Company Description:
Founded in 1868, Southwestern Advantage is the oldest entrepreneurial program for college students. Utilizing a direct sales model, students sell educational resources to families through in-home consultations. This internship has helped over 150,000 students from 1,600+ campuses worldwide build the work ethic, confidence, resilience, and real-world skills needed to succeed in their careers, start businesses, and reach ambitious goals.
Job Description:
Southwestern Advantage is an intensive 12–14 week summer program that provides hands-on experience in sales, marketing, public relations, and leadership. Participants engage in in person sales, shadow experienced representatives, and spend time with leaders to gain deep insights into building the skills they need to have a successful career.
Key Responsibilities:
- Market and sell educational resources to families within sales territory.
- Connect directly with prospective customers through in-person neighborhood outreach.
- Conduct product demonstrations using a consultative, direct-sales approach.
- Manage customer appointments, follow-up communication, orders, inventory, scheduling, deliveries, sales records, and basic business expenses.
- Build lasting relationships within territory neighborhoods through consistent marketing, customer service, and strong rapport.
- Communicate effectively with families from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Participate in ongoing professional training in sales, leadership, networking, and marketing.
- Apply coaching and feedback to improve communication, business, and sales skills throughout the summer.
Following successful completion of the program, participants may have the opportunity to move into a leadership role and continue growing their career with Southwestern Advantage and its family of companies.
Qualifications
- High school diploma or equivalent.
- Self-motivated, driven, and goal-oriented.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Willingness to embrace new challenges, accept feedback, and learn quickly.
- Availability for 12 to 14 weeks during the summer between May and August.
- Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds and consistently work in outdoor weather conditions.
- Willingness to relocate for the length of the summer
- Enthusiasm for sales, marketing, business, and personal development.
What You’ll Gain
- Compensation based on performance, determined solely by individual sales results.
- Practical experience in sales, communication, business management, time management, and problem-solving.
- More than 150 hours of professional training in sales, leadership, networking, and marketing.
- Experience managing customer relationships and the daily responsibilities of a sales business.
- Opportunity for role advancement following successful completion of the program.
- Exposure to career pathways across Southwestern Advantage’s family of companies, including insurance, real estate, sales, and other industries.
