1. Campus Box 5590-Department of Marketing-Illinois State University-61790-5590
Voice 309-241-3563 - E-mail jsattaw@ilstu.edu
January 20, 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
I’m pleased to recommend Justin Mayes as a candidate to pursue a career in sales and
sales management. I have known Justin since the Fall semester of 2015 when he
enrolled in my course, MKT 326 – Advanced Sales Planning & Analysis at Illinois State
University (ISU). I also served as his mentor and coach as he was a member of the ISU
Sales Team. I have served as a faculty member at ISU since 1990 and have interacted
with several thousand students during this time frame. I believe my interaction with
Justin, his performance in my course and my experience with similar students qualifies
me as a good judge of character, current performance and future potential.
I wholeheartedly believe Justin will be an asset to your organization and believe that he
possesses the personal integrity, knowledge, work ethic and skills to contribute to the
success of your company. In the following paragraphs, I’ll articulate how Justin
embodies the attributes that exemplifies a high caliber and success driven sales
representative.
First, Justin is extremely hard working and endeavors to produce high quality work.
Justin has excelled academically and maintained a solid academic record at ISU while
working full-time to support his educational and living expenses. Justin’s performance
across exams, activities, and major projects in my Advanced Sales Planning & Analysis
course was of the highest quality and he differentiated himself in the class. Justin
contributes to class discussions and is comfortable in leadership positions when
working in small groups or in class projects. Justin possesses a high level of
confidence, is assertive but also extremely adept in developing personal relationships
with others and ensuring individuals feel comfortable and connected. His many years of
customer service experience have enabled him to quickly develop rapport, gain trust,
and establish an initial connection that can lead to a stronger relationship. He’s able to
interact with a broad cross-section of individuals and is easy going but also assertive
and driven. He gets along well with others and consistently strives to do his best! As
I’m sure you recognize, these skills are difficult to learn and master but highly desired in
a sales professional. Many hiring managers have shared with me that it’s fairly easy to
develop a new sales professional’s product or industry knowledge but much more
difficult to enhance or develop their personal interaction and relationship skills.
As part of the MKT 326 course and an internal class sales competition, Justin was
selected to represent ISU at the International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC) in
Fall 2015 sponsored by Florida State University which was held in Orlando, FL. Justin’s
experience at the ICSC was high stress where he competed in a role play competition

2. Justin Mayes Recommendation Letter
Campus Box 5590-Department of Marketing-Illinois State University-61790-5590
Voice 309-241-3563 - E-mail jsattaw@ilstu.edu
against the top students from over 60 universities across the globe. As part of the role
play competition, Justin interacted with a professional buyer and engaged in a sales-
focused meeting to develop rapport, gain the buyer’s initial trust, identify needs, link a
solution to the expressed needs, and pursue the next steps by gaining commitment to
close the sale or schedule a follow-up appointment. Justin competed in two separate
role play meetings and received strong, positive feedback from the judges who were
sales professionals from a variety of sponsoring firms. Over the three days of the
competition, Justin utilized his strong interpersonal and networking skills to interact with
other students and business professionals. It was a pleasure to accompany Justin to
the competition and I was very proud of his performance and the professional manner in
which he represented Illinois State University.
Based upon my knowledge of Justin and his capabilities, I’m confident Justin will make
a positive and meaningful contribution to an organization seeking an entry-level sales
professional. Justin is a very positive person and possesses an easy going and friendly
demeanor. He will be a productive member of his sales team and work hard to achieve
his goals as well as provide support to others so they can be successful as well.
In closing, I would be happy to discuss Justin’s candidacy with you by phone
(309.241.3563) should you require additional information about his capabilities. I
appreciate your time in consideration of Justin and urge you to hire Justin as a member
of your sales team.
Kind regards,
Jill S. Attaway, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Marketing
Professional Sales Institute