DSEF ACADEMIC FELLOWS PROVIDE TRAINING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
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f the hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs who join direct selling each year, a large percentage come into the industry with little or no sales experience or knowledge of how to run a business. While direct selling companies are widely known for the extensive business and personal development training they offer newcomers, third-party experts can deliver unparalleled teaching experiences to companies’ new or existing salesforces. DSEF Fellows bring a new level of expertise and a unique perspective to this important work. One of the benefits of being a DSA member is the ability to connect with academics through the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF), which currently works with nearly 250 university professors in such areas as business, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, ethics, and consumer studies. DSEF Fellows not only have decades of research and study in their respective fields, but also have a deep understanding of the direct selling business model. A number of individual direct selling companies have partnered with Fellows on internal research projects, participated in case studies that appear in leading marketing and entrepreneurship textbooks, and utilized independent Fellows’ research in communications with investors, boards, and key external audiences including media, policymakers, and other influencers. “When company executives get to know our Fellows at DSA events or through board meeting presentations, webinars, or workshops, they immediately recognize the value these academic
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experts bring to the table,” says DSEF Executive Director Gary Huggins. Huggins points to USANA Health Science’s collaboration with Dr. Stephanie Boyer, Professor of Marketing at Bryant University, as an example of how DSEF Fellows work with direct selling companies to help them meet their business objectives. Finding an Academic Fellow Lori Truman, Vice President of US Sales at USANA, was searching for a solution beyond her company’s internal training to help educate new distributors on the fundamentals of sales. Upon meeting Dr. Boyer at DSA’s Sales & Marketing Conference, she considered the idea of bringing Dr. Boyer in to speak to the field. “I was really intrigued by the topics she was speaking to and teaching as a professor, and how she had expanded into the social realm of the fundamentals of selling and how people buy,” says Truman. “That was what we were looking for: to educate our associates on how people buy, how to sell, and how to do it in today’s world, because it’s a little different and the world is becoming more digital and social. Stefanie had done so much work in this area, and we found a lot of benefit in that.” Difference from Internal Training USANA has an internal training program, covering sales, marketing, and social media, but with Dr. Boyer the company had an academic specializing in the field of marketing and someone who wrote a book
