five interns make cold-calls

Five UT students are getting life experiences while providing local businesses a real service.
Katie Waller, Jacob Burns, Andrew Urbain, Megan Neal and Ashley Steel make up the Knoxville Sales Team for the UT Directory.

A unique directory they are promoting has telephone listing of all professors, assistant professors, lecturers, students, and support organizations at UT.

The "fab five" are in various stages of their UT Degrees. After one to two hard weeks of training, they are on the streets of Seymour and Knoxville selling advertising space in the UT Directory that gets distributed to over 22,000 users at the UT campus.

Collectively the group, ages from 19 to 21, has already gained experience that would have been hard to come by without their positions as interns.

In a recent interview with the "fab five", they were very candid and real about their experiences.
They work five days a week making cold-calls on both sides of the street.

"I've met so many great people while making cold-calls," stated Steel. All nodded in agreement.
It has not been a cake walk for the group. They have encountered the ups as well as the downs faced by salespeople in any profession. Each one had a unique and interesting experience.

"We hear things like their budget is spent, or they already have an ad going here or there," Urbain said.
The interns know that if their potential clients were aware that their product would provide the businesses a highly targeted audience of decision makers, unparalleled reach, optimal visibility and exposure, measurable results, comprehensive, valuable resources and industry experience, partnerships and affiliation, the businesses would realize the value in the advertising the interns were offering.

"We have an 80% advertising renewal rate," stated Steel, "Which says a lot about the effectiveness of the ads."

"It's not hard convincing those that know it works, it's difficult convincing those that don't know if it works to try it," stated Burns.

Waller, the youngest of the group at 19, says "This is the first time I've ever done anything like this and I've gained experience."

To help each other convince the potential businesses, the group meets each morning for a half hour to plan their days, discuss the previous days and keep each other on the upbeat.

"We talk about what happened the previous day and our plans for that day and trade leads," stated Neal, who is also the group manager.

At the time of the interview, Neal was the top producer with Burns close behind.
The Internship has been a great benefit to the students. "I've had great experiences and can add this to my resume, plus its fun visiting with business owners that are glad to see you because they definitely want to be in the next directory," stated Waller.

Past experiences of the group vary from working at Big Lots, at a moving company, serving tables, retail sales, as a life guard and tan salon manager, and baby sitting.

"This is given all of us great work experience," stated Waller and echoed by all of the "fab five".