A Career in Sales

9/15/04 - The Pioneer Press - Business Beat
Reprinted with permission.

In this summer's production of playwright Arthur Miller's classic "Death of a Salesman," the Guthrie Theater reminded us of how little esteem sales people once commanded.

The 55-year old play darkened the image of salesmen by portraying protagonist Willy Loman as a lying, blustering failure.

That view, the idea that salespeople had to be great golfers and fast talkers, changed as the 20th century wore on and the country's consumer culture ascended. Today, it seems, almost nothing happens until someone sells something - goods, services, political candidates, religious beliefs, whatever.

But college degrees in sales?

It's happening in a big way at one of the pioneers in the field: the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.

Building on its strengths in accounting, finance and marketing management, the school launched its sales degree curriculum in 1998. So far, about 80 students have graduated with such degrees.

Most have diplomas in business-to-business sales, the first of three sales concentrations to be offered at St. Kate's starting in 1999. In 2001, the school added two more concentrations, in financial services sales and medical sales.

Today, about 100 of the 450 students in the college's business administration department are working toward sales degrees.

Nine companies - 3M Co., American Express Financial Advisors, Pfizer, Ecolab, ING, Norstan, Northwest Airlines, Tennant and Wells Fargo - have invested a combined $1.7 million in sales partnerships with St. Kate's.

Marjorie Mathison Hance, chairwoman of the department, led the effort to develop the sales degree programs. She joined the school in 1993 after 12 years at Honeywell, the last of three as national sales manager.

St. Kate's was one of the first to offer such degrees. Mathison Hance thinks fewer than five sales degree programs existed in 1998 and probably fewer than 15 today.

Jimmie Gaulden, a talent manager for 3M, says the company's first hire with a sales degree was Amy Miller, who graduated from St. Kate's in 1999. 3M's first student intern working toward a sales degree was also from the college. Today, the company has sales intern programs with St. Kate's and seven other universities.

"What has happened is that schools like the College of St. Catherine have put some discipline and credibility around the profession of sales," says Gaulden. The sales degree concentrations are drawing highly talented students, he explains. "They hit the ground running."

At St. Kate's, compelling pay and benefits are driving the trend toward careers in sales. St. Kate's sales graduates command starting salaries of $40,000 to $55,000, above the average for the school's business graduates. What's more, these jobs typically include a bonus and use of a company car.

The school offers eight courses in sales.

The selling process is very complex, calls for strategic thinking and requires good listening skills, say Mathison Hance.

"You have to understand finance, and how you can help grow a customer's business," she says. "It's more about bringing resources to solving problems than the glitzy end of sales."

Last Thursday, seven students wrapped up their summer internships with power point presentations to faculty members and students at the school. Among them was Lorayne Etoll, a senior from St. Paul who was one of 3M's 24 sales interns this year. She worked with the company's ESPE dental products unit, traveling from Florida to Maine for training.

She spent nights and weekends studying the company's dental products and figuring out how to sell them.

"I don't think I ever quit working this summer," she jokes.

All told, she visited nearly 200 dental offices. She sold products she never dreamed she could sell. It's the flip side of the dark world conveyed by "Death of a Salesman."

And today, as St. Kate's experience illustrates, the salesmen have been joined by saleswomen.

Dave Beal can be reached at dbeal@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5429.