Sales Researchers' Collaboration Consortium
Bringing Together Sales Researchers to Foster Collaborative Research Projects & Relationships
The 2nd SRCC will be held at the University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Business, Thursday October 23 - Saturday October 25, 2025.
The Sales Researchers’ Collaboration Consortium (SRCC) was held for the first time at the Rollins College of Business (RCOB), University of Tennessee – Chattanooga (UTC), September 29 – October 1, 2022. Created and Co-Chaired by Christopher R. Plouffe (Gary W. Rollins Endowed Chair in Sales at UTC) and Bryan Hochstein (Univ. of Alabama), the first SRCC was an unqualified success!
UTC and the RCOB hosted more than 30+ early career / pre-tenure sales faculty (SRCC ‘Fellows’) from leading business schools across the US, Canada, and Europe. In addition, more than a dozen highly accomplished sales scholars also attended the first SRCC at UTC, contributing by acting as ‘Mentors’ to the SRCC Fellows (Jr. Faculty).
The basic format for the majority of the SRCC Conference is ‘speed introductions’ (capped at about 10-12 mins each) where the junior sales faculty ‘Fellows’ introduce themselves to one another, via a structured PowerPoint template. The SRCC also features several career advice and mentoring talks, as well as an invited keynote talk on research and career advice by a highly accomplished sales scholar.
Post conference feedback from the 2022 UTC SRCC Attendees was that it was (for many) the most value-added and meaningful conference they had ever participated in.
The SRCC takes place every third year, hosted by a leading business school.
- Who is the target audience for SRCC Attendance?
To be considered for the SRCC, attendees must:
- Hold a PhD or DBA in Business Administration or Marketing from an Accredited Business School;
- Be Untenured and in a Tenure-Track Position at a Business School
- Be able to both articulate and demonstrate a meaningful interest in sales research, broadly defined.
SRCC may explore formats for non early-career sales faculty in the future, but its current and foreseeable focus remains early-career, pre-tenure, PhD-holding sales faculty
- I’m interested in sales research, but am not "early career," can I attend?
A different format SRCC for other segments of sales-focused research faculty (e.g., mid-career) might be considered in the future, but for now and foreseeable future, the SRCC’s sole focus and target market is early-career, PhD-holding, pre-tenure sales faculty.
SRCC Dates, Conference Delivery and Format, Future Dates and Locations
- What are the dates for SRCC 2025?
Thursday, Oct. 23 – Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025
- Where is the conference and who are the Co-Chairs?
The 2nd SRCC will be hosted by the Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama (UA), Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
Going forward, the SRCC Conference Chairs and Organizers are: Christopher R. Plouffe, Bryan Hochstein, and Nathaniel Hartmann.
- How will the conference be delivered (i.e.what is the attendance modality?)
Face-to-Face ONLY (no remote access, i.e., Zoom, etc.).
- What are the arrival and departure times for the conference?
All SRCC attendees (both Fellows and Mentors) should be in Tuscaloosa, AL by mid-day midday Thursday October 23, 2025. There will be an optional off-site Lunch that day, with the Conference starting promptly at 1:30 PM
‘Official’ SRCC Sessions and the Conference proper will end at Noon on Saturday October 25, 2025 with a boxed / to-go Lunch Format.
OPTIONAL Conference Ending: there will be an optional free Tour and Overview of the prestigious Alabama “Crimson Tide” Football Facilities and Stadium commencing at Noon on Saturday October 25, 2025. Further details will be articulated in the formal Conference Program, but SRCC attendees interested in this should plan their travel, accordingly.
- Is the SRCC a new conference?
Yes and No. A highly successful trial run of the SRCC Conference / Consortium format was hosted Nov. 11-12, 2021, through the generous support of the Collat School of Business, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Nearly two-dozen early and later career sales scholars (Mentors) attended and used the conference as an opportunity to refine the SRCC format (see Conference Format below).
The First "Official" Sales Researchers’ Collaboration Consortium (SRCC) was held for the first time at the Rollins College of Business (RCOB), University of Tennessee – Chattanooga (UTC), September 29 – October 1, 2022. Created and Co-Chaired by Christopher R. Plouffe (Gary W. Rollins Endowed Chair in Sales at UTC) and Bryan Hochstein (Univ. of Alabama), the first SRCC was an unqualified success!
UTC and the RCOB hosted more than 30+ early career / pre-tenure sales faculty (SRCC ‘Fellows’) from leading business schools across the US, Canada, and Europe. In addition, more than a dozen highly accomplished sales scholars also attended the first SRCC at UTC, contributing by acting as ‘Mentors’ to the SRCC Fellows (Jr. Faculty).
- How often will the SRCC take place?
Going forward the plan is to host the SRCC at a leading Business School every THIRD year
- Where and when will the next SRCC take place?
- SRCC # 1 – Fall 2022, Gary W. Rollins College of Business, University of Tennessee – Chattanooga (UTC)
- SRCC # 2 – Fall 2025, Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama
- SRCC # 3 – Fall, 2028 – Host university and business school, TBD
SRCC 2025– Cost or Fees / Application / Registration
- How To Apply for the SRCC
Registrations are limited, so please apply early.
Applications will be reviewed based on merit, order received, and availability of Fellow slots.
Some potential attendees (SRCC Fellows) who fit the 3 target profile criteria outlined above will be invited by the 2025 SRCC Chairs / Organizers.
Additional marketing of the SRCC conference and opportunity will be handled via logical communications and dissemination modalities during the winter of 2025 (e.g., announcements on ELMAR, AMA, USCA, SEF, etc.).
TO APPLY: Email the completed SRCC Application Form (see link below) along with a current CV by 6.00 PM EST Tuesday April 15, 2025 to: [email protected]
Shortly thereafter (before end of April, 2025), accepted attendees for the 2025 SRCC will receive conference confirmation and further information from the SRCC Organizers via email.
If you would like to attend and the SRCC Organizers have not already reached out to you, please:
1. Download the SRCC Application Form (a simple three-question, one-page editable PDF)
- What it the cost to attend SRCC?
There is NO SRCC registration fee of any kind.
Conference registration and key costs (e.g., social functions, meals at the SRCC, and refreshments) are being funded through the generosity of:
- The 2025 SRCC Conference Host, the Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama, and
- Gary W. Rollins Endowed Chair in Sales, Dr. Christopher R. Plouffe
- With additional support coming from the SEF (Sales Education Foundation)
Thus, key out-of-pocket costs for confirmed SRCC attendees are primarily limited to travel (e.g., airfare/driving) and 2 or 3 hotel nights (depending on one’s travel itinerary) in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Reminder: the SRCC conference delivery format is 100% and solely face-to-face.
- What is the SRCC Conference/ Presentation Format?
SRCC Attendees (i.e., what we call ‘Fellows’, or early career sales scholars) will each present to the entire group during one of several Fellow Research Profile / Overview Sessions. These sessions comprise the bulk of the SRCC Conference Schedule.
Well in advance of the SRCC, accepted applicants will receive a standardized PowerPoint “Template” which, over the course of several slides, asks key questions such as:
- The origins of their interest in sales research;
- Background/publications in sales to this point;
- Current and future sales topics and research interests
- Their strengths/weaknesses and likes/dislikes of the research process, etc.
Think of this core aspect of the SRCC as “Speed Dating/Introductions” for early career sales scholars! Our ultimate goal is to have every attendee come away with at least one good new co-author/project partner (and perhaps several) that ultimately lead to at least one (or more!) published sales-focused manuscripts over time. Critically, and based on the initial success of the first SRCCs, we are confident that the co-author and collaborative research relationships and networks which are formed at the SRCC will endure for entire careers!
The other key programming aspect of the SRCC is our mentoring sessions. Each SRCC will see built into the Conference Schedule a number of seminars, roundtables, and/or panel discussions on ‘succeeding’ in and the conduct of impactful sales research today. These sessions will also offer career advice on navigation the academic profession, achieving tenure and promotion, and so forth.
Finally, every SRCC will always have an invited Keynote Speaker who will offer thoughts and guidance on all of the preceding.
SRCC Founders & Conference Chairs
About the Culverhouse College of Business
About the University of Alabama
About the Gary W. Rollins College of Business
About The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Conference Hotel Information
Book your group rate for Sales Researchers Collaboration Consortium
Visiting Tuscaloosa, AL
Airport/Air Travel Information
Support for the SRCC 2022 and 2025 is provided by the Sales Education Foundation.
