You believe your students need a sales program. Your dean needs a different reason to say yes.

That's the gap we dug into with Dr. Travis Simkins, Department Chair of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Sales & Analytics at Southern Utah University.

Travis took his department from two and a half faculty members to sixteen in under three years, and he walked us through exactly how he got administration to say yes to a new sales major.

Why SUU Built a Sales Program

  • Travis explains how marketing at SUU used to be folded into other departments, with almost no dedicated faculty.
  • He read an article from the B2B Institute that changed his thinking. It argued the next hundred years of marketing would be built on B2B, not B2C.
  • That idea became the pitch he used to convince the university to give marketing its own home.


Turning a Minor Into the Fastest-Growing Program on Campus

  • Travis walks through how the Mesa department combined marketing, entrepreneurship, sales, and analytics under one roof.
  • He shares how COVID actually helped the case for a sales major, because it proved marketing and sales careers could work remotely and pay well.
  • Within three years, the department grew from two and a half faculty members to sixteen.


How to Sell a New Major to Administration

  • Travis breaks down the two things that move a department chair or provost: hard numbers and education.
  • He talks about showing administrators real job listings and real starting salaries, not just enthusiasm.
  • We also talk about how sales skills transfer across industries once a student learns the fundamentals.


Building a Pipeline of Students

  • Travis explains how paid student "sales ambassadors" recruit other students into the major.
  • He shares how SUU built concurrent enrollment agreements with local high schools, so students can earn college sales credit before they graduate.
  • These recruiting efforts are what took the minor from 50 students to 75, and kept it growing.


Bringing Industry Partners Into the Classroom

  • Travis describes the sales advisory board SUU built, made up of paying industry professionals who help shape the curriculum.
  • He talks about "Sales Never Fails," a campus competition that gets local and regional companies involved as judges and sponsors.
  • He also shares why SUU built a sales psychology course after watching a talented graduate burn out within a year.


Managing the Space Between Faculty and Administration

  • Travis reflects on the hardest part of being a department chair: balancing what faculty need with what administration wants.
  • His advice for professors pitching a new program: bring data, bring a plan for measuring success, and make the case in terms your dean already cares about.


"The nice thing about sales is you can learn to be a better salesperson. Once you learn how to be a good salesperson, you can sell anything in any industry if you're trained on the specific knowledge." — Dr. Travis Simkins

Resources


Rss
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Donald C. Kelly & Dr. Bj Allen. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Donald C. Kelly & Dr. Bj Allen och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.