements and other promotions. Topics also include market analysis, pricing, and developing and monitoring successful sales campaigns. The class will also participate in an online and in-person national sports selling competition with students from around the U.S.

Most salespeople work in environments where day-to-day supervision is not provided. Effective development of goals, habits, and systems provide the means to reach success in a sales career. You will learn how to prioritize your tasks, manage yourself and your time along with effective financial administration. These items and the necessity of ethical behavior will be reinforced through case studies and class discussions. Professional image development and marketing oneself are addressed and you will learn the range of compensation methods found in professional selling careers. Students will have the opportunity to job shadow with local sales professionals.

Moving from salesperson to sales manager is many times seen as a promotion, but it is a separate job with separate knowledge and skill sets. Students will learn how middle managers and top-line managers handle planning, recruiting, selection, training, supervision and performance appraisal tasks at both the field and corporate levels. The role of systems in managing and enabling growth will be explored, along with the growing use and integration of sales force automation and relationship management software to help accomplish those tasks. Area sales professionals will present on various topics.

SAU enjoys excellent relationships with the businesses in the greater Quad Cities. Internship/Co-op opportunities (ICOS) will be developed with local businesses for sales majors to prove they can add value by virtue of their own talent and academic preparation. In exchange, the students will have a meaningful and marketable experience which proves they can apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired at SAU. We expect to have formalized ICOS with a nucleus of companies and other ICOS will be developed as needed for students who may have special interests. The Director of the Sales Center will mentor the students in their ICOS and interact with the companies to ensure the ICOS have substantial educational value.

This course concentrates on experiential learning in the field of Business Sales. Students will engage with the professor, sales team coaches and the program's business partners to develop professional selling interview structures and skills based on scenarios used in contemporary college-level competitions, culminating in participation in at least one national collegiate sales competition. Successful completion of this course will also fulfill the Business Sales major experience requirement.