DIRECTOR’S REPORT2020-21
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Welcome to the First Annual report of the University of Wyoming Center for Professional Selling. This year has been full of firsts! Last summer we launched our formal corporate partnership program. These partners included: Altria Group, California Casualty, Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Dell Technologies, Sherwin Williams, and Western Wyoming Beverages. In the Fall, we welcomed our first students into the newly approved Professional Selling major and Professional and Technical Selling minor. Additionally, we welcomed Molly Burchett, our new Assistant Professor in Sales, who has quickly become an invaluable member of our team. While past years have laid critical groundwork, this year we rapidly accelerated our activities and programs to deliver impactful high-value programs that capitalized on the synergies between what our team can do in the classroom alongside our corporate partners! From its start, the Center for Professional Selling was created to promote professional selling and sales management at the University of Wyoming by delivering innovative sales instruction, providing industry engagement opportunities, and conducting research that advances the field of sales. This report highlights some of the ways we have lived our mission this past year. It provides information in three main areas. First, it examines the student experience, both classroom experiences and student engagement outside of the classroom in selling competitions. Secondly, it provides data on the Center’s corporate partners and their engagement with students. Lastly, it highlights additional material on our sales programs and faculty. Together, this information demonstrates how the Center creates mutually beneficial collaborations that advance student learning while benefiting our partners, faculty and students. While this report serves as a snapshot that helps us celebrate what we have accomplished, it also provides insights to guide our future. At our core, we serve our students. The Center for Professional Selling does this by enhancing our students’ marketable skills in sales and sales leadership, strengthening corporate partnerships, and raising the stature of the College of Business in Wyoming. As we continue to grow and refine our offerings, we look forward to delivering value to our students, our corporate partners, and the University of Wyoming. Sincerely,
Chris Haller, MBA Timothy M. Miles Director – Center for Professional Selling
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CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL SELLING – DIRECTOR’S REPORT
STUDENT SUCCESS PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM
2020
2021
Number of students in UW sales classes
111
180
Number of students taking more than one sales class
7
37
24
48
1
23
100%
75%
Number of students in the Sales Major/Minor/Concentration Number of graduating sales students Percentage of sales students employed at graduation
STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS “The Center for Professional Selling has provided me with a great network of professional and personal connections and numerous opportunities to develop my selling skills. I am extremely thankful for the career fairs, networking lunches, guest speakers, and sales competitions. These were a great way to get involved and an amazing way to gain experience and learn outside of the classroom. All the people involved with the Center, both faculty members and corporate partners, are a great resource and always provide valuable insight and feedback. Due to their incredible knowledge and constant support, I secured a full-time job with Dell Technologies, and I am well-prepared for my sales career. I am confident that any business major student would benefit tremendously from engaging with the Center for Professional Selling.” — ANASTASIA RIABOVA, B.S. ‘21
“I am very grateful for my time in the Ph.D. program, and the opportunity to work with the Center for Professional Selling, the sales faculty, and sales students. Over the last four years and under the tutelage of world-class scholars, I learned how to conduct sales-focused research and teach selling concepts effectively. Through the Center for Professional Selling, I was also able to collaborate with corporate partners, build relationships, watch students obtain meaningful employment, and contribute to the world in a positive way. Because of these experiences, I feel that UW has prepared me to enter my new role as an Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University. I know that the Ph.D. program and the Center for Professional Selling are going to continue to change the lives of participating students and I am glad to be affiliated with them.” — RHETT EPLER , PH.D. ‘21
CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL SELLING – DIRECTOR’S REPORT
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SELLING COMPETITIONS SALES COMPETITION SUMMARY In 2020-21 we saw a true increase of our participation and performance in student selling competitions with over forty students refining and testing their skills in a selling competition. On campus, the Center for Professional Selling conducted two selling competitions, each featuring one of our top corporate partners. In the Fall, sophomore Sean Donovan won the Consolidated Electrical Distributors Sales Challenge. In the spring, Anastasia Riabova took the top spot in the Sherwin Williams Sales Challenge. In addition to these two UW competitions, the Center sponsored student teams that participated in three national selling competitions. In the Fall, a team of three UW students competed in the Indiana University National Team Selling Competition. In the Spring, three UW sales students participated in the National Shore Sales Challenge where senior Bethany Raver made it through three rounds of competition to place in the top third of student competitors. Two UW students competed at the University of Toledo Invitational Sales Competition, where sophomore Sean Donovan placed second overall in the Freshman/Sophomore Division.
SALES COMPETITIONS ON-CAMPUS Number of on-campus selling competitions Number of student competitors Award money dispersed
4
2021 2
NATIONAL
2021
Number of national competitions with UW participation
3
40
Number of UW sales student competitors
9
$3,200
Number of selling role-play opportunities completed by UW students
29
CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL SELLING – DIRECTOR’S REPORT
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS $10,000 PARTNERS
$5,000 PARTNERS
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP SUCCESS Number of corporate partners
2021 6
Dollars generated from corporate partners
$40,000
Number of sales classroom visits/interactions
18
Number of selling role-plays judged by corporate partners
81
Number of sales career fairs and events
4
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT – WESTERN WYOMING BEVERAGES Sean Valentine, President of Western Wyoming Beverages in Rock Springs, WY, says his team wants to provide UW sales students real-life selling experiences. These opportunities will help them prepare for their first careers after UW, learn how to understand and sell with data, and make data-based decisions on what to sell. Another of his goals working with the UW program is internally focused, as he builds rapport and credibility with the students to recruit them down the line to work for the company as account managers. “We have many UW alumni on our team. We all feel an immense pride in being able to give back some of our time and facilitate growth for the University of Wyoming in hopes that preparing students today will help foster and grow Wyoming’s economy in the future;” he says. “It is incredible to see the growth of the Center for Professional Selling, the partners they have been able to bring on in a short amount of time and the growth in the sales students from one semester to the next.” — SEAN VALENTINE, B.S. ’12, M.B.A. ‘13
CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL SELLING – DIRECTOR’S REPORT
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CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT The Center for Professional Selling and the University of Wyoming Ethics Club recently collaborated to provide a unique selling experience for UW students majoring in Professional Selling by raising funds for local nonprofits. For the past three years, the Ethics Club has hosted an event called SparkTank in which it selects four non-profits to receive mission-critical funding. This year, with the help of the sales students, the Ethics Club raised a total of $57,500 for Climb Wyoming, Laramie Foster Closet, Laramie Soup Kitchen, and Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. “This year we had the unique opportunity to partner with students pursuing our new Professional Selling major who, as part of their experiential learning capstone project, raised a large portion of the funds the Ethics Club gave to the organizations listed above,” says Kent Noble, the Bill Daniels Chair of Business Ethics. Professional Selling majors complete their degree in the Sales Seminar class taught by Molly Burchett, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Sales. The key objectives of this course are to provide real-life selling experiences where students can learn to manage a pipeline of prospective customers while effectively utilizing sales enablement technologies. Fundraising for SparkTank enabled students to practice, refine and master these important selling skills. In total, 27 sales students logged more than 244 emails, called on 294 individuals and businesses, and held 82 meetings raising a total of $20,910 from 80 different individuals and businesses. “The professionalism and effectiveness of our students involved in this project makes me proud. I look forward to continuing this impactful collaboration and building upon its success with the Sales Seminar class next spring”, says Dr. Burchett. With the generous support of Hal Kraus (UW 1962), top sales performers received award recognition. This year our sales leaders included Bethany Raver who achieved the most revenue generation and number of donors, Jonathan Hagar who was the second highest revenue generator, and Jacob Pinson who was second highest in the number of donors contributing to SparkTank. “I will carry this class with me forever. It has helped me develop a passion for sales and it has provided me with a sense of maturity and confidence that I am ready to utilize in my professional career. The Sales Seminar course gave me a glimpse of raw anxiety with cold calling and using a real Customer Relationship Management platform. I gained experience in pre-call planning, generating leads, logging my activity, and working with others and a sales mentor to advance my skillset” says Jonathan Hagar, Senior Professional Selling major.
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CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL SELLING – DIRECTOR’S REPORT
PROGRAM & FACULTY PROGRAM AND FACULTY SUCCESS
2020
2021
Number of sales class taught
7
9
Number of unique sales classes offered
3
5
Number of sales related academic publications and presentations
2
6
Number of faculty teaching awards
1
3
RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT Mark Leach, the Mendicino Family Chair in Sales and Salesmanship, in a collaboration with Rhett Epler, UW’s first doctoral student specializing in sales research, published research examining effective sales strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores the concept of bricolage and finds that salesperson bricoleurs have been particularly good at navigating the disruptive sales environment brought on by the pandemic. Sales bricoleurs have the ability to pivot and effectively utilize available resources, even when these resources are rapidly changing. While bricolage was found to improve sales performance unilaterally during the pandemic, it was more beneficial for salespeople in highly disruptive selling situations. Implications for selling firms and sales managers include knowing how and when to best support and encourage sales bricoleurs and a more entrepreneurial approach to selling. The full article can be found in volume 95 of the Industrial Marketing Management journal.
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Molly Burchett, our new sales faculty, has hit the ground running by winning two teaching awards in her first year at UW. She is the 2020-21 recipient of the College of Business Excellence in Teaching Award, and she was honored by the University of Wyoming Ethics Club as the recipient of the Campus Being a Different Award. Professor Burchett joined the faculty in Management and Marketing in June of 2020 and has been responsible for providing thought leadership in the area of selling and sales strategy. She teaches Professional and Technical Selling and the Sales Seminar classes. Professor Burchett received a B.A. (2009) degree in Business Administration from Transylvania University and both a M.A. (2014) degree in Communication and a Ph.D. (2020) degree in Marketing from the University of Kentucky. Professor Burchett formally worked in manufacturing sales and financial services sales, where she served in sales representative, sales manager, sales training, and strategic development roles. Her research focuses broadly on behavioralbased sales strategy, selling to the government, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in sales.
CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL SELLING – DIRECTOR’S REPORT
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1000 E. University Ave. | Laramie, WY 82071 salesctr@uwyo.edu | (307) 766-415