Over the past 10 years, the Center for Sales Innovation has pioneered a four-year sales degree program and, in the process, has become a proven training ground for women in sales. Its bold vision is to develop the best-trained sales talent in the country – whether undergrads or corporate sales leaders.

The Center’s reputation comes from incorporating the best practices of its corporate partners into a well rounded curriculum. It also includes on-going professional development programs, as well as its own primary research to gauge and report the best practices of high-performing women in sales. The Center for Sales Innovation is a national resource for women in sales. Join the celebration of its 10-year track record of helping women advance in sales talent excellence!

A 2008 study of HR and sales leaders revealed two of the top five critical operational improvements to reach growth goals are to improve (1) recruitment of sales reps, and (2) retention of sales reps. That’s why it makes sense to intentionally connect new hires or interns to the company as soon as possible through a structured, onboarding program.

	Lynn Schleeter spoke about onboarding as one of the “Future of Selling” panelists at October’s Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference in Chicago, sponsored by the national magazine.

Onboarding is the process that organizations use to introduce, train, integrate and coach new hires to the culture, brand and methods of the company during their first year. When hiring recent college graduates, the importance of onboarding is considered especially essential to the sales function because this new, Millennial generation represents the company and its brand to customers and, of course, most reps tend to work independently in remote locations from the corporate office. In a nutshell, this is not your father’s company orientation process.

The terms of engagement have shifted for companies that want to attract and retain younger workers. Here are three components to improve recruitment and retention by integrating new sales hires:

Give them support before they ask for it. Millennials demand face time with supervisors and expect more from these interactions. New hires benefit from open communication from highly involved supervisors to learn more about their roles, organizational norms, performance expectations, and realistic career goals. In addition, they receive counsel about the knowledge and skills necessary for advancement as well as with resources for personal and professional development. The value of a contemporary manager is critical to engaging new hires.

Provide an immersion experience to make them feel valued. For Millennials, there’s a need to reinforce that they’ve made the right decision by hearing how valuable their skills are to the company, what types of assignments they will work on and how the company will support their professional development. They need introductions to specific people for support, training, and product knowledge. Don’t expect this to just happen; it needs to be formalized. Solid leadership attracts and retains quality talent.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. What seems increasingly important today is earlier, more frequent communications with candidates and new hires in the medium they are most comfortable. Technology should play many roles in the onboarding process. If you don’t know what to do, just ask new hires and they will build the connections. For example, interns at one company started a Facebook group to stay connected as instant work resources and to celebrate successes with each other. In another organization, the interns recommended an internal Wiki Enterprise site to enter topic-specific, best practices that could be shared across divisions.

Contact for more information: Lynn Schleeter at lfschleeter@stkate.edu

The number one operational improvement to help sales leaders reach their sales target this year, according to a recent study, is upgrading the quality of front line sales leaders.

Two questions to consider:

• How does your organization identify high potential sales reps for management?
• How do you develop top talent?

In response, the Center for Sales Innovation offers the Leadership for Women in Sales program. The goal of the program is simple: Improve your company's financial performance by increasing the representation of highly qualified women leaders in top management. Since it takes more than a one-day event to develop leaders, the new “emerging leaders track” is designed for one evening meeting per month – starting in November 2008 – for nine months to support career development. Click here for more information.

Among the academic programs offered by the Center for Sales Innovation at the College of St. Catherine are courses lead to baccalaureate majors and minors in sales, as well as several certificate programs. What are the differences?

The sales majors – Business-to-Business Sales or Healthcare Sales – lead to a Bachelor of Arts or Science and require students to complete a series of six to eight sales courses, as well as classes in business and accounting. Supporting coursework in economics, communications and the social sciences completes the curriculum.

Vickie Allen, Assistant Professor in the Business Administration Department at the College of St. Catherine, teaches the “Ethics and Integrity in Sales” course. She has worked for various companies in sales, starting at IBM and Xerox. Click here to read more about ethics in sales through the Center for Sales Innovation.

Sales Certificates serve two purposes: They facilitate career transition for individuals with limited background or experience in sales or business, and provide an excellent starting point for individuals considering a baccalaureate, but not yet ready to commit to a four-year program.

Specific sales courses of note focus on integrating ethics in the sales curriculum – “Ethics and Integrity in Sales” – and providing students with practical sales experience, taken concurrently with a sales internship. And a course called “Sales Force Leadership” helps students to understand various sales roles from entry-level territory manager to sales manager. In addition, the capstone course for the Healthcare Sales major – “Selling into Managed Care” – provides an overview of the healthcare value chain, market influences and key trends and various healthcare structures including managed care.

For more information about how to advance sales talent in your organization, visit our website at www.stkate.edu/sales or contact Debbie Stewart at dlstewart@stkate.edu