Students who come through the John “Art” Phillips Sales Institute at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are ready to get to work immediately following graduation. With a high job-placement rate following graduation, about three out of four take their first sales job with a Corporate Partner of the Sales Institute – with a company that already knows them by name.
That’s thanks to curriculum and experiences that prepare the students for the sales profession — and companies are noticing.
Built from experience, not from scratch
The John “Art” Phillips Sales Institute at the Gary W. Rollins College of Business launched in 2022. Planning for the institute started in 2020 when Dr. Chris Plouffe arrived at UTC as the Gary W. Rollins Endowed Chair in Sales. Before UTC he spent more than 20 years building, governing and growing sales institutes at universities around the country. He knew what worked and what didn’t.
The mission is refreshingly specific. The Phillips Sales Institute exists to put graduates into excellent B2B sales, business development and customer account management jobs. Everything the Institute does is aligned with that goal.
The Sales Lab: Where students watch themselves get better
Ask about the Institute’s most impressive resource and the answer isn’t a stat or a partnership. It’s a dedicated area of Fletcher Hall, the Sales Institute’s physical space. The Business Skills Laboratory — everyone calls it the Sales Lab — is a state of the art space that is built to benefit student learning.
Students run live sales calls and mock business negotiations while being filmed in high definition. Afterward, coaches walk through the footage with them using timestamped video replay, stopping on the exact moment a student rushed a question, missed a buying signal or talked past the close. It’s the kind of feedback most sales professionals don’t get until years into their careers, if ever.
With AI changing how B2B sales is conducted, AI is now infused into the sales curriculum, specifically, in the Advanced Sales course (MKT 4630). Copient.Ai is a training system that puts students in front of sophisticated bots they have to sell to. The conversations are lifelike and unpredictable in the way real buyers are. This means students can practice, fail and adjust long before there’s a commission or a client relationship on the line.
A naming gift that changes the ceiling
The recent naming gift establishing the John “Art” Phillips Sales Institute was a major milestone. As the funds associated with the naming gift come online, it will be a transformational resource for the Institute space, faculty and students.
The Institute also receives financial support through its Corporate Partners group. It produces revenue that flows directly back to students. Thanks to the help of a growing list of corporate partners – including IGA (Insurance Group of America), McKee Foods, Axle Logistics, Reliance Partners, Orkin, Chattanooga Shooting Supplies (CSS), Unum, Local 3 News, CED (Consolidated Electrical Distributors), Dell Technologies, and AVM Enterprises – students receive support through sales scholarships and covering team expenses to national sales competitions. The Institute isn’t just supported by the business community, it’s in business with it.
Corporate Partners: A select group
The corporate partners group is the primary driver and engine behind the Institute’s placement record. By design, the corporate partners group doesn’t take all comers; while it gets many requests to join the group, very few companies make the cut.
Not every company is a candidate. Each one must meet rigid criteria and go through a rigorous vetting process.
That selectivity is the point. Partners get real access to a pipeline of trained sales talent, and students get exposure to companies that have proven they’re worth working for. The relationships get built long before graduation. Partners are involved in classroom visits, coaching, competitions and hiring conversations that start early.
Two events anchor the year. The annual Corporate Partners Meeting brings the group together to discuss shared interests (e.g., coaching and management challenges of young salespeople), as well as help guide the Institute’s future strategic priorities. This event is built entirely around B2B sales roles and only SI Corporate partners can participate, so sales students are exposed to excellent B2B sales jobs, and not run-of-the-mill generic first job out of college roles.
A graduate who broke a decades-old record
Patrick Parker is proof the model works.
Patrick earned his BSBA in Marketing: Professional Sales in 2023. He went to work as a sales representative at Chattanooga Shooting Supplies (CSS), a Silver Level Corporate Partner of the Institute. In March 2026, Patrick broke the company’s all-time sales record for a single month. Surpassing a record that existed for decades.
“The Sales Institute was instrumental in teaching me how to overcome objections from clients and find proper solutions to help everyone involved move forward,” said Patrick.
What changed was structure — a defined process for B2B sales — and the people who taught him. He says the professors showed him how to be “professionally persistent” and how to grow mutually beneficial relationships.
He also learned there is more to sales than simply closing the deal. “The Sales Institute helped me understand that sales is a field where listening is key, how to build long-term relationships, and how to creatively think to create the best possible outcomes for your clients alongside the company you represent,” said Patrick.
What’s next: a new credential and a sales degree
The Institute keeps building. This summer, UTC officially launches its next sales credential: a certificate in Sales and Business Development. Beyond that, the goal is to fill the few remaining spots in the Corporate Partners Group, which are getting scarce. The Institute will continue to evolve over the years, and we can’t wait to see what unfolds next.
Get involved
If you’re an alumnus, local executive or company leader who wants to explore working with the Sales Institute, start the conversation. Visit go.utc.edu/Sales or email [email protected].
Let’s see where business will take you.
The best salespeople don’t just pitch — they listen, diagnose and solve. At UTC’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business, students build that skill through the coursework in the sales curriculum, as supported by the resources of the John “Art” Phillips Sales Institute and the SI’s Corporate Partners Group. Filmed sales role-plays, AI-powered practice and direct access to vetted corporate partners prepare them to walk into their first sales job already knowing how to win.
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