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WHAT’S INSIDE

2.1 HR Chally Sales

Assessment

Valuable new benefit exclusively

for Sales Program Advisory

Council members.

3.1 Fall Sales Program

Top 10

4.1 Spring 2009 NCSC

5.1 Sales Teamwork

6.0 The Professional Sales

Major

6.1 Where Are They Now?

Kristen Mitchell

Sam Jabado

7.1 The Deviant Sales

Rep

8.1 Fall Competition and

Sales Student Speed-

dating

THE PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Director’s Update

Looking back, each semester seems to just fly by. There were 9 sales program classes with over 600 students, taught by three full-time faculty members and one adjunct professor. In February at the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) we placed 9th overall as a team and Kristen Weeks came in fourth nationally. The articles on page 4 and 5 are a synopsis of impressions from the 10 students who attended the event and a story about teamwork. You can find each student’s entire report on Facebook in the FSU Sales Program Top 10 group page.

At the May graduation ceremony, dozens of new sales professionals were saying goodbye and stepping into their next great adventure. Even in the current business climate, our sales students were highly recruited and many received multiple job offers. Former students continue to do well in the business world and you can read about two recent graduates on page 6.

Besides another great showing at NCSC, this semester is notable for several accomplishments. The sales program was given full status as an academic major. See the article on page 5 for a description of the course content. The HR Chally Group partnered with the FSU Sales Program to provide access to their University Assessment Program. All students who take a sales course are assessed for their suitability for various sales related roles to determine the role that gives the student the highest potential for success. Read more about the significant benefits to our Advisory Council members from the partnership with Chally on page 2. Dr. Bonney and Dr. Plouffe published articles in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and in the journal of Industrial Marketing Management, and both received First Year Professor Research Funding Awards.

During the last week of the Spring semester, our Fall Top 10 Sales Students were selected. Read the page 3 article to learn more about this amazing group of students. - Pat Pallentino

SUMMER 2009

Mark your calendar for these upcoming events:

September 24, Seminole Futures

October 14, Sales Program competition and Advisory Council Meeting

November 5-7 RBI National Sales Competition.

THE PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! SUMMER 2009

Exclusively for Advisory Council Members - Interview ONLY the top candidates for your position - save time, money and reduce turnover!

Through a partnership with the HR Chally Group and the University Sales Education Foundation, the skills required for success by an individual company’s sales force can be uniquely identified in graduating FSU Sales Majors. This major benefit offered exclusively to Sales Program Advisory Council members will reduce recruitment time and insure lower turnover rates and higher success rates.

The HR Chally Group is a talent management, leadership development, and sales improvement corporation providing personnel assessment and research services to more than 2,500 customers in 35 countries for over 33 years. Chally is recognized as an international technology leader in scientific assessment and prediction for selection, job alignment and leadership development, and for management assessment.

The University Sales Education Foundation has partnered with HR Chally to provide the FSU College of Business Sales Program with a practical career aid for its sales majors. The information collected through the Chally assessment given to every sales major will help them identify the type of sales that will be most natural for each individual. Selling skills, as with any other skills, are complex, i.e., they are made up of multiple components. Most sell-ing skills are actually comprised of 2 or 3 component factors (or facts, for short). For example, the skill of closing requires timing and the ability to test buyer readiness with trial closes, among other things. To be of greatest assistance, the Chally report focuses on explaining the weaker factors so managers will understand areas for improvement. For example, a score of 60%, while well above average, is not outstanding. The written explanation given in each report highlights the deficiency blocking the candidate’s fuller potential. In addition to highlighting the weaker factors in a candidate’s skills, Chally provides a “coaching tip.” Coaching tips are suggestions for training, supervising, or other techniques that have been found to be most useful for bolstering the weakness or deficiency. The

sales program faculty will review these tips to help each sales student improve their success potential.

While there are common skills needed to do a job well, individuals are still unique in their overall makeup. Recognizing a candidate’s unique motivational needs is difficult to determine, but the most useful tool a sales manager has. The Chally report also provides an accurate description of the major motivational drives and restrictions, i.e., the candidate’s “hot” and “cold” buttons, along with suggestions on how to motivate this unique candidate.

The six major skills areas defined by the Chally assessment are:

! New Business Development (Hunter): This position is usually responsible for bringing in new business from larger accounts.

! Account Management (Farmer): This position is responsible for optimizing sales in an existing set of major accounts.

! Indirect Sales (Distribution Sales): This position sells to end-users through a distribution network, agents, value added resellers or manufacturer’s reps.

! Consultative Sales (For “Systems”): This position covers a territory, or market segment, and sells the full array of its business unit’s product offerings.

! Relationship Sales (For Stand-Alone Products): This position covers a geographic territory and sells the full array of its business unit’s product offerings.

! System Specialist (Subject Matter Specialist): This position is responsible for selling a specific system and is not usually bound by territorial constraints.

At the fall 2009 Sales Program Advisory Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 14th, a special overview presentation will be given to council members. Contact HR Chally, at 937-259-1200 or visit www.chally.com for more information about Chally assessment.

Sales Program Advisory Council members may contact Pat Pallentino for a sample student assessment.

REDUCE RECRUITMENT TIME AND LOWER OVERALL TURNOVER WITH NEW

ADVISORY COUNCIL BENEFIT

THE PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! SUMMER 2009

Between the Fall of 2008 and the Spring of 2009 over 1,000 students attended a course in the Professional Sales major. From the approximately 60 students in the Spring 2009 Advanced Sales class, ten students were chosen to represent the sales program, the College of Business and the Florida State University. Students were selected for their demonstrated sales skills and overall academic achievement. These ten students will compete in sales role plays and two will be chosen to attend the National Sales Competition at Wayne Paterson University in New Jersey in November of 2009. The FSU competition will take place during the Fall Sales Advisory Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday October 14th. Advisory Council members will make the final selection and will also have the opportunity to meet all sales program students at one of several networking events.

The Fall Top 10 Sales Students are:

• Jonathan Colbert will graduate in the Fall of 2009 with a BS in Marketing majoring in Professional Sales. Jonathan has worked as the marketing director for a local apartment complex, with UPS and as a server in local restaurants. While at Pensacola Junior College he worked at Wal-Mart where he was employee of the month. Jonathan’s name appears consistently on the Dean’s list.

• CJ Curtsinger will graduate in the Fall of 2009 with a BS in Marketing majoring in Professional Sales. CJ graduated from Lake Sumter Community College with an AA in Biology. For the past four years he has been a team driver for the Patriot Racing Alcohol Dragster racing team. As the team marketing backbone, he has arranged sponsorships to support the team’s racing efforts. CJ is a knowledgeable engine mechanic who advised do-it-yourself and commercial mechanics as a sales associate with Advance Auto Parts.

• Melissa Hodge will graduate in May of 2010 with a BS in Marketing, majoring in Professional Sales and a minor in Communications. Melissa is active in Greek life on campus, holding several leadership positions and is currently vice-president of Delta Gamma Sorority. She has also worked for the past three years as the catering assistant for Magenta Catering.

• Joseph Leach will graduate in May of 2010 with a BS in Marketing majoring in Professional Sales

and a minor in Communications. In addition to a consistent appearance on the Dean’s list, Joe has worked summers for the Southwestern Company where he won a top sales producer award. Joe is a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and Co-Captain of the Kappa Sigma 5K team.

• Andrea Posternack will graduate in May 2010 with a BS in Marketing majoring in Professional Sales. With an above 3.7 GPA, Andrea is consistently on the Dean’s and President’s lists. Andrea has had several marking and sales related internships where she both developed and executed marketing plans in a business-to-business environment.

• Ana Quintero will graduate in December 2009 with a BS in Marketing, with majors in Marketing, Professional Sales and Management. With an above 3.75 GPA, Ana is a member of both Phi Eta Sigma and Golden Key International Honor Societies. During an internship with Compania Unida De Perfumeria Francesa, S.A. Ana learned the ropes of managing the point-of-sales and magazine advertisements for a line of fragrances and cosmetics for the Caribbean and Latin America.

• Matt Schaefer will graduate in December 2009 with a BS in Marketing with a major in Marketing and a minor in Communications. Matt’s internship with Red Hills Releasing provided him with experience in viral and social networking as he promoted “Indy” films to both campus and local theaters. This summer he is working as an intern with Fry Hammond Barr as an account executive.

• Melissa Smith will graduate in August of 2010 with a BS in Marketing, majoring in Professional Sales. With her above 3.7 GPA, she has been on the Dean’s list for six consecutive semesters. Melissa works as an intern for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network where she has earned licenses in life, and health insurance and variable annuities. She was noted as a top-team performer for the Spring of 2009. Melissa is a member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society and a volunteer for Special Olympics.

• Patrick Weston will graduate in December 2009 with a BS in Marketing, after which he will pursue a degree in law.

Fall 2009 Sales Program Ambassadors

THE PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! SUMMER 2009

• MaryEllen White will graduate with dual BS degrees in Marketing, majoring in Professional Sales and Exercise Science. Her above 3.7 GPA has meant five consecutive Dean’s list appearances and a “Best in Class Sales” Scholarship awarded by Frito Lay. MaryEllen has a variety of experiences in both the marketing/sales and exercise science environments. She provides personal training services to a variety of clients at Gold’s Gym, has interned at the Florida House of Representatives, and as an event planner for a local company. In addition she has been a marketing intern for both the Florida Marlins and the Tallahassee Titans. MaryEllen is a member of Chi Omega Sorority, College of Business Women in Business, the College of Business Student Leadership Council and works as a volunteer for the Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities.

REPORT FROM SPRING NCSC

Our Spring Sales Program Top 10 all attended NCSC and here are some comments from their individual reports. You can read each students summary of the entire weekend on Facebook under the FSU Sales Program Top 10 group discussion page.

FROM EVAN SERETAN...

Wednesday: When we arrived in Georgia, I participated in a golf tournament for NCSC. I was paired with Matt, Barry from Liberty Mutual, and Chris from AT&T. Our team performed quite well as we finished 3 strokes

under par. We finished up our day with a big steak and some much needed sleep.

Thursday: This was the day in which the competition began. Kristen and Kailee competed, and moved forth to the next rounds. The rest of the team met with all the employers who came to sponsor the event. Our team was taken to dinner by Standard Register and our professionalism and knowledge of sales wowed the entire Standard Register staff.

FROM HANNAH SYNDER...

Dinner with Standard Register on Thursday night was quite an experience. The 9 of us represented FSU with style and class. We all went back that night and fulfilled our role as “the team behind the team” and brainstormed the next 2 role plays in groups of 4. I think my group had some pretty dynamite ideas and wrapped up in an hour. It was exciting to play a part in the role playing festivities. The rest was up to the 2 K’s who never seemed to let the stress get to them all weekend. Friday night we did some team bowling. That was nice, even though I think I bowled a solid 50? I was much better at shooting bad guys in the virtual war game. We found out that night that Kristen made the next round and we were very excited!

FROM AMANDA ERPENBECK...

Friday: We went back to the competition. Kailee was in the wild card round in the morning. Unfortunately, she did not continue, but did a great job. She truly is a brilliant girl. Kristen continued to rock! Every person who watched her roll plays would say, this girl was going to win. She was amazing. We introduced the employers to the sales program. They were very impressed by the great things our sponsors and faculty have put together. It gave us an opportunity for them to come to us. That night, we went to dinner at Chili's and went bowling as a team. UCF was suppose to bowl against us, but decided not to because we were so good. Kailee was the start of the team, but Evan was a fantastic coach. Kristen, Dr. Plouffe, Dr. Bonney and Professor Pallentino, along with Mike, Amelia, and Jeff, had to leave early to go over the next roll play. Kristen was going to the next round! We had a great night! It was a great opportunity to meet with more employers and continue the great journey of our future.

FROM MICHAEL SOGLUIZZO...

That night we went to KSU for the closing ceremonies. A few of us went early with Professor Pallentino to reserve a table. Mr. Pallentino sweet talked a food service worker into reserving our tables. We clearly have been learning

Leff, Chris,Kaliee, Kristen, Pat

Fall 2009 Sales Program Ambassadors (con’t)

THE PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! SUMMER 2009

under an amazing salesman. Amanda was stalked by the camera crew. The majority of the video featured her. Evan was in one clip. He looked like he knew what he was talking about, but don't be fooled. Dr. Bonney continued throwing out Leff-isms. I traded my shrimp for steak. Jeff interrupted the "not-winners" speech by trying to cut his cookie with a spoon. Evan's teeth turned blue. The top-4 was the exact opposite of what I thought it would be. After the dinner we went out to the party hosted by Standard Register. Jeff and Amanda had a 1-2 finish, but I'll let them tell you more about that. The team and coaches got close. It's rather incredible how close we all got over the last several days.

FROM AMELIA MILLER...

Sat-The day we were all waiting for. We all sat in the conference room in support of Kristen who did a great job as expected. After a very nice and long dinner we all went to Sidelines for some team celebration. Needless to say we represented FSU well, Jeff and Amanda took first and second place in the elevator speech competition. After getting back to the hotel, we all met in Jeff and Michael’s room but I decided it was time to go to bed.

Sales Teamwork

All ten of our Spring “Top 10” competitive selling class get to attend the NCSC even though only two compete. One of the sales program’s teaching objectives is that professional sales is a team sport so our NCSC strategy is that the two competitors only concentrate on the upcoming round and the rest of the team plan how to make the next sales call. This includes what kind of attention getting technique to use, what are the possible needs of this prospect and what are the possible objections.

The entire team supported our two contestants but two went a little above and beyond. The event started with rounds one and two on Thursday and Friday. Friday night is the traditional fun night at a local bowling/game establishment. The event is a great place to meet other students and to socialize with recruiters. The entire team looked forward to the stress relief. At 9 PM when our student, Kristen Weeks was announced as a semifinalist and going into the next round, Jeff Taccetta and Michael Sogluizzo did not hesitate. They had worked on the upcoming situation, so immediately left with Kristen and our faculty to plan the next day’s sales call, sacrificing their fun and time to mingle with recruiters. This definitely is one of the reasons, Kristen won this round and got to the final four.

Jeff Taccetta and Michael Sogluizzo at US Play

Matt Rosenfeld and Laura Brown at the

Standard Register “After Party” Party

INVESTOR NEWSLETTER ISSUE N°3"THE PROFESSIONAL SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! SUMMER 2009

The Professional Sales Major

As with all FSU College of Business majors, the Professional Sales major requires a minimum 2.9 GPA. The full listing of course requirements to complete the major can be found in the FSU Bulletin which include lower level prerequisites in economics, statistics and accounting, general business prerequisites in law, business communications and basic marketing. The courses focusing on sales include, Professional Selling, Advanced Sales Techniques, Sales Management, Competitive Selling, Strategic Account Management and a sales related internship. Students completing the program receive a Bachelor of Science in Marketing with a major in Professional Sales noted on their record.

Where Are They Now?Kristen Mitchell (NCSC 2007)Location: New York City

Since graduation in 2007, I have worked for two great companies in two very different industries. In July of 2007, my corporate life began at EMC, a world class Information Technology Company located in Franklin, Massachusetts. !My first task was the transitioning process from warm sunny Florida weather and the college campus scene to snowy days, frigid weather and long hours in a new environment. I wouldn’t have changed my decision for the world. The idea of starting my career in the corporate world was exciting, invigorating and challenged every part of me. !Nervous? !Sure I was, but I couldn’t wait to get started and learn as much as possible.

My first position at EMC was as a Sales Associate. This position allowed me to attend weekly training; take tests about the IT industry and the technologies we sold; and learn to further develop my skills as a young sales professional through cold calling, team presentations, and individual presentations. I was in this position for 9 months before receiving my first promotion as a Team Leader and soon after was named an Inside Sales Representative/Account Manager.

I was at EMC for almost two years before a major opportunity presented itself with the Marriott Corporation and its newest brand “EDITION. “ When I started at EMC and while I was there, I never thought that I would be making a decision to move to another company. Needless to say, it was a very difficult decision to make moving from a company that I enjoyed working for in a job I really liked, but my background was in hospitality and it’s a field I have always been passionate about. After several discussions, I knew it was the right move for me. So I accepted the job as Senior Assistant to the Vice President and Managing Director of EDITION Hotels, a new boutique hotel brand being developed by Marriott and Ian Schrager, and packed my bags and moved to New York City. !

Since starting work at EDITION, every day seems like a new day. !I have loved every second of being a part of the energy that is generated with the launch of a new brand and to be part of the Marriott family. I really can’t believe how much of a family it feels like. Currently the areas my job involves are market research, finance/accounting, meeting planning, purchasing, assisting the Vice President and Managing Director of the Brand, and

soon I will have the opportunity to travel globally to be part of the new hotel opening process. The first location I will be visiting depends on which hotel is ready first, Waikiki, Istanbul, or Barcelona.

Sam Jabado (2003)Location: Easton, PA

I'm currently living in Easton, PA. Just after graduation in 2003, I tried pretty hard to find a job in FL but the opportunities to start a career where my parents live in Melbourne, FL were pretty slim so I decided to move back to my home state of NJ to try to carve out a job and a life for myself.

Needing any job to live, I decided to go back to work selling shoes at Nordstrom, which was the best decision I made. I met my future wife working there, and then one day when I decided to come to work early to get some extra sales I ended up selling to the president of corporate services at American Express. As they say, the rest is history as I'm now a manager of business development (spiffy name for a salesperson) at American Express. I recently won President's Club for my efforts in 2008 as things have been going well. I've certainly become pretty good at the consultative selling/relationship building thing. You know, just basically understanding how each customer ticks and how to win over the right internal influencers and really digging deep down to fully understand the client's emotional needs. Selling is certainly an interesting science as well as an art.

I've enjoyed sales and hope to see where it all can take me. Will I continue on at Amex trying to climb the ladder here, or change to a smaller organization where my efforts can have a major impact, or will I change gears all together and attend law school? Who knows. All I know is that I've earned myself a nice mortgage so whatever I do, it will always involve selling and earning a good living somehow. As one business owner once told me, we all work on commission regardless of what we're doing in life.

THE SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! FALL 2008

Even though I have been out of a sales management role for close to 6 years, I can still see

the faces of the reps that were always pushing the company rules and policies to the limits. Anyone who has spent time managing a sales organization knows that there are certain reps out there that think company policies are merely suggestions and not guidelines to be followed. These reps are often the ones that keep managers up at night wondering what the rep might have told a customer that day or thinking about how to clean up a gross over spending by the rep in the course of entertaining a client. However troublesome these reps might be, it is interesting to note that these are often some of the most successful reps in the sales organization. With this in mind, we are beginning a new stream of research in hopes of gaining a better understanding of these “deviant” sales representatives.

The idea to study these sales reps came as I was rereading a great book called The Deviant’s Advantage by Wacker and Mathews. The premise of the book is that mass market products and services are often born from deviant culture. In other words, what is considered freakish and socially unacceptable today might become the next “big thing” tomorrow. The book provides several examples which include Bugsy Siegel’s development of a casino in the middle of the Nevada desert that was initially looked down upon as a place for degenerate gamblers and east coast crime bosses but has now become one of the biggest tourist destinations in the US. Or MTV’s early ventures into reality TV that was initially watched by class skipping college kids only. Now it seems that reality TV dominates television programming to the point that there is even a 24 hour reality station. Wacker and Mathew’s The Deviant’s Advantage provides interesting insights into the “deviants” who are developing the next big thing.

As I read The Deviant’s Advantage I began to see parallels between the deviants described in the book and deviant sales representatives. From my own experiences as a sales manager, I remembered a particular rep that was a constant headache in terms of ignoring company practices and policies. He was constantly offering products and services that were outside the scope of the company or he would circumvent normal procedures for order entry and billing. In short, he was certainly considered the black sheep of our sales district. As time went by, managers (including me) began to see that this rep may have discovered new avenues for increasing revenues for the company as well as making the company more efficient.

From these similarities I began to think through several interesting questions. What are the characteristics of deviant sales people? Why are some successful and others are simple headaches? How should these deviant sales reps be managed? How can these reps be used to teach other reps? How can these types of reps be used to help the company become more innovative? I quickly came to the conclusion that there are several interesting research ideas to consider but wanted to focus on those that are most important to managers. Therefore, the first step in pursuing this research is to conduct interviews with sales managers and even some deviant reps so that we can begin to focus in on key issues.

So far we have conducted these initial interviews with 10 sales managers and have already begun to discover some common themes related to the deviant sales rep phenomenon. First, deviant sales reps are driven by ego and the need for respect. If they perceive that they are not getting the respect they deserve, then their deviant behaviors begin to increase. Second, deviant sales reps are effective until they begin to offend those that are necessary to support their efforts. In other words, they isolate themselves and this may be the difference between success and failure in deviant sales reps. Third, deviant sales reps have a knack for finding the deviant buyer. I guess you could say that “deviance loves company” as these reps tend to build relationships with buyers who are also prone to bending a few rules in the course of the buying process. Finally, this ability to find the deviant buyer can isolate the rep from being able to cross-sell. Because the rep and the buyer are working under

The Deviant Sales Rep, Pariah or Piranha?

Dr. Leff Bonney

THE SALES PROGRAM AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! FALL 2008

the radar it limits the rep’s ability to expand into other areas of the account. The end result is that deviant reps often find themselves selling a limited aspect of the product line but at higher than normal margins.

While these findings are preliminary they hold interesting implications for managers which we hope to explore in more detail as the study moves forward. So if you are interested in learning more about deviant sales reps (or are a bit of a deviant yourself), stay tuned as we still have a long way to go in gaining deeper insights into the deviant sales rep phenomenon. If you would like to get involved, we are in the still in the interview stage of this project and would love to hear your thoughts on deviant

sales reps. Please feel free to contact me at lbonney@fsu.edu or by phone at 850-766-5802.

Fall Sales Student Competition and Sales Advisory Council Meeting

Set for Wednesday, October 14th, the Sales Program Student competition will be used to select the two students who will represent Florida State University at the Wayne Paterson National Sales Competition set for November 6-7. The FSU competition will reflect the skills tested in the Wayne Paterson competition and include setting an appointment by phone, business networking and the traditional sales call role play. Sales Program and College Advisory Council members will judge each student and determine winners. The competition will be held in “round-robin” style to allow council members more free time to interact with students and participate in a new event, “Recruiters’ Speed-dating”.

Because of the Sales Program’s partnership with the University Sales Education Foundation (see the article on page 2), the FSU College of Business is in a unique position to match student talent with specific recruiter’s desired talents. As an experiment, matched students selected by council members so desiring, will be assigned to accomplish a five minute introductory presentation with that council member. This process has the potential for becoming an exceedingly efficient method for recruiting new sales talent.