Sales is a main component of the Sales and Guest Services Internship. All interns undergo an initial five-day training program in order to become familiar with Entertainment Cruises’ products and reservation system, and also to learn sales skills. With refresher presentations scheduled throughout the Summer, interns build on these initial sales skills, honing and utilizing them to convert the maximum number of calls into sales and upsell cruise enhancements.
Conversion rates and upsell enhancements are tracked and posted each week so that interns may note their progress throughout the summer. Additionally, monetary bonuses are available each pay period for the highest performers in the categories of conversion, upsell enhancements and total revenue.
Below, learn from Jim Evans, Entertainment Cruises Vice President of Marketing and Sales, why sales is crucial to learn early in your career, and hear from Brandon Perkins, 2016 and Jihad Yousef, 2015, Sales and Guest Services Interns how they learned to be a versatile salespersons.
Read more testimonials.
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Jim Evans
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Entertainment Cruises
One of my favorite things about the intern program is that it provides students a unique opportunity to develop sales skills that very few internships provide. You may be thinking, “Who cares about sales skills…I didn’t go to school to become a salesperson?” I can tell you this – whether you are going into accounting/finance (as I did initially), marketing, hospitality management, or pretty much any other career, your future employer will LOVE that you understand sales. It is the lifeblood of all organizations. Our world class training program and your hands-on experience selling our amazingly fun products will leave you knowing the fundamentals of sales better than you can imagine. You’ll be surprised how often your sales skills come in handy throughout your career.
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Brandon Perkins
Summer 2016 Sales and Guest Services Intern
Entrepreneurship Major, Miami of Ohio
I’ve always thought I wanted to be a salesman, and this internship has definitely reassured these feelings. This summer was an awesome experience. I was able to test my sales skills, giving my pitch to dozens of guests everyday. Every time my phone rang, I thought to myself “Let’s do this”, I put a smile on my face, and answered it, always anticipating another sale. After having experienced the product for myself during training week, I could personally relate to each guest and highlight the potential experience they could enjoy for themselves. This is what I think made me such a great salesman (if not the best in the biz). I spoke to each guest in such a way that made them feel like they were already on board.
Anybody who’s ever played a sport knows the drive of competition, the fuel of passion and the euphoria of a win. All of these emotions propelled my sales skills into full gear. I loved the feeling of having more sales than everyone else in the room (and the feeling of boasting my numbers to those around me). Throughout the summer, my sales pitch started heating up, and by the time I reached my final few weeks, I was reeling in sales effortlessly. Over the course of the summer, I sold over $93K, averaging about $310 per hour on the phone (#3 among all 65 interns…). I guess you could say I killed it.
Also, if you know another language, definitely don’t be afraid to use your skills on the phone. Throughout the summer, I probably took about 60 calls in Spanish and 5-10 in French. Not only is it a great way to practice your foreign language skills, the guests are also extremely appreciative of this service. If you want to go into international business like I do, this is definitely something you should be practicing anyways!
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Jihad Yousef
Summer 2015 Sales and Guest Services Intern
Communications Studies, Eastern Illinois University
Prior to working at Entertainment Cruises, I had very little sales experience. The only sales experience I had was working as a cashier at a retail store, where I would have to get people to sign up for credit cards. I was excited to come across this opportunity, and was looking forward to learning about how the sales industry works, and how to do well in it. I believe my summer spent working for Entertainment Cruises was just what I needed to prepare for my future. EC does a great job of teaching you how to be an effective sales rep with flexible sales skills.
Sales taught me how to be versatile. On a given day, you are talking to at least 20 people from all parts of the country, sometimes even the world. Each time you are on the phone, you have the ability to adjust any component of your sales pitch because each person has a different need that should to be catered to accordingly.
Another component that I enjoyed about sales was the opportunity to determine my own paycheck. The opportunity to win anything, especially for free, will have anyone buzzing. I tend to spend a little more money at school than I want to, so I knew this past summer was my opportunity to determine how fun school would be for me this year. I wanted to make as much money as possible, so I was always looking for ways to get more money. I was always one of the first interns pursuing leads that were passed out by management.
Sales is a great industry that allows you to build confidence, yet stay humble. If every day at work went perfect like we all wish it did, work would not be fun. There will be people on the phone who will try and make your job a lot harder than it should be, and there will be a days where you’ll be lucky to close on 10% of your calls. Having great co-workers and encouraging management helps though.
This past summer has potentially aligned a great chunk of my future, and it was because of the wonderful training program and working for a great company.
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Entertainment Cruises 