Job opportunities in the field of professional sales are fast growing, with sales organizations striving to hire sales students who are prepared to embark on a sales career. Unfortunately, university business programs and faculty often lack the resources necessary to thoroughly prepare students for a sales career, or to expose them to career opportunities within their local market. This research posits an intracollegiate sales competition as a tool to benefit students, corporate partners, business schools, and faculty, and in doing so, provides considerations and best practices for initiating a competition. The findings of two additional studies provide empirical evidence suggesting that after competing in a sales competition, students have an increased perception of sales careers, an enhanced knowledge of the sales process, and an increased intent to pursue a sales career after graduation. Furthermore, student competitors’ perceived preparedness for a sales career fully mediates their intent to pursue one. Additionally, competitors had better learning outcomes than students completing a traditional in-class role-play activity.

专业销售领域的工作机会正在迅速增长，销售组织努力聘请准备从事销售职业的销售学生。不幸的是，大学的商业课程和教职员工通常缺乏必要的资源，无法为学生做好充分的销售职业准备或使他们接触当地市场的职业机会。这项研究提出了大学内部的销售竞争，以此作为使学生，公司合作伙伴，商学院和教职员工受益的工具，并以此为发起竞争提供了考虑因素和最佳实践。另外两项研究的结果提供了经验证据，表明在参加销售竞赛后，学生对销售职业的认识有所提高，对销售过程的了解也有所提高，毕业后追求销售职业的意愿增强。此外，学生竞争者对销售职业的感知准备充分调解了他们追求销售职业的意图。此外，与完成传统的课堂角色扮演活动的学生相比，竞争对手的学习成果更好。