KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The Western Michigan University sales and business marketing program has once again been recognized by the Sales Education Foundation as a top sales program. This is the 15th consecutive year that WMU Haworth’s program has been honored for providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed as sales professionals.
The sales and business marketing program has a strong track record of success when it comes to student success measures, with 100% of students employed within three months of graduation and 100% of graduates reporting job satisfaction with their first professional sales roles, according to the Career Outcomes Report WMU produces annually.
"The sales and business marketing major achieves its success through innovative experiential curriculum, strong alumni mentoring, dedicated industry-experienced faculty, and top-notch students who are committed and devoted to the program,” says Dr. Kelley O’Reilly, chair of the Department of Marketing. “This major delivers an intense sales-focused curriculum that prepares graduates to start their careers in professional sales and business marketing.”
Program highlights
Robert S. Kaiser Sales, Negotiation and Leadership Lab—As part of the curriculum, students role-play in the state-of-the-art Robert S. Kaiser Sales, Negotiation and Leadership Lab. The lab includes enhanced abilities to pinpoint areas for student improvement with detailed notes embedded in recordings of the exercises. Students also have the opportunity to share their footage with prospective hiring managers.
Student competition success—Teams from WMU have repeatedly finished in the top 10 of the National Collegiate Sales Competition, top five in the National Sales Challenge and in the top three of the State Farm Sales and Marketing Competition. Most recently, a team of four students claimed first place in the Desert Cup at Arizona State University’s Collegiate Sales Competition.
“We have consistently remained on the Sales Education Foundation list because of our curriculum,” says Dr. Jim Eckert, associate professor of marketing and Robert S. Kaiser professor of sales. “We don’t teach about sales, we teach people to sell and that makes all the difference.”
Find more information about the sales and business marketing program.
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