As modern business-to-business (B2B) sales have become more complex; recruiters are turning to business schools to find educated and motivated sales professionals to fill the employment demand gap that has risen. This study provides important information about business students' intentions regarding pursuing careers in B2B sales, as there are no…

The leadership styles and behaviors of supervisors preferred by pharmaceutical sales professionals during periods of varied sales performance were explored in this qualitative study. A phenomenological approach was used to address the gap in research on how the leadership styles of the supervisors of pharmaceutical salespeople affect the…

Nonverbal communication impacts a broad range of human interactions and bears significant influence on understanding and perceptions. One of the most influential categories of nonverbal communication is kinesics, which includes physical gestures and other body movements. The current study develops a foundation for future kinesics education in…

Sport-sales-specific coursework is emerging as a crucial addition to sport management curricula for a variety of institutions. However, a new sport sales course can present instructors with the unique challenge of developing a course without any departmental precedent. The current study collected syllabi from recent sport sales courses to provide…

Purpose: Building on the concepts of learning communities of practice, the paper aims to evaluate their application within degree apprenticeships (DAs) to support pedagogic engagement and inclusive education within a university setting. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of an existing B2B sales degree apprenticeship reviewed relevant…

There is a shortage of sales education programs that develop sales-trained graduates with the business skills required to succeed in the sales profession today. More than 50% of U.S. college graduates will work in sales (Sales Education Foundation, 2023c), yet fewer than 4% of more than 4,800 U.S. institutions offer sales programs at the…

With the growing entrepreneurial spirit and ease of selling items online, many people are turning to virtual marketplaces to earn extra income or, in some instances, build a career. This case focuses upon the development of a database to assist in inventory management for an online reselling business that has grown from an occasional hobby to a…

The recent popularity of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence chatbots presents both challenges and opportunities for incorporating this modern technology in the classroom. This paper introduces an activity that uses ChatGPT to help students practice their role playing sales skills. The benefits of using this AI chatbot for role play training…

Sales management students carry certain misconceptions about sales jobs, which often create confusion in their minds about the nature of the sales job- should they be customer-oriented or sales-oriented? To excel in the initial years of their careers as effective salespersons, students might emphasize sales-orientation or target achievement over…

The role-play is a valued experiential tool used by university sales programs to engage students and better prepare them for a potential career in sales. However, in-class role-play activities have the potential to create scheduling dilemmas. Mandatory, internal role-play competitions are proposed as a solution to these logistical issues while…

This qualitative case study utilizes the human capital theory to examine the influence of high impact career exploration and career-focused practices in a public, regional four-year institution. Literature shows that graduates who enter well-matched careers earn approximately 30 percent more than graduates who are not closely matched. In addition,…

Several studies show that while collegiate sales programs effectively prepare students for sales careers, there are various opportunities to improve. In this research, we look at how sales education impacts the career preparedness of recent 4-year college graduates. We focus specifically on the development of self-leadership and sales-related…

This research contributes to the growing literature on inclusive pedagogy toward creating a psychologically safe environment for learning. The authors build on the prior multi-disciplinary literature suggesting that stereotype threat exists in assessment tasks. An instrument is designed and implemented to investigate whether the presence of…

With an increased demand for educators to improve student engagement and knowledge retentions, this paper proposes an experiential learning project for students to receive and conduct one-on-one performance coaching. The sales coaching experiential project helps professional selling students improve their sales presentations and increase their…

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the impact of sales education on recent graduates' career preparedness and understand how sales programs might prepare students better for successful sales careers. We investigate the known competencies leading to sales success that were, or were not, adequately developed by their…