Why might the skills of a great salesperson have little to do with being persuasive?

In this episode of Bearcats Mean Business, Ann Sojka, assistant professor of marketing and academic director of the Grau Center for Professional Selling, challenges common stereotypes of sales and explains why “sellers aren’t born, they’re made.”

She shares how her own sales career taught her that no experience is wasted, why great selling starts with listening and asking the right questions, and how treating customers the way they want to be treated can turn a transaction into a lasting relationship.

Sojka also takes listeners inside Lindner’s hands-on approach to sales education—from sales labs and real-world role plays to resilience training and national competitions—and explains why sales skills are life skills.

She discusses helping students overcome their fear of selling, why sales is ultimately a problem-solving and helping profession, and how AI is changing the work while making human skills like empathy, adaptability and relationship-building even more valuable.

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Welcome to Bearcats Mean Business, the official podcast of the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business, where inspiring career stories, honest lessons and fresh business perspectives from the people building impact in the real world come together.