Professional Selling Students Develop Critical Business Skills at Top Gun Training

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Students and executives pose for a group photo during Top Gun Training on Friday, January 12.

Approximately 150 ProSales students and Center for Professional Selling Advisory Board members, Ambassador Board members and Corporate Partners participated in a networking lunch and workshops on managing difficult discussions in the workplace with colleagues, supervisors and customers. The program provided students the opportunity to brainstorm with executives on real-life scenarios during breakout sessions throughout the afternoon. Six ProSales Seniors presented the program: Bradley Baniewicz, Claire Brown, KC Fox, Ben Hooper, Lauren Rosen, and Clay Tinkham. The entire training program was written by Baylor Alumni ’17 Mark McMullen, while he was a joint JD/MBA student.

“Top Gun continues to be a fantastic event,” shared one executive. “The cases provided were relevant to current business situations students will encounter in the workplace. Students were vocal, engaged and polished.”

This Top Gun program focused on tips and strategies for approaching, managing and following through with difficult discussions. “I think all the students are able to hear firsthand examples of certain situations that have occurred to real business executives, which is so valuable,” shared a ProSales student. Another student commented, “I loved spending time with the executives and getting their insight. These are conversations I wouldn’t get at a career fair, and they all seemed eager to share with us.”

Implemented in Fall 2013, Top Gun Training takes place at the beginning of each semester and is designed to equip students with the necessary tools to succeed in the marketplace. “We believe in providing our undergraduate and graduate students with real-life learning opportunities,” noted Dr. Andrea Dixon, Executive Director of Baylor’s Center for Professional Selling. “Mark McMullen did a fantastic job developing the program’s content and more than a dozen exercises. Our student leaders refined the program and engaged an audience of close to 150 for several hours. These Top Gun programs are as good as any national sales meetings offered by Fortune 500 companies.”

About the Center for Professional Selling
Dedicated to excellence in sales education and based in the university’s Hankamer School of Business, the Center for Professional Selling is recognized as one of the premier global information resources for the sales profession. For more information on the Center for Professional Selling, visit https://hankamer.baylor.edu/prosales.