Maldonado Global Sales Institute Proposal

THE MALDONADO GLOBAL SALES INSTITUTE

A proposal prepared for Eric ’86 and Sandra ’89 Maldonado

“Business students are unicorns – they’re smart, they’re multilingual, and they’re ready to hustle.”

—Eric Maldonado ‘86

The Maldonado family clearly knows the value of higher education, persistence, and the power of philanthropy. Your generous contributions to Florida International University created the Global Scholars Program at FIU Business, bringing top business students to New York City—the ultimate business destination—while simultaneously offering students something else just as valuable: access to your personal business acumen and experiencing for themselves the tremendous power of networking. As FIU alumni, you have shown students the value of alumni connections.

We enthusiastically present to you, Eric and Sandi, what we envision as the perfect combination of the type of entrepreneurial, self-starting business spirit you have come to embody along with the high goals and aspirations of your alma mater and FIU Business:

THE MALDONADO GLOBAL SALES INSTITUTE

MEETING THE GROWING NEED FOR A SALES SKILLSET

Business, law, education, politics, medicine, engineering—nearly every field requires some degree of sales skills. And the need is expanding, often well outside the scope of what many consider professions that require selling. The need to build relationships and solve problems remotely is increasing. Developing and practicing the skills to do this is necessary in our increasingly digital world. However, many colleges and universities ignore sales training in their curricula. It is also true that outside of the continental U.S., the training barely exists.

Faculty at FIU Business recognized the need to fill this vacuum, and formed the Global Sales Program—to build the next generation of sales professionals. We recognize both an industry demand for students prepared to sell using the latest tools, and the student desire to acquire the sales skillset so often called upon but historically acquired only “on the job.”

“Our vision is that the FIU Global Bilingual Sales Competition will serve as a venue for Spanish-English bilingual students and educators who want to invest in developing a global sales force.”

— Nancy Rauseo, Marketing Department senior lecturer and director of the FIU Business Global Sales Program.

Statistically, more than 50% of college graduates in the United States, regardless of their major, are likely to become salespeople. However, of the over 4,000 colleges in this country, only a few dozen have sales programs or offer sales courses.

(Source: GrowthPlay, Causes and Cost of Unwanted Turnover)

MEETING STUDENT AND INDUSTRY DEMAND

The Global Sales Program (sales.fiu.edu) was developed to offer the kind of training most professionals will employ in their respective field, and in response to both student interest in sales and industry preference for graduates with sales know-how. Our program currently supports FIU Business in offering students a Certificate in Sales and Customer Relationship Management (pursued by 863 students over the past six years) as well as a minor in Professional Sales. We also host The Sales Society at FIU, a student group open to all majors—in this way, we meet the desire for sales education and experience for students enrolled outside the business major.

The Global Sales Program prepares future professionals, not solely for careers in sales, but with a skillset to facilitate advancement in nearly all professions. Its Lab, featuring twelve rooms with state-of-the-art recording facilities, is where learners are recorded and observed presenting to a potential client. Along with their professors, students may then review and critique their performance during and after the simulated situations. The Lab is frequented by over 500 students each semester to conduct role plays, sales team meetings, sales presentations, elevator pitches, inside sales calls, and more.

An article in The Atlantic, titled “The Least Diverse Jobs in America,” shows sales among the least diverse fields in the nation, with over 78% of sales professionals being white. As a minority-serving institution, FIU seeks to address unbalanced representation such as this in higher education and in the daily lives of our alumni and community as a whole.

The Program hosts two sales competitions—the Panther Sales Tournament and the Global Bilingual Sales Competition—both providing experiential learning, exposure to networking, national recognition, and the only bilingual sales contest in the Americas.

The Panther Sales Tournament

Each fall, over 70 undergraduates, from any major, compete over three days in several rounds of simulated fast-paced sales meetings with business professionals serving as the buyers, they participate in networking sessions, and benefit from a mentoring seminar. The ultimate goal is to land an internship or job with one of the companies represented. Participants also have the chance to win scholarships.

The Global Bilingual Sales Competition

Over 60 students from ten different universities and 30 companies gathering from around the world to compete in English and Spanish make this unlike any other sales competition. Universities may send a team of four competitors, at least one of whom must compete in Spanish. The judges consist of sales faculty and professionals from global organizations. Exposure to corporate professionals and networking provides opportunities for employment in international sales, where bilingual sales expertise is a must.

Miami’s location and role as a hub for Latin American business and tourism combined with the Global Sales Program at FIU Business make FIU the perfect place for global, bilingual sales and business education.

The Sales Society

The Sales Society—an FIU student organization—meets each week during the fall and spring semesters. Activities include workshops, panel discussions, roundtable discussions, industry nights, information sessions, corporate tours, mock competitions, and social events. Society members may receive invitations to job interviews and offers for internships and full-time positions as a result of their participation.

Learn more at salessocietyfiu.com

FUTURE GROWTH—OUR VISION

According to the World Economic Forum, sales-related jobs are one of the top five growth areas of employment. In addition to traditional business skills, so-called “soft skills”—areas like empathy, relationship building, critical thinking, research, listening—are essential, particularly in sales. As we move to a new business normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, the way we connect and build relationships with customers will change. There is no map to guide corporations and students in the new business environment. We believe that the best way to predict the future is to invent it, and we are ready to rethink the sales process in a post-COVID era as we train the next generation of sales professionals.

A well-trained sales graduate is especially attractive to industry along with the need to reduce training and other costs associated with a sales force; this creates an even greater demand for qualified sales professionals. Our students make a positive impact on the company immediately.

In addition, to extend our contribution to the business community, the Global Sales Program is planning to offer executive sales training and certification to enhance and re-enforce sales and sales management concepts to businesses in Florida and beyond. The Maldonado Global Sales Institute will bridge this gap by supplying professional business sales graduates to organizations that need them and also helping those organizations to overcome their continuous sales enablement challenges.

Currently, FIU’s Sales Lab is supported purely by corporate sponsors on an annual basis and is consequently susceptible to economic trends. We seek to secure the funding that will introduce stability to the program and take it to the next level by creating the Institute and cementing the future of sales training permanently into the foundation of business education at FIU.

Your $3,000,000 gift would establish the Maldonado Global Sales Institute at FIU. These funds would enable the program to add more qualified faculty, maintain and upgrade cutting-edge technology, reach more students, and ultimately ensure the success of the program for years to come. Additionally, you will enable us to hire a dedicated sales program director and support staff, and attract leading sales faculty from around the world.

We envision FIU Sales as a uniquely positioned, bilingual, top-ranked sales program. With your support, the creation of an institute focused on sales education and research will put FIU at the start of that journey.

The FIU Sales Program is one of FIU Business’s most successful and popular, yet it operates on funds raised from corporate sponsors which unfortunately translates to little year-to-year stability and no ability to grow.

HOW WE GET THERE

Our plan includes a three-year timeline to meet our goals of becoming a USCA member (key to becoming a top-ranked sales program is membership in the University Sales Center Alliance (USCA)) and the go-to place for global, multilingual sales education. By the end of 2023, the Maldonado Global Sales Institute will be the top multilingual sales educational resource in the Americas. As the Maldonado Global Sales Institute, we will be able to fill these key areas in academics, faculty, administration, technology, and industry engagement via an advisory board.

LAUNCH OF THE MALDONADO GLOBAL SALES INSTITUTE

To promote the Institute, we envision rolling out a comprehensive marketing plan that meshes with FIU’s established branding and FIU Business’s highly regarded reputation. Widely celebrated by FIU Business, the launch of the Institute will call for a signing event to be held at the College to honor your gift and our partnership. FIU BizNews will announce and promote the new partnership, while FIU’s and the College’s extensive social media presence will cross promote the new Institute. As state universities see a post-COVID-19 rise in enrollment (“Why Some State Universities are Seeing an Influx,” The New York Times, June 22, 2020) the Institute will serve as a powerful FIU recruiting tool.

Current assets of the Sales Program

• Global Sales Program

• Sales & CRM Certification

• Sales Minor

• Three FT faculty, One to Two Adjuncts

• One Program Coordinator

• One Program Assistant (Temp)

• Role Play Recording Technology

• SalesForce & HubSpot CRM

• The Maldonado Global Sales Institute*

• Sales & CRM Certification

• Sales Minor

• Executive Education Certificate*

• Three FT Faculty, Two to Three Adjuncts*

• One Maldonado Sales Institute Director*

• One Program Manager*

• One Program Coordinator

• Role Play AI App Technology*

• Virtual Role Playing*

• Five Member Sales Institute Advisory Board*

• GPSC +USCA Certification*

• Sales & CRM Certification

• Sales Minor

• Executive Education Certificate

• MsC in Professional Sales & Sales Management (face to face)*

• One Journal Publication

• Four FT Faculty*, Two to Three Adjuncts

• One Maldonado Sales Institute Director

• One Program Manager

• One Program Coordinator

• Team Presentations*

• Webcasts/podcasts*

• Seven Member Sales Institute Advisory Board*

*Accomplishments met incrementally as the Maldonado Global Sales Institute

• Develop key partnerships with three to four universities in Latin America*

• Sales & CRM Certification

• Sales Minor

• Executive Education Certificate

• MsC in Professional Sales & Sales Management / face to face + Online

• Two Journal Publications*

• Four FT Faculty, Three to Four Adjuncts*

• One Maldonado Sales Institute Director

• One Program Manager

• Two Program Coordinators*

• Team Presentations

• Webcasts/podcasts

• Eleven Member Sales Institute Advisory Board*

In three years we will: become a USCA-Certified Sales Center; align our academic component to the needs of the market; expand teaching resources and faculty to accommodate growth of the sales program; efficiently and effectively manage the program; leverage the Maldonado name to achieve self-sufficiency with appropriate and growing funding levels; create an advisory board that includes sponsors, community representatives, and faculty.

Though still relatively unusual in higher education, sales education is coming on strong.

In late 2018, William Paterson University became the first sales program in the nation to offer an executive M.S. degree in Sales Leadership. The Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales at the University of Toledo, for example, offers a bachelor’s degree in professional sales and within the last two years began an MBA degree offering a concentration in sales. Other universities are clearly seeing the need for sales education.

Given FIU Business’s faculty expertise and high rankings, its large capacity for online learning, FIU’s bilingual community, student eagerness, and location at the global hub of the Americas, it is also clear we are more than ready and willing to meet the competition and excel with the many unique resources that set us apart from other institutions.

FIU BUSINESS— A GREAT PLACE TO INVEST IN THE NEXT

Faculty at FIU Business have created a culture of persistence and excellence. And our students consistently rise to meet and exceed this challenge. We continue to innovate with programs to meet business and student needs. We have long offered flexible online programs, weekend and Saturdays-only programs, and offer business education at the Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay Campuses and at the FIU Downtown on Brickell location.

Florida International University continues to make history. We have reached milestone after milestone in the relatively short time since first opening our doors to students. What our accomplished alumni give back now will outlast trends and fluctuations. Your support and involvement will become firmly cemented as part of FIU’s legacy and your own. We hope to see the Maldonado name—the name of one of our most visible and highlighted alumni— permanently affixed within FIU Business.

Eric and Sandi, you’ve made a tremendous difference for students in the Maldonado Global Scholars Program; now is the time to build upon the Maldonado Scholars and further enhance the Maldonado legacy within FIU Business, the university, and the professional sales community with the creation of the Maldonado Global Sales Institute at FIU.