What Are Students’ Perceptions of Personal Selling as a Career?

Abstract

An understanding of the perceptions of students toward personal selling is an important area of study. Personal selling is a critical marketing activity that accounts for a major portion of the revenue generation for any company. Those who sell the products are the life blood of an organization. Absent the ability to sell products and services, a company is in serious jeopardy of losing its competitive edge and its worth as a company. Recruiting future sales professionals is vital to the continued success and sustainability of business entities. This study surveys and investigates students’ perceptions of the selling profession. A major finding of our study indicates that, overall, there is no significant difference between a male or female student’s perceptions of a sales career. Additionally, there was a significant difference between non-business majors and business majors in their desire to enter the selling field. Students who had family members affiliated with the sales field had some major differences in opinions on several factors.