The Sales Excellence Institute (SEI)

The Sales Excellence Institute (SEI) comprises the Program for Excellence in Selling (PES), the Strategic Selling and Customer Relationship Management Center, and the Global Sales Research Center.  The mission of SEI is to be a global hub for sales and sales management education and research, which is accomplished by the following initiatives.

PES is the leading undergraduate education curriculum in the United States.  From a pool of approximately 1200 students per year taking the Introduction to Professional Selling course, ten percent are accepted into the Program to continue their education in sales and sales management best practices by completing Advanced Professional Selling, Customer Relationship Management, and Sales Management.  This course sequence leads to certification in professional selling.  PES students can also take this sequence and declare sales as a minor beginning with those graduating in the Fall of 2005.  For the Advanced Professional Selling Certificate, PES students must also apply and be selected to take Key Accounts Selling.  The PES curriculum is open to all majors and is unique in its blend of theory and practice; students engage in live selling throughout the Program. Graduates typically join the Program Partner companies, which are companies that invest annually in PES.

The Strategic Selling and Customer Relationship Management Center is an outreach program for current sales and sales management professionals interested in enhancing their education.  The professional sales trainers teaching in this center are award-winning instructors and are capable of customizing sales and sales management training to fit various industries and company cultures. 

The Global Sales Research Center leads the above-mentioned centers by conducting state-of-the-art research on issues concerning sales management and disseminating information that guides sales force management practice. Drs. Michael Ahearne, Steven Brown and Eli Jones publish their research findings in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and the Journal of Business Research. This survey-based research is conducted via companies providing access to their sales forces.  Through a partnership with the Vlerick-Leuven Gent Management School (www.vlerick.be), the Global Sales Research Center is able to survey sales forces in the U.S. and in Europe. 

The three centers combined provide a "One Stop" means for generating and disseminating knowledge in the sales and sales management field. Feel free to contact us for additional information concerning SEI.