Sales Education Foundation Awards $10,000 in research grants

DAYTON, Ohio - July 11, 2016 - PRLog -- The Sales Education Foundation (SEF) partnered with Neil Rackham for the sixth year to distribute two $5,000 research grants aimed at funding quality academic research addressing sales challenges. The annual call for proposals closed with a record number of submissions.

Recipients for 2016 are: Maximilian Anton Maier, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany and Ashish Sharma, University of Georgia, USA. Topics to be addressed are "New Product Selling Success: Is New Product Innovativeness a Double-Edged Sword?" and "B2B Selling and Customer Engagement in Social Media and Digital Environments." Completed research will be submitted to academic journals, and findings will be highlighted in practitioner-focused briefs. An additional goal of the SEF is to make published papers more readily available via their website's Sales Research page.

According to Neil Rackham, best-selling author and renowned sales researcher, the time has come for new approaches to customer interaction. Recognizing the market's need for innovative, practical research, Rackham has supported the SEF program since 2011.

Sally Stevens, Executive Director of the SEF, says "The research grant program continues the support of research by both current academicians and doctoral candidates. This helps to address the growth of new and existing sales programs and the need for more academically qualified instructors. Recipients are chosen for their ability to apply rigorous academic methodology to address the needs of the business community."

Leff Bonney, Ph.D., from The Sales Institute at Florida State University served as the Selection Committee chairman. He assembled a group of academic and professional sales associates who were tasked with reviewing each submission to be sure the proposals adhered to the program's standards.

A third annual grant will recognize an individual who has helped promulgate sales research to the industry. The Dissemination Award program will begin accepting nominations in November 2016 with the $5,000 award planned for early 2017. More information will be available on the SEF website (www.salesfoundation.org) and the quarterly Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management (JPSSM), published by Pi Sigma Epsilon National Educational Foundation.

To learn more about university sales education programs and future opportunities, contact the Sales Education Foundation, a component fund of The Dayton Foundation at 800-776-4436.