Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 Aug. 12, 1997 EUGENE--University of Oregon business student Tia Christiansen is learning about the "Softer Side of Sears" this summer, thanks to a UO program that teaches students how to use salesmanship to climb to the top. To help students develop the skills they will need to succeed in sales, the UO Business and Industrial Sales Program combines formal class work, extracurricular activities and work experience. Christiansen, a student at the UO Lundquist College of Business, is spending the summer as an intern in Sears' national management training program at the company's Tigard store. Sears college recruiter Van Dam says the strategies Christiansen learned in the UO Business and Industrial Sales program gave her an edge over other candidates for Sears internship. "Ninety percent of the students I come in contact with cannot sell themselves," says Dam. Christiansen, he says, was among the other ten percent. That's one reason he hired her. "If you can't sell yourself, how do you expect to persuade customers to buy our products?" he asks. Eugene businessman Randy Papè agrees. "Selling is the heart and soul of most companies," Papè says. "Yet our new hires--many of whom come to us with master's degrees in business administration--consistently don't have any idea of what selling is all about." Papè, president and CEO of the Papè Group of companies, last year took his concerns to the Lundquist College. He was so impressed with the college's response that he provided a generous grant to help start an intensive two-year pilot program in industrial sales. "Our goal," Lundquist College Dean Timothy McGuire explains, "is to be market driven. We're the interface between the business community and our students who are preparing to work there. We need to respond quickly to what the needs are." Students in the program learn how to communicate effectively, how to be active listeners and how to solve problems. They develop human relations skills and learn to use the latest technology tools. The students present speeches, organize and participate in work-shops and serve as interns with businesses, such as Sears and the Papè Group. The sales program students also are very involved in campus and community activities. "This is a win-win-win situation," says Bill Daley, who heads the program. "Our students gain the knowledge and skills needed for successful salesmanship. The business community gains a knowledgeable and trained work force, and the program fulfills the college's mission to serve both students and the business community." As for Christiansen, the lessons she learned in the UO Business Industrial Sales Program are being reinforced by her experience this summer. "I have learned that people's personal philosophy--how they live and treat other people-- carries forward in how they do their job as managers and how they do in sales," says Christiansen. -30- #P-6004/Local,OrDailies,PDX,PDX/SpclL