Selling Chi-Town 

Bauer College’s Program for Excellence in Selling (PES) students took their sales skills beyond their typical geographic boundaries, meeting with top executives on a Key Accounts class trip to Chicago. 

The prestigious undergraduate sales program requires students to meet actual sales quotas from the jump, encouraging them to build working relationships and become comfortable engaging with industry professionals.  

Toward the end of students’ time in PES, their developed confidence is put to the test during the Key Accounts class trip. Ahead of time, student teams must call and book several in-person meetings with high-ranking executives. On the trip, students step out of their comfort zone to interact directly with sales leaders and see how they can apply what they’ve learned in the corporate landscape. 

“The C-suite can provide a clear view of the organization’s goals and objectives, helping our sales students find unique opportunities for the Sales Excellence Institute to better serve the business community,” Director of Corporate Relations John Pingel said. “As a part of our curriculum, it’s also important for our sales students to meet with executives to learn about how they organize their sales efforts and build sales strategies." 

On this semester's trip, one team sat down with executives from Paramount and the Chicago Cubs. After coming back to Houston, they shared how the trip prepared them for sales careers. 

What was the experience like when you first started making cold calls? 

Nikolas Skarzenski (Marketing and Management Information Systems Senior): Going into Key Accounts and the trip, I knew I wanted to explore the entertainment industry. One of my goals was to have a meeting or to sign on a partner from an entertainment company.  

When I found out our trip was to Chicago, the first thing I did was search for any kind of entertainment company in the city. I landed on Paramount Pictures, or CBS Chicago. They taught us in Key Accounts to call to the top, and I found the contact for the Vice President of Sales for CBS Chicago/Paramount. 

I cold-called him, and he didn't pick up the first time, so I called again because we were taught to double dial. He picked up on the second ring, and I was honest with him that we were students, and we wanted to meet with him. He sounded excited to sit down with us. It was a big goal of mine just to be able to rack someone's brain and get the chance to talk to someone in the entertainment industry at such a high level. 

What was different about meeting with the Chicago Cubs in the sports sector compared to more traditional business environments? 

Ansley Brown (Marketing and Entrepreneurship Junior): We work a lot with our current partners here in Houston and know a lot about how their sales cycle goes and how their organizations are structured. When it comes to sports, it's very different. 

When you think of sports sales, everyone's mind just goes straight to ticket sales, but that's actually the one thing they don't sell. There's so much more to it in sports than you would know, or that you would think about. 

We got to hear about those things — selling the suites to companies, selling the logo, the branding and more. After the meeting, we got a tour and saw those things in the stadium.  

The tour that we were given was similar to a tour that a customer would go on, including big companies when they are purchasing something. We’ve never seen anything like that before. If one of us wants to go into the sports sales industry, it'd be a look into what the future would be like in that job. 

Why do you think the Key Accounts trip is such a unique part of the overall PES experience? 

Kenia Sanchez (Marketing and Management Junior): Between back-to-back meetings, getting feedback and working with your team, there are a lot of elements involved. This personal and professional growth happens within 48 hours, compared to people who experience it over their whole college career. For us to have that opportunity in that short time period, it's very unique. 

Another unique part of the Chicago trip is that we're blessed enough to have experiences that we wouldn't normally have as college students. A lot of us are working through college and trying to pay off our tuition, so we don't really get to experience the lavish lifestyle.  

Some of us are first-generation students. Even being in a room with high-level executives is a really big opportunity and experience for us. Knowing that we deserve a seat at the table is very special.