Partnership merges professional sales development with academic coursework to equip students for careers in business-to-business sales
Mastering a structured sales approach gives students an advantage they can apply from their very first job and continue using throughout their professional lives.”— Matt Sunshine, CEO of The Center for Sales Strategy
The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), a top provider of sales performance solutions and training, has joined forces with faculty members at SUNY Brockport’s School of Business and Management to introduce professional sales training into the academic setting, enabling students to gain practical skills that translate directly to their future jobs.
CSS has built a specialized portal for SUNY Brockport within its digital Learning Lab, offering students access to chosen coursework from the Sales Accelerator. This initiative goes beyond theoretical sales understanding, concentrating instead on the practical application of selling—converting sales principles into usable abilities and a systematic approach that professional sellers rely on.
The virtual training is supplemented by classroom sessions led by Michael Doyle, adjunct lecturer and former Interim Dean of SUNY Brockport’s School of Business and Management. Employing a flipped-classroom model, Doyle assigns CSS coursework for completion outside of class and leverages in-person time to solidify key ideas through real-world scenarios, hands-on activities, group dialogue, and chances for students to apply what they have learned.
“Standard academic coursework gives a solid grounding in sales theory, but my goal was to place a stronger focus on skill-building,” said Doyle. “With the CSS online modules, I can flip the classroom—using the training as homework and dedicating class sessions to case studies and exercises that make those ideas tangible.”
Doyle contributes 35 years of expertise in media sales and leadership to his teaching role, having retired in 2020 as President of Sales Operations for Entercom, now Audacy. Throughout his career, he developed and delivered sales and management training programs and also participated in CSS training himself.
“I went through CSS training back in the 1990s with their outstanding in-person sales and management programs, so I was confident the material would be top-notch,” Doyle said. “My role is to make that material come alive through in-person case studies that give these students the chance to practice the skills they are learning online.”
For over four decades, CSS has partnered with sales teams to transform sales knowledge into practical skills, methods, and behaviors that boost performance. Integrating the Sales Accelerator into SUNY Brockport’s curriculum brings that expertise to students at an earlier stage of their professional growth, enhancing their academic learning with exposure to the real-world abilities they will need in a professional sales role.
“Learning a repeatable sales process gives students a skill set they can carry with them from their first job throughout their entire career,” said Matt Sunshine, CEO of The Center for Sales Strategy. “We have spent decades helping professional salespeople turn sales knowledge into actionable skills, and bringing this training into the college classroom gives us the opportunity to begin that development even earlier. These students can enter the workforce understanding not just what sales is, but how to sell in a way that helps customers achieve meaningful results.”
For Doyle, that early exposure can give students an important advantage as they begin their careers. “Giving college students this head start in professional B2B sales gives them a leg up upon graduation and a great start to a sales career,” Doyle said.
INTRODUCING PROFESSIONAL SALES TRAINING INTO HIGHER EDUCATION
The use of Sales Accelerator at SUNY Brockport demonstrates one way CSS’s professional sales training can complement sales education in a higher-education setting.
Building on this experience, CSS sees broader potential to work with faculty and programs at other colleges and universities looking to complement sales education with practical skills development and exposure to proven professional sales processes. For students, that means entering the workforce with greater familiarity with the skills and behaviors expected in professional sales environments. For employers, it creates the potential for a new generation of sales professionals who begin their careers with a stronger foundation for success.
“We would love to see more universities teaching professional sales and giving students the opportunity to practice these skills before they enter the workforce,” Sunshine said. “There is tremendous potential to connect what students are learning in the classroom with what successful sales organizations need from their people. We see this as an opportunity to help prepare the next generation of sales professionals while giving employers access to graduates who are better prepared to contribute from the start.”
The Center for Sales Strategy works with organizations to improve sales performance through talent, training, and tactics. More information about CSS and its approach to sales training is available at TheCenterforSalesStrategy.com.
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SALES STRATEGY
Founded in 1983, The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) has grown to serve hundreds of clients annually across a spectrum of industries. For over 40 years, CSS has focused on improving sales performance as it helps sales organizations turn talent into performance and develop the highest-performing sales professionals. Its approach to customer-focused selling and talent-focused management has always been, and continues to be, core to its clients' success and the organization's success. CSS is joined by LeadG2, its revenue operations agency, Up Your Culture, its employee engagement and company culture division, and Robertson Lowstuter, its executive coaching firm, to help organizations achieve total revenue performance. To learn more about The Center for Sales Strategy and its portfolio of brands, visit TotalRevenuePerformance.com.
Shaye Smith
The Center for Sales Strategy
shayesmith@csscenter.com
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