The Sales Education Foundation has honored the sales program in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, a distinction that helps attract national companies to campus to recruit Elon University students into prime sales jobs.
A nonprofit foundation that promotes the sales profession through colleges and universities with verified sales education curricula highlighted Elon University in its 2014 list of “Top Universities for Professional Sales Education.”
For the fourth consecutive year, the Sales Education Foundation recognized Elon as one of the best programs for preparing students for professional sales careers.
The university’s sales program, anchored by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, was selected based on its strong sales curriculum, university recognition and experiential learning component. The center focuses on promoting professional selling, developing students for sales careers, and conducting research that advances the field of sales and sales management.
The Sales Education Foundation accolade signals to national companies that Elon University is a source of talent as they look to fill sales positions in offices across the country, said Assistant Professor Michael Rodriguez, director of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
“Being a school that represents 47 states, it’s important that we attract national sales organizations that come here to find students who want to relocate to New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Texas and elsewhere,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why it’s important to develop programs like the Chandler Center with our geographically diverse student body.
“Our recognition as a top sales program gets the attention of these national sales organizations, which meets the career needs of our students.”
Sally Stevens, executive director of the Sales Education Foundation, said companies have an increased focus on partnering with university sales programs. According to Sales Education Foundation data, top sales programs average over 92 percent job placement for their students within three months of graduation even as employment rates remain flat in other sectors.
“With a proven track record for producing top sales talent, the future of university sales education is brighter than ever,” Stevens said.
The Chandler Family Center was established in 2008 by an endowment gift from Elon Trustee Thomas E. Chandler, owner of Chandler Concrete Company, and his family. It is a full member of the University Sales Center Alliance. The Love School of Business is accredited by AACSB International-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.