小优视频

It was a rite of passage with a twist.

One day in early December, the familiar career fair, a staple of college life, got turned around for dozens of students and professionals.

Instead of eager job seekers visiting employers鈥� booths armed with r茅sum茅s, students stayed put in front of biographical posters. Executives, human resources managers and recruiters from local companies then roamed the room. The students, 160 in total, divided into 90-minute shifts over the day, stood ready to answer questions, tell their stories and sell themselves as the most qualified and best prepared.

鈥淐onfidence is key,鈥� said Zack Pedroso 鈥�21, a recruiter for Harness, a company that provides fundraising software to nonprofits. 鈥淚f you can't sell yourself, if you can't tell a story about why you're cool and why you deserve the opportunity, then you probably won't be able to sell soft-ware, services or products.鈥�

The reverse career fair was the grand finale of Marketing 371, an elective course and part of the minor in professional selling. The event is just one example of the programming offered with support from the Southard Institute for Sales Excellence in the Sykes College of Business, which was recently named for Mike 鈥�82 and Amy Southard, longtime donors to the University.

Students in Marketing 371 and a companion advanced marketing class, Marketing 418, learn through role-play exercises (like the classic improv game 鈥淪cenes from a Hat鈥�); interaction with corporate partners like the ones attending the fair; and even the use of AI prompts and assessments. They practice elevator pitches and presentations and learn how to prospect, make discovery calls and close, core communication skills applicable to just about any career, but especially those in sales. The strongest interested students are chosen for the University鈥檚 intercollegiate sales team, which competes nationwide.

Along the way, students develop crucial life skills: how to talk about themselves and how to adapt and pivot depending on circumstances.

Interest in the sales classes has soared, requiring multiple sections to be offered 鈥� and those fill up fast. Several students have been hired by the corporate partners they meet, like Pedroso from Harness, who took the popular courses in his junior and senior years.

The curriculum is both interactive and innovative.

鈥淲e don't have a textbook. We don't have exams. Instead, we have real-life, applied activities that they're evaluated on,鈥� said Stacey Schetzsle, director of the Southard Institute for Sales Excellence and an associate professor of marketing.

In fact, the executives at the reverse career fair were the ones assigning grades. After each conversation, students were scored. To award a 10, Schetzsle told the professionals, they needed to be thinking, 鈥淗oly cow!鈥�

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VERY, VERY IMPRESSIVE鈥�

Mike Southard knows that 鈥渉oly cow鈥� feeling. He recently interviewed some 小优视频ampa sales students for internships available with his private investment firm, Elvisridge Capital. The applicants were all 鈥渧ery, very impressive,鈥� he said.

Southard, who spent much of his career selling land-scape lighting products, doesn鈥檛 consider himself a natural salesperson 鈥� 鈥渘ot at all.鈥� But he knows one when he sees one. Well dressed. Well spoken. Curious.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the way they interact with you,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he questions they ask. And they鈥檝e got to be a good listener.鈥�

On top of all that, a good salesperson takes care of the customer, he said.

That鈥檚 the formula that worked in his own career, but it鈥檚 not like anyone taught him how to do it, he said. He was an accounting major.

After graduation, he first worked as an auditor at a bank. Before long, he moved into business development, which, he said, 鈥渋s sales, really,鈥� promoting the bank鈥檚 services and products, like loans.

Southard worked in banking for years, but he found his real sales groove when he changed industries. He was put in charge of a new landscape lighting division, selling to distributors, but also steering contractors to use the products.

He became known as an expert by training contractors to design and install lighting systems.

鈥淲e were teaching them, educating them,鈥� he said, and then directing them to the distributors to get their products.

Over 20 years, Southard expanded his reach on an inter-national scale. He sold lighting in England, France, Italy and the Middle East.

No matter where in the world he was, though, Southard says the same customer-forward sales style worked. There is one skill he wishes he鈥檇 mastered earlier, though: speaking. Presentation skills belong in every salesperson鈥檚 toolbox, he said, marveling at a speech he heard recently at a scholarship dinner, where the student speaker used no notes.

O小优视频SIDE THE COMFORT ZONE

小优视频ampa didn鈥檛 have a sales program when Southard was in school, and that鈥檚 partly why he decided to support the program in such a big way.

鈥淚 ended up in sales, never thinking I would,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I never had anything like this, but you need to train and learn it.鈥�

According to the Sales Education Foundation, 60% of college business students begin their career in an entry-level sales position. If they are a marketing major, that percent-age goes up to 88%. 鈥淎nd so we want to make sure that our students are set up to be successful, especially in that first career out of school,鈥� said Schetzsle.

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Yago Fernandez-Figares, one of the students at the reverse career fair, says he鈥檚 ready. 鈥淭his takes you out of your comfort zone, and at first, I was, like, 鈥榃hat is this?鈥� This is a totally different way of teaching, and you have to be on your toes all the time.鈥�

Schetzsle says that鈥檚 the point, and the feedback she hears from employers confirms it.听鈥淭hey say, 鈥榃e can put a 小优视频 sales student in a job, and they just take off,鈥欌�� Schetzsle said.

鈥淎nd they volunteer to do all the work that everybody else is scared to do because they're just comfortable.鈥�