‘Skill Meets Opportunity’ in College’s New Sales Lab

 23 Sep 2015   Posted by Morehouse News

Photo caption: State Farm agent Clyde Hill Jr. unveils the plaque bearing the State Farm name outside one of two classrooms for the State Farm Insurance Sales Lab.

By Shandra Hill Smith

It’s a place where “skill meets opportunity,” and on Sept. 22, the Morehouse community got a closer look at the new State Farm Insurance Sales Lab during an unveiling ceremony in the Walter E. Massey Leadership Building.

Featuring four rooms—two classrooms, an interview room and a meeting room—the lab allows students to take part in mock sales presentations and employment interviews. Students are able to record and store their presentations, calls and interviews, and to self-critique and receive feedback from professors and sales-industry professionals.

The lab is run by the marketing program of the Business Administration department and is available to students pursuing a sales minor, as well as those in other disciplines outside of marketing.

State Farm funded the lab with $87,938. Twenty sales agents from metropolitan Atlanta and other parts of the Southeast collectively donated $30,000, which was matched by State Farm Companies Foundation. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company provided the remaining $27,938.

“We couldn’t be more proud of this partnership,” said Launey Jason of State Farm’s Agency Filled Leadership. “Our involvement is just bringing some real-world [experience] to the classroom to help enhance [students’] sales skills in whatever profession they go into.

Cassandra Wells, marketing program director and associate professor, said the lab has been running since the College began offering the sales minor in August 2014.

During critiques, she said, students are able to go directly to the area where they’re receiving feedback thanks to INTERACT University Sales Lab technology through Alpharetta-based cenergyIT.

“If 10 minutes into the video, I pause it and say ‘you should not have said as many ums and ahs at this point,’ when the student sees that comment it takes them exactly to where it was,” said Wells. “They don’t have to pause to try to find it.”

Following the unveiling, Wells led the group on a tour of the two third-floor classrooms and the second-floor interview and meeting rooms.

As part of the partnership with State Farm, agents will be able to coach and mentor students in the sales minor program. During the summer, 15 students completed internships throughout metro Atlanta State Farm offices.

“They’re seeing successful sales agents and owners, and that’s something a lot of students won’t see unless they are a sales minor,” said Wells.

Morehouse Marketing Association president Keyon Branch is a graduating senior pursuing a minor in sales.

“It’s meant a lot for me to see a company like State Farm come in and invest, and really put their faith in the students of Morehouse,” he said.

Nearly half of the State Farm sales agents who donated to the lab installation were on hand for the unveiling, including Clyde Hill Jr., who unveiled the plaque bearing the lab name outside one of the classrooms.

Also attending were cenergyIT CEO Haywood Pulliam and Morehouse general counsel and chief of staff Lacrecia Cade, who spoke on behalf of the President’s Office.

“Entrepreneurship is so engrained in the values that we cherish here at Morehouse,” said Cade. “We look very forward to a long partnership with State Farm and the agents here. To the students, I really hope you all will take advantage of these opportunities.”

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