Anna Dickinson - Sales Intern

Class: Graduate May 2007

Major: Business-to-Business Sales

Anna Dickinson picked her Business-to-Business Sales major with little hesitation. The career interested her and she said the degree would “set me apart from other people when applying for jobs.” The major is unique, one that isn’t offered by many schools, and Anna was drawn to a career that would give her freedom and the ability to plan her own day, as well as a chance to work with people. Not wanting to be dependant on anyone else, Anna was also drawn to the financial stability the career would bring.

In the summer of 2006, Anna had a chance to try out her future career by getting an internship with 3M, which was recommended by Lynn Schleeter, Director of the Center for Sales Innovation. Anna chose 3M because she had been impressed by the guest speakers who had visited her classes, as well as by the company’s good reputation, the support it offers to employees, and the opportunity for movement within the company.

Working with the 3M sales and marketing departments exposed Anna to the reality of sales. The internship “allowed me to apply what I read in the text book to real life,” she says. “Learning about it in a book can only teach you so much.” The skills that she had learned in her business classes were the same skills that she needed in her work as an intern. Anna observed that of the Sales and Marketing interns, the students with a Sales background were better prepared for the work they had to do. The Sales interns were already familiar with customer focused sales techniques and had tools to conduct sales calls.

Although she spent most of her time in the Maplewood, MN headquarters of 3M, Anna also traveled out of state, something she considers the most fun part of her internship. She visited San Francisco, California, where she worked with distribution and end user representatives. There and in South Dakota, the other state she visited, Anna had a chance to interact with a variety of customers. In July, Anna is going back to California, where she will work for 3M full-time.

Anna highly recommends the internship experience because of the opportunities that can arise from the program. Even if a student isn’t planning on taking a permanent position with the company she interned for, it’s still a good experience and offers job opportunities outside of the company as well as a chance to network and build relationships.