Advancing Sales as a Profession
How top business schools are changing the face of sales.
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Advancing Sales as a Profession
How are top business schools like MIT Sloan, Harvard, and Wharton changing the face of sales?
This weekend I was a judge at the International MBA Sales Competition on the campus of MIT in Cambridge, MA. Students from top business schools including Harvard, MIT, Wharton, Tuck, Kellogg, Stanford and even London Business School competed for top prizes sponsored by Google, Gallup, SAP and SalesGravy.com. Acting as a buyer I spent the day listening to and judging the sales skills of individuals and teams who, working through complex sales cases, sold me on their solutions.
Just like the real world of sales competitors were forced to deal with difficult questions, unpredictable outcomes, unfriendly buyers and pressure to close the deal. As in any competition, there were winners and losers however, all of the students learned valuable lessons that will follow them as they become the next generation of business leaders. One of my fellow judges pointed out that even if these students never actually work in sales they will have an appreciation for the importance of the sales profession to the long-term success of a business.
But the International MBA Sales Competition has significance that reaches far beyond the walls of these elite business schools. Along with the National Collegiate Sales Competition, which is its undergraduate sister, the International MBA Sales Competition signifies the continued acknowledgement by academia that both the soft and hard skills used in selling are critical in business and worthy of the classroom. After being ignored and treated as the red-headed-stepchild for most of the last century, Sales is finally being recognized as a professional discipline. Today a growing number of universities are adding sales specific degree tracks to their business schools. And at MIT, an institution known for innovation and technology, the 2nd largest club on campus is the Sales Club. Seriously!
Now for those of us who make our living as salespeople or sales leaders it seems odd that business schools are just waking up to the fact that sales is a critical discipline in business. We know that in the business world there are only two groups of employees – those who sell and those who support sales. We know that being excellent in sales requires talent, discipline and a constant focus on developing and maintaining our skills. We also know that we are among the highest compensated employees in the business world. Yet sadly most of us learned what we know about sales through the school of hard knocks.
Advancing sales as a profession is among my top priorities. As one of those unfortunates who learned the hard knock way I am thrilled that business schools have begun investing in sales programs. University students getting a real education in sales prior to graduation is a huge step in the right direction – especially so at the MBA level. Even more promising is that fact that employers are beginning to take notice and are both aggressively recruiting sales students and investing in sales programs with time and money. Many of these programs now boast a “Who’s Who” of corporate sponsors.
My message for the students and faculty at these elite business schools is this: Never forget that Sales Professionals are the Elite Athletes of the Business World. Business leaders who understand this and place focus on recruiting, training, developing and nurturing top sales talent build world class, highly profitable companies.
On behalf of the team here at Sales Gravy I want to congratulate all of the International MBA Sales Competition winners including Fan Jin of MIT who won the $2000 SalesGravy.com award. Her performance was extraordinary. Fan is living proof that the future is bright for the sales profession and the best days are still ahead of us.
To learn more about the International MBA Sales Competition please visit www.SloanSalesCompetition.com. To learn more about the National Collegiate Sales Competition please visit www.coles.kennesaw.edu/ncsc/
This is Jeb Blount, the Sales Guy. If you have a sales question please send it to salesguy@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email.
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