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Today’s show is a special “Office Hours – Sales Professors Unplugged” episode featuring Dr. Linda Alkire, Director of The Center for Professional Sales at Texas State University.
Find Dr. Alkire on LinkedIn.
DR. ALKIRE’S TIP: “Sales isn’t just about closing deals. It’s about understanding customers, creating value, and building relationships and that’s what we teach our students every day.”
THE PODCAST BEGINS HERE
Fred Diamond: I’m interviewing Dr. Linda Alkire with Texas State University today. It’s great to have you here. I’m very excited. We met recently at the USCA, the University Sales Center Alliance annual conference, not too far from your campus down in beautiful Dallas, Texas, Richardson, I guess, a little more specifically. It was great to meet and to get to meet the other leaders of the various USCA programs. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey to leading the Center for Professional Sales at Texas State University?
Dr. Linda Alkire: Well, when people ask me this question, I always tell them, “Do you want the long story, which might take a couple of hours, or do you want the short story?” because it’s a little bit of an interesting journey. I’m going to go with the medium-sized story for this podcast. I’m originally not from Texas, as you could guess from my accent. I come from a multicultural family. I was born in Ukraine. I grew up in Lebanon. I went to school in the UK. If someone told me 10 years ago that I’m going to live and teach in Texas, I would have told them this is just not real. It’s been a journey.
I count myself as an international scholar. I’ve lived and worked and studied all around the world. Somehow, my journey, after finishing my PhD at the University of Manchester, I applied for a job here at Texas State, I was hired. I spent the last nine years teaching services and sales. Service research is my area of research. Over the time, I’ve transitioned into teaching in the sales curriculum as well. I realized that whatever I was teaching in my services classes so much fits what I teach in my sales classes, because at the end of the day, we are teaching customer experience, customer value, understanding customer needs, building solutions, co-creating solutions with the customer. It was a really nice transition for me to start teaching in the sales classes. Honestly, since I started doing that, it’s been really a big fulfilling course to teach because of building these skills for the students.
A lot of times I hear from our students that this is the class I’ve learned the most practical type of knowledge to take away and just makes me happy. After teaching on the program for the last six years, recently I was trusted with our award-winning program and award-winning center after the retirement of our founding director, Mrs. Vicki West, who’s mainly in the area of USCA now. She’s built the program from scratch. As she always says, she started with one corporate partner. I’m really very fortunate to have inherited a program that is really standing as one of the top programs in the country, if not in the world. I’ve been the Director as of last January. This is a little bit of a background of how I ended up in this role.
Fred Diamond: That’s quite a remarkable story. I think I told you when I first met you, having looked at your LinkedIn profile, I expected you to have a British accent or something. Your journey is quite fascinating to especially be where you are right now. As you mentioned, you recently became the director of the Center for Professional Sales. What’s your vision and what are some of your priorities?
Dr. Linda Alkire: That’s a great question. As I mentioned, I feel I’m in a very fortunate position to be in a program that is ready to go to the next level. We are already in a very good spot. It’s not easy to think about, what else can we do? How else can we elevate a program that’s really doing so well? One of my main key objectives is to maintain the student-centered excellence that we are known for. We really build that experiential learning mindset, whether it’s in our classes, through our activities, our mentorship, our professional development, which we are very, very big on, and we talk a lot with our partners. That’s something they really appreciate, is the professional development that goes beyond what you learn in the course to really prepare students to be professionals out of the college from day one, being ready to fit in in the culture of the place they’re going to.
I definitely want to maintain that. We have a strong team that’s working on making sure that that remains as our core competencies of what we deliver to our students. But beyond that, I definitely want to make sure that we are in a spot where we have a lot of demand for our program. I feel like it is a really good place to expand our offering across different majors. Historically, we’ve been focusing on those students who are going through the marketing degree to focus on sales. Now we are expanding our offering to all business majors. We have a dedicated course for those who are in management and accounting and finance and all other business majors with a plan that eventually we are going to open up the program for all majors across the university.
It is mainly dictated by the deep, deep conviction that everyone should learn the basics of sales. Everyone should learn whatever career you’re going to be doing eventually, learning the basics of sales and learning that professional development that we deliver through our classes is essential. That is definitely a big goal of ours, to expand our offering, to make sure more students are benefiting from our center. But also, I want to make sure that we are promoting the research component of the center.
For many years we’ve been excelling in our teaching, we’ve been excelling in our placements of our students, but we also have an excellent group of scholars in the center faculty that are excellent researchers. I want to make sure that their research is also coming across to our partners so that we are able to translate that into actionable research and really create impact not only through our teaching, but also impact through our research.
Fred Diamond: I’ll follow up with you a little bit later on in the interview about that specifically. I was very impressed when I had heard about that. I’m excited that you’re expanding, or the goal, one of your visions is to expand into a lot of the other degree programs that students are going through. One thing that we talk a lot about on the Sales Game Changers Podcast when I interview VPs of sales at great companies, a lot of them started as an engineering student, or they started maybe in finance or economics. Then they realized that they really appreciated what their customers were doing. At some point someone said to them, “You’re pretty good at speaking about what we do in front of our customers. You should move into sales.” I’m glad that they’re going to be getting the education even sooner than two, three years into their career. Give us more specifics about your curriculum and the classes that you offer.
Dr. Linda Alkire: At the center, we are responsible of what we call a sales concentration. A sales concentration historically has been focused on those marketing students who could get a concentration in sales. To declare a sales concentration, they need to do four in depth sales courses. The courses are professional selling, which in many schools, they call it Intro to Selling. We don’t call it Intro to Selling because it is an advanced sales class already in the first level. In that first class, they’re doing sales pitches, they’re learning how to do role plays, they’re doing team selling. It’s really going through the whole sales process and figuring out how to practice for every step of the sales process. That’s our first class. That sets the tone to what’s coming next.
The next class is going to be sales management. That’s where they’re learning more of the management side of sales, managing your territory, managing your sales force. That is a wonderful course that they can usually take together with what we call a directed study in sales. That one focuses on the usage of technology in sales. That specific class, they get certified in a number of sales relevant certifications like NetSuite, Salesforce, HubSpot, et cetera. We recently introduced an AI feature into that class to really hone in those role play and speed selling components of the course. It’s a very, very practice-based course where they’re learning skills and tools and certification that’s really getting them at the forefront of that competition when they’re graduating.
One of the most important courses in our curriculum is the sales internship. Every single sales student has to do an internship. Our process of vetting those internships is very rigorous. It’s not any type of internship. It has to be very specific, following our specific rubric. We do weekly check-ins with the student while they’re in the internship. They write reflection pieces about the internship, but most importantly, there are advisors or supervisors in the job that have to evaluate them at the end of the internship. It’s a form that they have to fill in with a number of questions. I really cannot not mention one of the things that one of the managers shared with us this specific summer, which I thought was super nice and reassuring for us. One of the managers wrote about one of our students, “I wish all my employees were like your intern.” That was really amazing. That just speaks to the level of their readiness by the time they go through that internship.
These are the courses, but as I mentioned, a big part of what we do goes beyond just the coursework. A lot of what we do is outside the traditional classroom. For example, we do have the professional development component where we do training, we do shadowing, we do etiquette events. We do sales ambassadors, which is our star students who work on coaching, training the next generation of the sales ambassadors. We do competitions both internal and external. We do real world simulations. We do coaching, one-on-one sessions with executives. We do mentorship with our alumni. It’s a really full-fledged program that we are keen on making sure it’s not just what you learn in the class, but you’re entering in an elite group, if you want. We work with those students to make sure they’re developing on the full scale, beyond just the theory that they’re learning in the classes.
Fred Diamond: I like the way you said, the people who are successful in sales, it’s not just about, “What do I got to do to get you to buy this product?” It’s about understanding relationships. It’s funny, a couple of the past Office Hours – Sales Professors Unplugged shows, when I would ask people for their final action step or thought, they would say things that those of us who are a little more senior in our careers know that a lot of it does come down to relationships and understanding how to develop those relationships, and understanding how to be a referral partner and to bring people into the deal and to help your customer get other resources that they might. I’m glad to see it’s the full spectrum of things.
Just curious, what do your students expect from the program and what outcomes do they achieve?
Dr. Linda Alkire: Wonderful question. As I mentioned, our reputation throughout the years has been very strong. I think that has created a lot of awareness before the students actually reach our program. In a lot of cases, the expectations are, “I’m going to get an internship. I’m going to get a job, and I’m going to get a very well-paid job.” I think these are the top things that they’re probably expecting out of this program. They know that they’re going to be developed, they’re going to get the support that they need. We have a wonderful group of corporate partners we work with. This is really exciting them to apply so that they can get that internship experience and the high job placement. We have a hundred percent job placement for our students.
Just this summer, I keep referring to the summer just because all these news are coming down, most of our students who interned with our partners this summer got a job offer for next summer to start. These students are already getting a job offer a year ahead of their graduation, which just makes this whole year, their senior year, much less stressful than a lot of their colleagues and classmates might be going through. I think these are really the outcomes they’re seeking. They know they’re going to get personalized approach from our faculty. They know they’re going to be well taken care of, and they know that they will be ready to really excel in the marketplace, excel in the internship in the first place, but also excel in the marketplace, because we do prepare them for that. We prepare each and every student.
One thing I wanted to add to that is we really adopt a personalized approach. Every student who is part of our program, all the faculty knows them, all the staff knows them, we all make sure that we’re giving them the support and the personalized support that they need. I think that has really paid off over the years because I can tell you, each and every student in our concentration, our assistant director is the same thing, we meet with each student, we talk with them, we prepare them. We really spend time and invest time on making sure we’re developing them beyond just the one-on-one interaction they’re getting in the classroom.
Fred Diamond: I should have asked this question, but I’m just curious. When you talked about the curriculum, are students on campus, onsite, physically in-person? Do you still have virtual classes? We’re doing today’s interview in September of 2025. Briefly, is it all in-person? How’s it formatted now?
Dr. Linda Alkire: It is. One of the things that we really emphasize in our sales curriculum is that it has to be in-person. We don’t have virtual sales classes. It’s all in-person. They have to be there in class. Just today I had a meeting with the coaches of our competitions, and we were talking about how even our internal competitions, the class competition, they all perform in front of the whole class. They all learn from each other. Everyone in the class gives feedback to everyone in the class. That’s just a small component of what we do. For us, it’s really giving the student as many opportunities to practice those skills, is at the core of what we do.
We cannot expect them to be ready to talk to an executive or to a buyer once they graduate if they haven’t had enough experiences of being able to communicate. This communication could take a variety of forms. For instance, going and promoting the sales concentration. We tell them, “This is your sales role for the day. Go and recruit more students for the sales concentration. Promote our event. Be present on our LinkedIn. Share your stories. If you’ve been part of something, use a selling approach.” We try to find the selling part in everything they do so that they’re learning it from different angles as opposed to, “Well, here’s a formal role play for you to do,” or, “Here’s a formal product for you to sell.” It’s that approach of everything we’re doing is to reflect but also hone in your selling skills, is at the core of what we do.
Fred Diamond: How does the center fit in with Texas State University as a whole? One of the things that we’ve learned is that a lot of these programs, the professional selling programs, they’re relatively new. Even the ones that have been around for a while, we’re not talking 100 years, we’re talking like 20, 25, maybe at the most 30 some odd years. We’ve talked a couple times on the Sales Game Changers Podcast about how the profession of sales has only really gotten recognized in the last 30, 40 years, if you will. How does the university support your mission?
Dr. Linda Alkire: That’s a very good question. First, we are a proud part of the marketing department at the McCoy College of Business. We sit within the marketing department, and I cannot be more grateful to our current department chair, but also the prior department chairs who have helped pave the way to where we are right now. It has been the support of the chair of the marketing department, currently it’s Dr. Anna Turri, that has been really a big supporter of our program. Also, I think as a department, all the faculty in the department really understand the value of the program. A lot of the faculty allow us to go into their classes, especially those principles classes where we start creating awareness about them. They really allow our students to, if they have a competition, if they need to be somewhere, they really work with us to make sure that those students are getting that experience and that time that they need. As a center within the department, we are supported.
Same applies at the college level. I would like to say that we are a success story for the college. If you look at our college website, we’re listed there as the number one sales program. It’s definitely a moment of pride for the college and the university. I feel like we definitely contribute to the university’s mission of going into an R1 institution through the various programming that we do, but above all, through the wonderful and historical relationship we’ve established with the corporate partners. I would like to say we’re probably among the top centers of the university that have such a good and strong relationship with industry.
We are like the perfect impact story. All the universities right now are like, “Make sure you show impact. How are you showing impact?” This is impact. When our students are getting hired by the companies, when we have such a good, strong year-long relationship with our partners, this is the impact. I feel like given the benefits that we’re offering, both the students, the partner, and the university, we are appreciated and we do receive the support we need.
Fred Diamond: I like the way you said that. One of the great things about the professional selling programs, and you said it before, you said a hundred percent job placement. All your young adults are going to get a job. If I’m investing six figures in my child to go through college, it’s a big question right now, and being able to show that type of return with great companies. I’m curious. You also mentioned a couple times that your program was ranked as the number one sales program worldwide. First of all, who did the ranking and what does this recognition mean for the students and for your partners who were looking at you to hire these young adults?
Dr. Linda Alkire: This was a wonderful recognition we received in 2024. It was actually during one of the University Sales Center Alliance meetings where we received the plaque. It was an honor to the prior leadership as they were stepping down and moving forward in their career. That was a big recognition. With a big recognition like this comes a big responsibility as well. One of the key reasons we were offered this award is number one, it was the quality of our partners. We really are very keen on making sure our partners are top leading companies in their fields. The quality of the program and the coursework we do, but also the development of the students that we do, the job placements that I mentioned, the high rate of job placements, same as the high rate of internship, our alumni reputation. Because we are a program that’s been around for a while, we do have very successful alums that are VPs of sales and leading the organization. A lot of them are coming back as corporate partners now, and overall, the impact on the students’ career and partners. These were some of the reasons.
Now, what does that mean to our students? Obviously, it means that they’re going into a program that is trusted, that is validated by the industry. That you know that you are going to get into a good program, you’re going to get a good job. Funny that you mentioned the parents. Indeed, we get a lot of parents actually reach out to us saying, “I read about your program.” Maybe their child hasn’t read about it yet, but the parents did read about it, or they did know about it. We talk to a lot of parents during Bobcat Days, which is our version of open days and open doors. A lot of parents come and tell us, “I read about your program,” or, “I read that you’re the number one sales program in this magazine, or that news,” or, “I saw it on the website. Tell us more about it.” It’s definitely created a lot of excitement, a lot of hype, a lot of credibility boost for us as a center. What does it mean to the partners? I guess it’s a safe choice for their investment. They know that they’re investing in a program that is well ranked, that is well known, and that delivers.
Fred Diamond: Talk a little bit more about your relationship with corporate partners. We’ve mentioned that a couple of times. You even said some of your students are coming back and they’re sponsoring your programs and partnering with you. For people who are listening here, what do they expect? What do these partners want? What do they expect? What are some of the unique advantages that Texas State University provides them?
Dr. Linda Alkire: Wonderful, thank you for this question. Let me start by saying that we are a big program. We have 20 plus corporate partners, and one of the key things we do with our partners, not only we’re selective by the type of company and the type of internship and jobs that they offer to the students so that we make sure we’re selecting the best of the best. It is already competitive to get into the corporate partnership program. I have to be honest with you, we do have a wait list of companies that want to get in because one of our key criteria is that we don’t work with companies that are in a competing sector. If they’re in competition, we will not be working with competing companies. We make sure we get our partners from different lines of industry, different lines of businesses, so that they are also looking at a different type of student in each case.
That is one of the things that we really emphasize in our relationship. We don’t treat all our partners the same. We make sure that we are customizing our approach to every partner. I think they really appreciate that. Just like I mentioned with our students, we don’t just treat them as your 1 of 500. Each student has a unique skill set, has a unique interest, has needs to be developed in a different way. Same applies for partners. They all are looking for different types of students. They’re looking for specific types of students. They might be having different cycles of recruitment that we need to adapt to based on their needs.
One of the key things that I think has made our program so successful with our partners is this customizable approach. We meet with them on a regular basis. We keep the communication open as to what do they need, how are we serving their needs? How are we being able to find those students and that talent that they need? I think this is at the cornerstone. But beyond that, we organize several opportunities for engagement with the students. I think this is another big, big part of what we do. Partners have various opportunities throughout the year to engage with those students, whether it’s through classroom visits. I counted last semester we had 50 plus guests on campus.
These partners are coming and visiting our classrooms. When I say they’re coming and visiting the classroom, they’re visiting 10 sales classes because that’s how big the sales program is. We have classroom visits, we have regular recruiting events, we have advisory board roles where the executives could help us shape the curriculum. We make sure we’re adapting to the changes of the sales profession in general. We organize competitions that could be sponsored by our partners. We help them mentor students. We also organize what we call site visits. These have been extremely popular where we take our students to the offices and location of the partners. These have been absolutely phenomenally popular. I guess today was the deadline actually to sign up for all the site visits of the semester. I can tell you, they’re all full. The students want to go, the partners want to host, and it’s a great opportunity to bring the student and the talent.
I think all of these really create extra opportunities for the partners to engage this personalized engagement. This is the formal one, but also some partners tell us they want to do something differently, they want to host something, they want to organize an event, they want to spend some time with the sales ambassador. Another initiative we started this year, we are doing what we call a lunch with the ambassadors. Our sales ambassadors are our top students representing the program. Whenever we have a guest on campus, they get to have lunch with the ambassadors if that’s what they would like to do. Usually, these fill up very quickly as well.
I think this personalized approach has led to this long-term partnership. I’m very happy to say that a lot of our partners have been with us for 10, 15, 20 years. They come back, that’s the value. We create the strong alumni industry student ecosystem, if you want, where we all work together to advance the center and the mission of the center.
Fred Diamond: We have people all over the world who are listening. Where exactly is your campus? Texas is a big state. Where exactly is your campus in Texas?
Dr. Linda Alkire: That’s a great question. Our main campus is in San Marcos. San Marcos is located halfway between Austin and San Antonio. We are in the perfect spot between two big cities. We have faculty and students who live in both cities and they commute. A lot of people live in San Marcos. Just to add to that, we also have a campus in Round Rock, which is north of Austin. It’s a smaller campus, but it is a growing campus as well. This is a growing area there, so we have that campus. But both campuses together, we reached a big milestone this year. We reached 44,000 students, which is a 10% increase of last year. To make it even more exciting, the McCoy College of Business has seen the biggest growth among all the colleges. To make it even more exciting for us as a sales center, the marketing department has seen the biggest growth. Technically, we are getting more and more students interested in our programming and the growth of the program and the location of the university has definitely been a big advantage for us as the center.
Fred Diamond: Congratulations on the growth. For people who don’t know Texas very well, Austin’s a beautiful city. It’s the state capital. It’s also where the University of Texas at San Antonio. I actually go there once a year for a technical conference that I go to. It’s a beautiful city as well. A lot of great things, great food too as well.
I want to go back to one more thing that you mentioned before we wrap up today. You talked about the fact that you also do professional sales research. Tell us a little more about that. Maybe give us one or two or three trends that you see in the sales world, and who is the consumer of your research?
Dr. Linda Alkire: Thank you for this question. Yes, indeed. Sales research has also been one of those areas that’s been in a massive growth, just like it is as a sales profession and sales curriculum. We are seeing more and more sales research being published in our top marketing journals. Also, we’re seeing more sales-specific academic journals that are being launched and being very, very successful as well. As a team, we’re really fortunate to have a wonderful team. Let me start by saying I couldn’t have been more lucky with the team that is currently working at the center. We are five faculty staff members, and we also rely on a number of graduate students that help us and undergraduate students that are working with us. We’re quite a big team, I would say.
All the faculty and the staff are very committed to the center. As part of our faculty, we do have a group of our faculty that are sales researchers. They do sales research. I’d like to count myself as part of that team as well, where we do specialize in doing sales research. What that means is we are studying the latest trend in sales, and that could be at the intersection of sales and technology, sales and ethics. Our researchers of the center have been publishing in our top journals. For instance, we publish in NFT 50 list of journals, which is considered the gold standard of journals that researchers publish in.
Now, these are academic journals. They’re mainly written with academicians or academics in mind. Some of the current projects we’ve been working on, we’ve involved the partners in them. That’s why I think there is a big benefit to what we do. If you are a biology professor, you’re probably doing the research. You don’t rely so much on companies and corporate partners. But if you’re a business researcher, especially a sales researcher, your subject of study is organizations who have salespeople, of how to improve sales processes. Having the center and having such great partnership with corporate partners is our avenue for us to collect data, to solve real-world problems, to work with companies to solve their problems.
Some of the projects that we’ve been involved in recently, for example, one that comes to my mind, we worked with a partner that’s been having really some challenges in implementing recent sales technology. The predictions and the models all showed that it should be an easy implementation. They’ve implemented it, but they’ve been seeing a lot of resistance from their salespeople in adopting that technology. They couldn’t figure it out. They’ve changed in so many ways. They kept changing the layout, they kept changing the timing, they kept changing the groups that are using it, and nothing was working for that specific organization.
We went in as a group of researchers, and we really dove deeper into the causes of this lack of adoption or lack of enthusiasm of this new technology that is supposed to be solving a lot of their problems. We realized that they needed to come up with a better, less structured training approach. Some of the challenges in that specific case was that the training was being very forceful, the training has been very aggressive. The training has not been integrated nicely into their day-to-day activity. We both know, salespeople are busy. They can’t sit through two hours of training a day to implement a new technology.
We worked with them into redesigning that training process in a way that will much better integrate through the day-to-day operation of salespeople. At the same time, it was a much smoother approach and we kept coming back. We conducted focus groups, surveys, et cetera, as we were moving forward. Eventually, this problem took care of itself through a more personalized training approach than whatever the platform was trying to sell them that worked for Company X or worked for Company Y. this is just one of the examples that we worked on.
Another example, I was working on a project where companies were not sure what type of sales AI to adopt for what part of the sales process. We went deeper into that. We looked at what kind of AI would be better suited for the pre-customer interaction, for the customer interaction, and for the servicing of the account at the end. We made recommendation based on their type of client, their type of industry, their type of funding for these specific technologies. There are so many options there to do this type of research. I think as a researcher at heart, and I’m also a journal editor, I’m very keen on making sure we connect our researchers with our corporate partners so we help solve problems like those, because we do have the expertise in-house. One of the offerings we offer our partners is sales advisory services, where we could come in and help address some of the issues or problems that they’ve been having and come up with joint solutions or recommendations for these issues.
Fred Diamond: Good to hear that you do all that. There’s no shortage of challenges, and obviously, coming out of the pandemic, a lot of things have changed. Every industry is going through something. Again, we’re doing today’s interview in September of 2025. A lot of the people who sell into public sector listen to the Sales Game Changers Podcast, or might be listening to this show. Obviously, that whole industry has been disrupted with a lot of the initiatives from the government with civilian agencies, et cetera. It’s great to see that.
You’ve given us so much great information. Thank you so much. Congratulations on the new role. A lot of great things happening at Texas State University. You’ve given us so much for people to think about. We like to end the Sales Game Changers show with a specific action step, something specific that you’d like anyone who’s listening, it could be a student, it could be a partner, can do to get more value from your program.
Dr. Linda Alkire: Wonderful question. For the partners, for possible partners or companies, I would definitely recommend checking out the University Sales Center Alliance website and get involved with this group, because this group really is at the core of what we do. We are extremely grateful. We are a full member of USCA, we go through accreditation and reaccreditation and accreditation standards are the highest standards for centers in this field. Definitely get engaged with the University Sales Center Alliance, find a sales center around you, because I know companies could be from all around. I would like to add that we also have centers that are accredited all around the world, not only in the US. We have in Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. There are centers all over the world. Get in touch with USCA, check out their website, check out the competitions, check out all the various offerings, because this is a wonderful, wonderful group. I genuinely am grateful to each and every director who has shared best practices, who worked with these partners to build those relationships, and also to the founders who have got us to the point where we can say that we do have these standards and we all respect these standards and we aim for keeping that gold standard. This is for the companies, get involved with the center because there are so many benefits that go beyond just going through a recruiter, but rather getting that sales talent early on and getting it from a center that is accredited, that follows the best practices, is really a big plus.
For the students, for any student, but specifically for sales students, I would say get involved early. You want to immerse yourself in the ecosystem that these centers are offering. As I mentioned, it’s not only about taking the classes. It’s the whole immersion into what a center offers. A lot of the centers that are part of the USCA offer various opportunities for students to engage. As I mentioned, in ours, we really work on developing the student professionally, from all angles. I always tell my students, you want to be involved in the activities that are helping you build your resume and preparing you for after you graduate. There are so many clubs and activities and things you can sign up to, especially those first two weeks, it feels overwhelming because everyone is trying to recruit for their organization and their clubs. But I always tell my students, pick the ones that align with your passion, with what you want to do after you graduate. This is the perfect club or organization for you. If you can join a place where you can develop professionally, but also have fun and build your friendships, build your network, build your connections, this is the perfect thing. The advice is get involved early and think about developing yourself professionally beyond just what you learn in the classroom.
Fred Diamond: That’s a great point. Unlike, no disrespect to accounting or engineering, sales isn’t just about the process. As we talked about, it’s understanding where your customers are going. You mentioned get involved with things you’re passionate about. The great sales professionals that we’ve worked with over the years at some of the top companies, they’re passionate about what they’re selling or they’re passionate about their customer. It’s amazing when I ask, and we’ve done over 800 Sales Game Changers shows, that comes up a lot. I’ll ask, “If you had to say one skill,” a lot of it is energy and having the passion about what you’re bringing or for what the customer is trying to do.
Once again, Dr. Linda Alkire, thank you so much for educating us about Texas State University and appearing on today’s Office Hours – Sales Professors Unplugged. You’ve given us so many great ideas. My name is Fred Diamond, this is the Sales Game Changers Podcast.
Transcribed by Mariana Badillo