Sales Internships that Count

Sales internships are a critical resource to recruit and develop collegiate professional sales talent. How an organization goes about developing that sales talent matters, because it determines if and/or how much:

• Students want to continue in a professional sales career
• Organizations can retain any of the talent for post graduation careers
• Organizations can continue to generate a pipeline of quality, good-fit candidates
• Universities approve the internship for academic credit

At the University of Toledo's Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales (ESSPS), we encourage students to get multiple internships so they can learn more about themselves and develop the skills, confidence, and networks they need to make a good fit decision before they graduate. We strongly believe that hands-on learning is paramount, and we require our professional sales majors to have a sales internship. There are 32 universities with professional sales programs who also have a sales internship requirement (Sales Education Foundation Annual 2018).

So what should organizations have their sales interns do? What makes a quality sales internship? Below are some of the common questions I get from employers along with my answers.

When do students do an internship?

While the most common approach is full time in the summer before senior year, students can do their internships part time and at any time of year.

The high performing, cream of the crop students are looking for internships (ie: work experience) as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors because they want to push themselves, start making an impact for organizations, and compare/contrast experiences. Companies that are poised for more than just a conversation with these exceptional students will be rewarded with a deeper applicant pool and higher performing interns.

If an organization has close proximity to an university, they should consider offering part time internships or work around class schedules so both the student and organization can benefit from the extended experience to see accounts close, notice seasonal differences, network more, and keep communications open.

How long does the internship have to be?

At the University of Toledo's (UT's) College of Business & Innovation, internships need to be at least 170 hours and can be done full or part time. Typically, they are completed within one semester (summer, fall, spring). Longer time frames are sometimes allowed based on circumstances. Requirements will vary by university.

What type of work should we give the sales interns?

Hands-on!

A significant component of the work should involve a seller's day-in-the-life, direct account interaction via face-to-face, phone, virtual, email, and/or social media. While interacting with the actual prospect or customer account is ideal, there are also important selling interactions with dealers/distributors that would be relevant too. The intern can observe in the beginning, but they need to be the one who runs part or all of the interaction at some point. If you hire from a university professional sales program, provide basic training on entry level products/services and the industry, and assign appropriate accounts/segments, you can have sales interns using the phone, email, and social media to get appointments and then conduct part or all of the appointment via the phone or face-to-face. As with regular team members, consider joint sales interactions as part of the training.

The more of a sales cycle the students can participate in whether it is direct interaction or observation, the better, so students can more fully understand and appreciate how your organization works internally and externally. Maybe the sales intern is actively engaged in the prospecting, planning, and qualifying, assists with proposal development, and then mostly observes with the presentation and close. Which part(s) of the business the intern works for matters too because some products/services have longer sales cycles, are more complex, requires a more formal team sell approach, etc. If your organization's sales cycles are longer than the internship period, expose and involve the interns when and where you can. Working with freshman and/or sophomore students on internships that take two semesters/seasons is also something to think about so you have the time to dive deeper.

Professional selling also involves solo and internal team work on sales planning, research, data analytics, and proposal development. Including one or more of these elements is advisable.

Training that helps interns to understand customer and organization perspectives makes a big difference in performance and retention, so give interns a chance to see more than one office/plant, interact with your product/service, get involved in the community, etc.

How do we get the internship approved for academic credit?

Students pay more attention to internships that are approved for academic credit. College and university career placement teams typically steward the approval process, and you will likely need to get the initial paperwork from them. Keep in mind that the career staff connect with the faculty for the functional area you are hiring for (professional sales faculty in this case) because faculty are the ones who are reviewing the internships to make sure the type of work aligns with academic learning objectives and assurance of learning. Having a relationship with teams in both career placement and professional sales programs is a good idea.

NOTE: Receiving academic credit on approved internships can also involve requirements that the student needs to fulfill such as being in the upper division and/or completing a pre-requisite class(es). UT does this for our professional sales majors to make sure that our students are more prepared and impactful since academic credit is at stake (UT students need to complete PSLS 3440 Sales before completing the sales internship). It also ensures a more consistent, high quality graduate for organizations when hiring for post graduation.

Let me know if/how this article was helpful and if you have any other sales intern questions or needs.