The Professional Sales Institute in the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University has again earned a ranking as one of the top sales schools in North America. The Sales Education Foundation named B&E in its “Top Universities for Professional Sales Education” for the fourth consecutive year.

The 2015 SEF Top Universities for Professional Sales Education recognized 92 North American and 13 international sales schools in this year’s list, and does not provide a numerical ranking for each school. The list is published in the SEF annual magazine, and shows that WVU has a specialty area in professional sales at B&E, is a sales competition participant and provides a sales internship program. WVU has four faculty in the sales education area and had 100% job placement for the new SEF top schools list.

“There is a real commitment by our faculty and students to the area of sales education,” said Nancy McIntyre, B&E interim dean. “The WVU Professional Sales Institute not only prepares students for careers in direct sales, but also prepares students to use different types of sales skills in a myriad of chosen careers.”

“Through our Center for Career Development, we have found that companies and organizations like the quality professional sales graduates that come from B&E. For four consecutive years, SEF has recognized the WVU Professional Sales Institute for its excellence. Our students use these skills in the global marketplace,” she said.

Professional Sales is one of three areas of emphasis for Marketing majors at B&E. The WVU professional sales track offers course work in personal selling, sales management and selling with digital media.

Dr. Michael Walsh, chair and associate professor of Marketing, said a commitment to experiential learning has gone a long way in helping students, faculty and the Professional Sales Institute overall.

“USCA membership is highly valuable to WVU and B&E, as it connects university faculty members with a variety of resources and areas of expertise,” said Walsh. “I believe our ranking is a reflection of all we’ve done to raise the level of excellence in this area of study. For example, we recently hosted a sales competition with students from several universities participating, and the USCA provided invaluable advice and guidance.”

“A student team from B&E won the American Marketing Associate Pittsburgh Chapter case competition from a field of 20 collegiate teams this year,” Walsh said. “Our student teams have also done very well in the World Collegiate Sales Open and other respected competitions. Our students have been successful and our job placement rate is very high.”

Sales Education Foundation statistics indicate that top sales programs like WVU’s average more than 92 percent job placement for their students, and that students from such programs average 2.8 job offers prior to graduation. Additionally, SEF said that students with a sales education ramp up 50 percent faster and turn over 30 percent less than their non-sales educated peers.

Complete information on the Sales Education Foundation may be found at salesfoundation.org. For further information on the WVU College of Business and Economics, please visit www.be.wvu.edu.

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CONTACT: Patrick Gregg, WVU College of Business and Economics
304.293.5131, Patrick.Gregg@mail.wvu.edu

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