How The Busch School Builds Sales Leaders with ZoomInfo

Rooted in a historic campus in Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America has spent more than 130 years educating and enriching the next generation of leaders. One of the university’s newest institutions, the Busch School of Business, is taking that mission to greater heights — with an emphasis on mastering innovative technologies.

Since its inception in 2013, the Busch School has been dedicated to educating and training students to compete virtuously in the world of sales. The sales program involves career coaching, recruiting programs, an expansive alumni network, and an innovative corporate partnership initiative that infuses the program with real-world insights and opportunities.

To equip students with even more practical skills and credentials, the school recently introduced innovative coursework that integrates leading sales technologies into its curriculum. Central to this initiative is the incorporation of ZoomInfo’s go-to-market intelligence platform, which has transformed the school’s Sales Practicum course.

When I was coming up with tools and technologies that I felt students should get certified in, ZoomInfo was at the top of the list.

Ryan Reilly

Sales Partnership Program Manager & Lecturer

Bridging the Gap for Next-Generation Sales Reps

While the Busch School Sales Program has successfully prepared students to serve as leaders in the competitive business world, there was still a critical gap in practical, entry-level sales training. Ryan Reilly, a Catholic University alum, recently joined as a lecturer and Sales Partnership Program Manager to help institutionalize the sales program. When he turned to sales education after experience in the field, he wanted to give students the kind of real-world preparation that many sales programs lack.

“A lot of sales education is conceptual and focused on skills that are needed several years down the line in leadership roles,” Reilly says. “I wanted to focus on those foundational skills students need to succeed when they first enter the field.”

The Sales Practicum course began as an initiative to bridge that gap. Faced with the challenge of equipping students with the technical know-how required in modern sales roles, Reilly and the university sought tools that could help students develop practical skills and obtain certifications.

That’s when they turned to ZoomInfo.

Enabling Tomorrow’s Sales Leaders

Reilly was familiar with ZoomInfo thanks to his time as a sales rep, and initiated a partnership to incorporate the ZoomInfo Sales platform into the Sales Practicum curriculum.

“When I was coming up with tools and technologies that I felt students should get certified in, ZoomInfo was at the top of the list,” he says.

Sales Practicum emphasizes experiential learning, with students completing projects on prospecting, cold emailing, and cold calling — all modeled after real-world scenarios. Through ZoomInfo, students gain hands-on experience using tools like advanced search and the platform’s proprietary Scoops signals, helping them identify and qualify prospects effectively.

Reilly credits ZoomInfo’s team for supporting the course’s development: “The students took to ZoomInfo quickly because of the team’s hands-on involvement, which included giving us a full rundown of the platform in one of our first classes.”

Making Academic and Practical Impact with ZoomInfo

Fall 2024 was the second semester Reilly taught the course — and the first with ZoomInfo involved. And the integration of ZoomInfo has already yielded strong results.

One of the course projects involved using ZoomInfo to create prospect lists for hypothetical verticals and territories for companies in its corporate partnership network, which were then evaluated by the corporate partners themselves. 72.5% of the prospects generated were considered “outreach-worthy” leads — compared to only 58% outreach-worthy leads without Zoominfo the previous semester.

The practical skills students gain in the course have also accelerated their onboarding process during internships, cutting ramp time significantly.

Additionally, the course integrates ZoomInfo’s certification modules, providing students with a professional credential they can showcase on their LinkedIn profiles and put on resumes — a major advantage when entering the field.

The sales certification serves as a capstone achievement, showcasing students’ mastery of critical tools. “I think of it as a boot camp before their first real exposure to working in a sales role,” Reilly says. “Taking this course means they’re able to go into the workforce with the tools they need to succeed.”

Looking to the Future of Sales Education

The schools and universities offering sales-specific training make up a small but growing community, one that Reilly sees embracing sales tech. “Over the last year and half, I’ve seen increasing interest in incorporating sales tools like this,” he says.

The Busch School of Business’ partnership with ZoomInfo demonstrates the power of integrating real-world tools into academic settings. By aligning coursework with the demands of the modern workplace, the program prepares students for success and provides them recognition that will help win over future employers.

Reilly’s advice to other sales educators? “Identify gaps in your curriculum, get input from corporate partners, and work with platforms like ZoomInfo to build a strategic partnership around implementing tools in the classroom.”