NIU students are testing their sales acumen thanks to NIU’s inaugural Professional Sales Showcase which began Oct. 1 and continues through Oct. 15. Over the course of the two weeks, nearly 200 sales students are taking part in the unique contest that tests their phone skills and face-to-face sales skills in a role-play situation. “All students...

Updates: Days 1 and 2 on the #NIUSalesBus Days 3 and 4 on the #NIUSalesBus   On a blustery December morning, when most of their classmates were experiencing the joys of sleeping late on the first day of Winter Break, 24 students from the NIU College of Business were boarding a bus for a whirlwind...

No matter how many obituaries are written for the shopping mall – no matter how many love letters are penned to the e-tailers of the Internet – millions of Americans are poised to once again defy the conventional wisdom. With stomachs full of turkey and mashed potatoes – or maybe not – they will trade...

A team of five students from the NIU College of Business’ Professional Sales Program took third place in the 2014 National Team Selling Competition, held Oct. 16 and 17 at Indiana University. “We have been participating in this competition for many years, and I believe that this is the highest finish ever for an NIU...

NIU’s Gamma Zeta chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon recently competed on the national level against 40 other chapters and was awarded for its outstanding performance. Members of the Gamma Zeta chapter gave on-site oral presentations and placed second overall in three competitions: Top Marketing Project, Top Management Team and Top Gold Chapter. The chapter, which...

Seasoned sales professionals love to tell war stories about the pressure of trying to close a deal. Very few of them, however, have faced anything like the finals of the World Collegiate Sales Open, held Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at the NIU College of Business. There, the final four contestants had to...

NIU College of Business seniors Paul Nowak and Corey Kravitz won high honors at the 2011 Russ Berrie Institute National Sales Challenge at William Paterson University. At the November competition, teams of sales students from some of the nation’s leading business programs interacted with representatives from major corporations in competitive events. Those included a sales...

NIU marketing professor Robert Peterson is a big believer in learning by doing – and he is not afraid to put his money where his mouth is. “In the past, I have loaned each of my students $20 for 10 weeks and told them to create a product or service, sell it and make as...