Sales Internship

The UF Sales Minor helps fulfill key elements of the strategic vision of the College and University by strengthening our curriculum, preparing and managing the expectations of our graduates, and generating increased interest from recruiters and sponsors. The primary goal is to augment student’s education with the knowledge and skills necessary to be top-notch consultative sellers to make them more competitive and satisfied post-graduation.

Students graduating with a sales minor should demonstrate a knowledge of the industry. Currently, we have a growing number of opportunities for students each year, with some companies rapidly expanding. Internships must be vetted for proper mentoring and growth. The purpose of this document is to outline the components of an acceptable Sales Internship in order to satisfy the intent of its inclusion in the Sales Minor curriculum requirements.

Ideal Internship Sponsoring Companies

The ideal sponsoring company for our Internship program should meet all or a large portion of the following criteria:

• An established company with more than 3 years of successful operations.
• A workforce consisting of at least 50 employees and a dedicated sales organization.
• A salesforce focused on outbound sales rather than one utilizing inbound sales requests, online-only sales initiation or walk-in business.
• A dedicated sales management function with established training and development programs for both interns and newly-hired sales professionals.
• A clear focus on quality human resource management techniques, specifically excluding a “churn and burn” style of using interns as temporary labor.

Acceptable Internship Experiences

To satisfy the Sales Internship requirements of the UF Sales Minor, the student must have spent a minimum of 150 hours in an outbound sales functional area across (ideally) eight weeks. The student must have been exposed to the full range of tasks associated with the operation of a successful sales organization and immersed in a major functional sales area. This would include all or a major portion of the following functions:

• Creating sales strategies as a part of a sales team.
• Assisting with the generation of sales leads.
• Researching potential prospective customers.
• Assisting with the preparation of sales presentations or supporting documentation.
• Supporting and actively assisting experienced sales professionals with the completion of their daily tasks.
• Attending sales meetings or sales calls along with experienced sales staff.
• Preparing sales reports, sales forecasts or competitive sales analysis.
• Attending continuing sales education classes along with experienced sales staff.
• Anything else that provides total immersion in a face-to-face or B2B sales role.

Unacceptable Internship Experiences

The following list provides examples of internships that do not satisfy the requirement:

• Purely administrative or clerical sales support.
• Online, call-in or click-and-buy sales processes.
• Working in a call center primarily designed to answer questions or respond to inbound requests.
• Personal consumer goods selling such as retail “walk-in” business or door-to-door sales.
• Any sales activity that involves high quotas of cold-calling using a memorized phone script, standardized email or social media campaign as the main sales process.

Internship Course Credit

Ideally, students should register for an internship course. Students who may be using this experience for two requirements (ie Advertising Major and Sales Minor) may register the other internship course. In that case, use the “Sales Internship Completion” document once the internship is complete. All students should complete the proposal form to ensure the internship meets requirements and so we have documentation. Students who submit an acceptable completion form post-internship will receive an email with an approval, rejection, or requisition for more information. The approval email can be forwarded to the appropriate advisor or university official to demonstration completion of the requirement.

For students choosing the sales-specific internship course, please understand The minimum number of hours you must work at your internship to earn credit per Warrington College guidelines. You may work more hours, but cannot work fewer for the corresponding credit hours. Remember you only need 1 credit hour to meet the internship requirement. Please review the tuition and fees for the cost of this course.

• 1 Credit Hour: work 150 hours or more
• 2 Credit Hours: work 260 hours or more
• 3 Credit Hours: work 370 hours or more
• 4 Credit Hours: work 480 hours or more

To avoid a late-registration fee, Students who wish to register for internship credit must complete the proposal form below allowing sufficient time for us to complete the registration before the end of the drop-add period. As we manually add students, this means giving 48 hours before 4:00 of the last day of drop-add. This will help avoid holds or technical problems from delaying your registration beyond the drop-add period. The list of deadlines is maintained by the registrar and students are responsible for knowing these dates.

Documentation

Prior to accepting an internship position, the student should submit the Sales Internship Proposal to ensure compliance with the above criteria. Dr. Dennis DiPasquale will become the Supervising Faculty for that student’s internship. The proposal should include the company name, location, sales supervisor, human resources contact and relevant phone numbers and email addresses along with a 2-3 paragraph description of the internship assignment. Include a job description provided by the company.

At the midpoint of the internship, a brief email should be submitted to the Supervising Faculty Member providing an update on progress.

Upon completing the internship, the student should submit the Sales Internship Completion form outlining specific duties performed, key activities, project completion, team participation and other sales immersion of any kind. Also include the names and contact information of the supervisors if they have changed during the internship.

The Supervising Faculty Member will review the documentation, confirm all information and approve or disapprove the internship’s qualification for satisfying the criteria. The faculty member may request additional information or to meet with the student, especially if the firm is not a whitelisted partner or sponsor listed below:

• Sales Internship Proposal
• Sales Internship Completion
• Sales Internship Employer Certification