Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare, and identify both similarities and differences in, affordances for vocational learning in two contrasting education systems, for construction worker and shop salesperson apprentices, in Swedish contexts. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through interviews and observations in two…

Undergraduate sales education is somewhat unique in that it prepares students for a career which functions mostly outside of traditional corporate management structures. Concurrently, the demand for well-qualified salespeople has intensified partly due to high turnover. This article contends that there may be a disconnection between student…

Sales education is on the rise and for good reason. Statistics say that sales jobs will continue to grow at a rapid rate over the next few years. Many universities are preparing their students to start their careers in the professional selling function through the inclusion of sales education in their business curriculum. Yet little research…

Over the past five decades, several studies have shown that students' reticence toward choosing a sales career has remained constant. Their lack of awareness and misconceptions regarding a sales job are two reasons behind this negative perception and lack of students' "work readiness." Using a conceptual model on student intention to…

More universities are incorporating sales content into their curriculums, and although the introductory courses in professional sales have much common ground and guidance from numerous professional selling texts, instructors teaching the advanced selling course lack the guidance provided by common academic tools and materials. The resulting…

Millions of people buy and sell homes each year. And because these transactions are often complex, many home buyers and sellers turn to workers who can help with the search or the sale--or both. From preparing to put a home on the market to filing the sales documents, many workers are involved in helping a home change hands. Other key industries…

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…

Spurred by recent writings regarding statistical pragmatism, we propose a simple, practical approach to introducing students to a new style of statistical thinking that models nature through the lens of data-generating processes, not populations. (Contains 5 figures.)

For companies to stay competitive, they must continually bring new products and services to the marketplace. One strategy organizations can use to support this requirement is to provide their sales force with training that enables revenue generation. The types of instructional methods and media used to deploy the training can have an impact on the…

This research measures perceptual differences between sales and sales careers among business students studying in the United States, Switzerland, and Turkey. Earlier studies indicate that selling and a sales career are not viewed favorably by students in the United States and several other countries. This study expands on prior studies by…

Sales education programs are undergoing rapid growth and dynamic change as more business and other undergraduate students pursue sales jobs as desirable career entry points. The number of collegiate sales programs has grown dramatically over the past decade, and sales educators today are increasingly focused on teaching experientially. That is,…

Reflective learning has long been studied in many disciplines. A primary way that reflective learning has been taught is through journaling. With the advent of e-learning, journaling has moved to the Web in the form of blogs. The current paper reviews the current state of journaling and blogging research with specific recommendations for marketing…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use teaching and learning units specially devised for development of self-competencies and social competencies in the retail sector to explore how learners assess these units in relation to acceptance, quality and self-assessment of improvement in their own performance. Design/methodology/approach: The…

The importance of sales management as an interface between a company and its customers is widely recognized. However, the teaching of strategic sales management has not received enough attention in marketing education literature. This study analyzes an experiential client-based method for teaching a strategic sales management course. The authors…

Recruiters seek candidates with certain business skills that are not developed in the typical lecture-based classroom. Instead, active-learning techniques have been shown to be effective in honing these skills. One skill that is particularly important in sales careers is the ability to make a powerful and effective presentation. To help students…