DIRECTOR'S UPDATE
IN THIS ISSUE
by Dr. Janet Parish
DIRECTOR'S UPDATE SERVING STUDENTS Collegiate Sales Team
The
Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute
small
curricular
Marketing,
and
initiative in
just
in
five
Mays
Business
years,
has
School’s
grown
into
began
as
Department
a
a of
Analytics Case Competition Immersion Programs
university-level
SERVING INDUSTRY
entity with a mission to serve.
Texas A&M Collegiate Our Institute seeks to serve four groups: students, industry, academia,
Sales Competition
and our local community. We invite you to take a look at our website to
Virtual Sales Career Fair
get a glimpse of our programming in each of these areas.
Professional Development Experience
We
operate
Regardless from
under
of
the
college
developing
and
belief
that
major,
sales skills are skills for life .
industry,
practicing
or
job
title,
problem-solving
everyone
and
benefits
communication
skills.
We and
SERVING ACADEMIA Research Priorities Research Advisory Board
support
the
service.
dissemination Excellence,
three
Our and
key
pillars
goal
is
strive
to
Respect,
to live
Loyalty,
of
a
university:
impact up
to
teaching,
knowledge the
Integrity,
Aggie Selfless
research,
creation
Core
and
Values
Service,
of
HIGHLIGHTS
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and student employees of the
and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute , coaches,
sponsors, mentors,
AggiesCALL
and
Leadership.
partners,
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
donors,
and
researchers,
friends
for
being
Reynolds
Kyle Flaherty '18 Huanhuan Shi, Ph.D.
we would like to thank our students,
on
this
hope that you enjoy our newsletter’s updates.
former
journey
students,
with
us.
We
Please stay connected
through our programs, website, and social media.
WHO WE ARE CONNECTIONS
SERVING STUDENTS Texas A&M Collegiate Sales Team The
Texas A&M Collegiate Sales Team
best-of-the-best Students
have
competitions
sales
monthly
across
students practice
the
Texas
sessions
nation.
Here
is
comprised
A&M and
is
a
has
to
compete
look
of
back
the
offer.
in
sales
on
their
Spring semester!
Brittany Gentry '20, Dean Eli Jones, Caden Braly
'21
and
Glynna
Nickle
attended
the
Sales 3.0 Conference in Orlando, Florida.
Scott Richards '20 advanced to finals and Emma Stephan '22 placed 1st in the roleplay
competition
hosted
by
University
of
Central Oklahoma.
Victoria Babin '21 earned the highest score for Texas A&M competitors in the RNMKRS nation-wide virtual sales competition.
Upcoming Sales Team Competitions Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up @ University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
National Sales Challenge @ William Patterson University
National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship
International Collegiate Sales Competition
@ Baylor University
@ Florida State University
Analytics Case Competition In
April,
Microsoft
sponsored
Case Competition.
Despite
our a
Analytics last-minute
First Place Team Abdul Rahman Khan '21 (IDIS)
conversion to virtual format, eight teams of
Vivek Tangudu '21 (ISEN)
competitors
Srinivas Tankasala '21 (ISEN)
came
from
seven
Texas
A&M
colleges to put their skill and knowledge to the test.
Second Place Team Daniel Knisley '20 (MKTG) Roberto Galvan-Kunte '21 (MKTG)
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@tamusales
Sponsored by:
Immersion Programs Students of all classifications—undergraduate and graduate learn about the foundational techniques,
business dining
disciplines
etiquette,
as
and
well
as
professional
presentation
skills
selling,
through
interview
our
Immersion
Programs.
Immersion
programs
are
boot-camp-style
programs
designed
to
immerse
students into the business school culture and provide fundamental knowledge that
generally
participants
is
work
not
part
in
teams
of
the
on
an
coursework experiential
in
their
major.
project
solving
Additionally, a
real-world
business problem.
The is
Business Immersion for Engineers
generously
sponsored
by
Dell
Program
Technologies
who takes an active role in program planning, leads the students in a session on case interview technique and practice, and engages as judges for the final project presentations.
Sales+Analytics Immersion gives participants a one-week
deep-dive
into
self-awareness
and
sales skills followed by a week of analytics and consulting coursework.
This program includes an
individual role-play competition and a team case competition
for
students
to
put
their
new
knowledge into practice. Immersion
programs
are
also
a
great
opportunity
for
Mays
faculty
to
work
together to provide a high-impact educational experience to a talented set of students from a different part of campus.
It is hoped that these programs will inspire some students to seek further formal business training and will provide other participants with enough exposure to the
business
curriculum
to
assist
them
in
their
technical
careers.
For
all
participants, the program instills the value of lifelong learning.
Currently, we are developing Immersion programs for business students. These programs will take a deep-dive into a specific industry to familiarize students with the culture and frameworks of a particular industry in which they are interested in pursuing a career.
The Move to Zoom
@tamusales
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SERVING INDUSTRY Virtual Sales Career Fair In September we hosted our first virtual Sales Career Fair. Students enjoyed the new virtual format, and one commented that she was "able able to speak oneon one with company representatives and have more meaningful conversations" than in previous career fairs. event
with
Marketing,
Students from all over the university attended the
Engineering,
and
Communications
being
the
most
represented majors. The Sales Career Fair returns on February 3rd!
58% 249 Students
43 Companies
1,170 Chats
more student traffic at partner vs. nonpartner companies
200+ hours of conversation
Texas A&M Collegiate Sales Competition Sixty Aggies--from all around campus--competed in the 12th Annual Texas A&M Sales
Competition
in
October.
This
three-round
elimination
competition
is
a
collaborative effort of Mays Business School, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the College of Engineering, and it is hosted by the
Reynolds and
Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute. Congratulations to our winners and Thank You to our sponsors!
Competition Sponsors Platinum
Gold
Precoa
Reynolds and Reynolds
Altria
Sewell Automotive
Competition Winners 1st Place Ernest Broomfield '22 Agriculture Leadership & Development
Goosehead Insurance
Silver
2nd Place
Collabera
Bronze
PIMCO
Paycom
memoryBlue
Amazon Web Services
J.R. Simplot
Hormel Foods
Soren Transport
Skylar Williams '22 Marketing (Sales)
3rd Place Delaney Mullen '21 Marketing (Sales)
Dell Technologies
4th Place
KCF Technologies
Jaevin Reed '21 Marketing (Sales)
Honeywell
OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS
If you are interested in partnering with Sales
the
Reynolds
Leadership
and
Reynolds
Institute,
please
contact Andrew Loring at
Altria Group
Goosehead Insurance
Phillips 66
AT&T
Keyence
Reynolds and Reynolds*
Dell Small Business
McLane
Schneider Electric
Enterprise
Pegasus Logistics
Sewell Automotive*
Gartner
PepsiCo
Signature Consultants
aloring@mays.tamu.edu.
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@tamusales
*denotes Founding Partner
SERVING ACADEMIA Research Priorities Our Research Director, Dr. Hari Sridhar, led the 2020 initiative to determine the research priorities for the
Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute
the period of 2020-2023. thorough
literature
for
Throughout 2019, Dr. Sridhar and his team conducted a
review
and
engaged
with
sales
leaders
to
determine
the
priorities of research.
This extended inquiry led to the publication of our research priorities document entitled "The Big Questions on Chief Sales Officers' Minds."
To read the research priorities document, go to our website mays.tamu.edu/sales and click the link under "Serving Academia."
Research Advisory Board Putting together the research priorities document, we also gathered a team of leaders in sales, sales leadership, and sales research to serve as our inaugural Research Advisory Board. The board held its first meeting in Summer 2020.
Research Advisory Board Members include:
Ross Astramecki
Keith Hill
Senior Vice President of Sales
Vice President of Sales
Insperity
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company
Bill Clark
Eli Jones
Senior Vice President, Services Sales
Dean, Mays Business School
Dell Technologies
Texas A&M University
William Cron
Detelina Marinova
Professor of Business, retired
Professor of Marketing
Texas Christian University
University of Missouri
Kenneth Evans
Jagdip Singh
President
Professor of Marketing
Larma University
Case Western Reserve University
Spencer Frazier
Hari Sridhar
Senior Vice President of Sales
Professor of Marketing
JB Hunt Transport Services
Texas A&M University
Rajdeep Grewal
Joe Stallard
Area Chair and Professor of Marketing
Vice President of Human Resources
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Sewell Automotive
Help promote our program by shopping our branded merchandise store
@tamusales
5
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AggiesCALL In
2018
the
Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute
Recruiter
Advisory Board expressed a desire for students to have call center experience. At the same time, we discovered an internal need for young professionals to have increased telephone experience.
Out of these dual requirements, AggiesCALL
was born.
AggiesCALL experience
is
our
students
call
center
need
to
initiative
perform
which
cold
and
provides warm
the
calling
training for
and
non-profit
groups.
We partner with local non-profit groups who not only support our mission of training students but also benefit from having students provide the manpower necessary to cultivate donor relationships.
In most cases, the non-profit partner
provides a call script and a list of calls to make.
The calls fall into one of three
categories--thanking donors, promoting events, asking for support.
We
have
worked with more than a dozen groups including K9s4Cops, Habitat for Humanity BCS, and United Way of the Brazos Valley.
AggiesCALL
is
a
great
example
of
the
kind
of
win-win
relationship
exemplifies the Aggie value of service.
learned flexibility; not only how to follow a script, "Through this organization, I have
but
how
to
alter
the
script
to
fit
any
conversation. If the conversation spins off course, an effective cold caller should be able to reel back on topic.
By
frequently
working
with
AggiesCALL,
my communication skills stay sharp. When you're used to speaking to strangers and
professionals,
nature
and
it's
it
becomes
easier
for
second
people
to
I always recommend volunteering with AggiesCALL to anyone of any major because the skills you take away from this organization are so beneficial." -Hannah Ramirez '21
Go to
mays.tamu.edu/sales
to get involved with AggiesCALL
6
2019-2020
respect and work with you.
Students Trained - 30 Organizations Served - 6 Completed Calls - 2,054 Hours of Calling - 88 Emails Sent - 522
that
FORMER STUDENT HIGHLIGHT Kyle Flaherty '18 Sales Executive Houston, TX How has the Sales Leadership Institute aided in launching your career? The Sales Leadership Institute did all the heavy lifting when it came to finding my sales
career.
The
networking
events
and
sales
career
fair led
to recruiter
introductions, interviews, and numerous job offers and internship opportunities. All of the
resources
and
events
available
through
the
Institute
are
designed
to
help
students prepare for their careers after college.
What do you enjoy most about working in sales? Sales, like most jobs, have their ups and downs, but the main difference is that YOU get to control what that curve looks like. Although developing your client base takes time and hard work, there is no greater feeling than closing a deal and seeing ink on a contract. Other than closing deals, I enjoy the flexibility of creating my schedule and building relationships with customers that become friends.
What advice do you give current students wanting a career in sales? I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone when you can and don't be afraid to fail. Sales can be a tough business, especially during a pandemic, but there is no other job
that
is
more
rewarding. This
is the
only
career
where
your
work
ethic determines your paycheck, and hard work = $$$.
NEW FACULTY HIGHLIGHT Huanhuan Shi Assistant Professor of Marketing Dr. Huanhuan Shi joined the Marketing faculty at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School as an Assistant Professor in Summer 2020.
Dr. Shi earned her Ph.D. in marketing from the Smeal College of Business at The
Pennsylvania
State
University
in
2016.
Her
dissertation
is
titled
“Effectiveness of Sales Rep Replacement Strategies in Business-to-Business Markets.”
Dr.
Shi's
research
evidence-based
focuses
decisions
on in
developing
selling
and
tools sales
to
support
data-driven,
management.
She
co-
authored “Replacing a Departing Salesperson: New Hire, Clone, or Star”, which won the Best Paper Award at the 2015 Summer Marketing Educators’ Conference.
Her
research
appears
(or
is
forthcoming)
in
the
Journal
of
Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Research.
At Texas A&M, Dr. Shi teaches undergraduate courses in Sales Analytics. She is also actively involved in the leadership team of AMA’s Selling and Sales Management Special Interest Group.
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WHO WE ARE
Dr. Janet Parish
Dean Eli Jones
Dr. Hari Sridhar Research Director
Director
Andrew Loring
Brian Molhusen
Dr. Huanhuan Shi
Associate Director
Executive Professor
Assistant Professor
Wendy Castro
Glynna Nickle
Assistant Director
Program Coordinator
WAYS TO CONNECT WITH US Keep in touch!
@tamusales
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@tamusales
@Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute
mays.tamu.edu/sales
sales@mays.tamu.edu