The NIU Professional Sales Program has a relationship with 14 industry leaders.

The companies include Phillip Morris USA, Cintas Corporation, Experian and Liberty Mutual.

The idea of a partnership started with requests from different companies to enter the classrooms, said Dan Weilbaker, Philip Morris USA professor of sales.

Companies are evaluated in terms of similar goals and commitment to the program.

“We always want to make sure that our philosophies about selling are at least congruent with each other,” Weilbaker said. “We look for people that want to be here for the long term.”

Weilbaker, along with Enterprise Rent-a-Car professor of sales Rick Ridnour, looked at similar programs implemented at Indiana University and the University of Houston.

In conjunction with Weilbaker and Ridnour, a select committee from the Sales Advisory Board, which consists of 42 companies, developed the partnership program.

The partnerships will eventually generate about $200,000 a year for the sales program. Companies are placed in one of four levels depending on the amount donated to the program. At the end of three years companies will pay $5,000 to $25,000 a year.

Julie Madsen, the regional recruiting supervisor for Enterprise Rent-a-Car, says her company hires many NIU graduates from the program.

“We’ve reached our target audience, and we felt it was time to reciprocate with some funding,” she said.

At the presidential level, a company has the right to name a professorship in the program, which allows for supplemental pay to encourage faculty retention. The money raised from the corporate sponsorships will also help the program recruit new faculty.

Gregory Allen, regional manager for business sales at Liberty Mutual, thinks the partnership is a win-win situation for both his company and the program.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to recruit sales people,” Allen said. “From a corporate perspective, it’s a good investment both in time and money.”

Allen and Madsen are impressed with the program and the real-world experience the students receive.

The sales program will begin an executive-in-residence program in August, when students will have the chance to interact with the likes of “The Relationship Edge in Business” author Jerry Acuff.

Weilbaker said the sales program is also in the process of bringing in faculty from overseas for short periods of time.

“The money that we raise with this partnership program is allowing us to do those kinds of things,” he said.

This sponsorship enabled the program to take over the publication of The Journal of Selling and Major Account Management, which will begin printing the first quarter of 2006.

The academic journal will allow faculty to publish articles and presents an opportunity for students to gain more experience.

“Eventually, it may become a project in one of the sales classes to sell subscriptions,” Weilbaker said.