Sales & Marketing Management - January/February 2009 - (Page 10) cover story A problem of perception The irony, of course, is that when it’s actually time for them to enter the workforce, a good chunk of those b-school graduates will find themselves in (drum roll, please) sales jobs. “What we have is a bit of a crisis in selling,” says Neil Rackham, founder of the Huthwaite sales performance consultancy and a member of the USEF’s governance board. “There are roughly 120 university marketing courses for every course in sales. It’s roughly 60 sales jobs for every marketing job.” “It still amazes me to see the lack of solid sales training preparation done both in college and on the job,” agrees fellow board member Mary Delaney, president of Personified (a CareerBuilder-owned outsourcing and consulting firm). “There are more sales opportunities than any other job type, but sales is the least taught in school. This doesn’t make sense.” Alas, pinpointing the reasons sales has gotten such short shrift from academia doesn’t require a whole lot of sleuthing. “Movies and other types of media typically paint sales as a ‘class- USEF governance board members strike a pose. Standing less’ and cutthroat job,” says Delaney. “The (l-r): Jack Pickard, Daniel Strunk, Jason Jordan and Jeanne stigma exists still with our parents, high school Frawley. Seated: Mary Delaney and Howard Stevens. counselors and college professors. Students today, therefore, receive little positive exposure to the the road to academic acceptance. “It’s considered a option of a sales career.” trade, and that’s a big, big issue,” Stevens says. “In genComplicating matters is the overbroad nature of the eral, universities need a high percentage of Ph.Ds—and term itself. As Rackham rightly points out, sales covers in this country, there are no Ph.Ds in sales.” everything from the sleazy character who’s trying to sell “Until fairly recently, there wasn’t really what you you a bad used car to a high-level corporate sales execcould call a systematic science of sales,” adds Rackham. utive. “For example, the Procter & “There wasn’t a body of knowledge that was objective Gamble sales executive who runs and observable. We understand it now, as well as we the Wal-Mart account is at board understand marketing. But very few of the people who level, and is effectively running a make the policy decisions in business schools were ever very large, very complex business,” themselves given any sales education. The USEF at he says. “This word ‘sales’ covers “Consequently, they tend to still have a stereotype of a Glance altogether too much, and we tend to selling that’s badly out of date. They still think selling is The University Sales associate it with the low end.” largely about persuasion, when all that we know from Education Foundation Then there’s the equally deleteri- research in the last 20 years is that selling is much more Founded: 2007 ous notion of sales being more art about problem-solving—about understanding cusHeadquarters: Dayton, OH than science—which is to say, tomers in-depth.” Verified University unteachable.“We haven’t gotten over And with the Internet making it easier than ever for Sales Programs (U.S.): 26 the superstition that sales is some- prospects to research your company’s products and servthing people are born to,” Rackham ices, Stevens says the continued viability of sales may well notes. “Selling actually is something that requires the depend on the sort of professionalization he advocates. same sort of education you have in any other profession. “Companies can’t compete successfully on quality, on We wouldn’t ever say that someone is born to be an price and so forth,” he explains.“Everybody has the same accountant or born to be a physicist.” supplies. Total Quality Management is teaching us the Nor is that the end of the obstacles sales has faced on same production methods. Manufacturing and raw photo by Roger Hagadone group photo by Steve Greiner 10 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 www.salesandmarketing.com www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com
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