Partners & Donors
The Sales Leadership Minor is a largely self-funded program that began in 2009 to meet the increasing need for professionally-trained salespeople and sales managers in the workforce, and is part of a larger initiative at MSU to advance the state of the art and state of the science of the sales profession through education, research, and outreach (i.e. Strategic Sales Initiative).
Because it is self-funded, the program relies on support from corporate partners to establish endowments, fund scholarships, develop leadership training, enhance technology, sponsor travel to sales competitions, support research initiatives, and assist with programming costs. Corporate partners help us reach our goals while also fulfilling their own recruiting objectives by building relationships with candidates well-trained in sales and sales management.
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Importance and Purposes of Corporate Funding
Corporate funding for our sales program is used to:
- Establish endowments to ensure the longevity of the program
- Fund scholarships
- Develop leadership training both on and off campus
- Enhance technology experiences for students
- Enable a variety of experiential opportunities for students, including our annual Professional Development Day and All-MSU Sales Competition
- Offset costs associated with attending national sales competitions, training, and conferences
- Support research on current sales and sales management issues
- Design outreach initiatives and continuing education for existing sales professionals
- Sponsor career fairs
- Host etiquette dinners with professionals
- Provide on-site tours of corporate operations for students and faculty
- Expand sales-related course offerings
- Support the Global Sales Leadership Society student organization
- Cover essential ongoing programming costs that enable the program to exist and thrive
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Corporate Student Engagement
Our partners and sponsors have the opportunity to interact frequently with students and build their corporate brand during workshops, classes and other events. There is great value in the continuity and quality of interaction our program offers versus the limited “one and done” approach of relying solely on career fairs for student contact. Our partners often tell us that the students they hire from our program are among their top performers, a great reflection of the talent of our students, the quality of their education, and the ability of our partners to identify those students who best fit their selling culture.
In addition, higher-level partners sit on our Corporate Advisory Board and assist in identifying current trends in sales and sales management and provide feedback on our curriculum and programming. Corporate sponsors also can take advantage of access to cutting-edge sales research and continuing education opportunities (both open enrollment and customized offerings) for executives, managers, and salespeople.
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