The Heart and Stroke Foundation is giving kudos to 72 marketing–professional selling students who raised a total of $3,457 going door-to-door during the month of February.

School of Business and Economics faculty Sheena Van Dyk found a way to deliver an assignment where the students would get a taste of selling and rejection while raising money for a good cause.

“I encourage students to get outside their comfort zone,” said Van Dyk. “Also the class has a high percentage of international students who found this an interesting way to learn more about Canadian culture. For the most part any rejection was a polite ‘no thank you.'”

For many of the students this was new territory. During class, learners engaged in fictitious scenarios, role-playing their assignments built around selling and potential rejection. This assignment put their methods to the test with great results.

“It was nice to be able to get out and practice our skills in a real-life setting,” said Michelle Rutsatz, who is studying part-time while working full-time as a program assistant for the Faculty of Education and Social Work.

“Not only was I able to apply what I learned in class, I was doing something good by fundraising for a non-profit organization. In class, we learned the two biggest fears in sales are fear of failure and fear of rejection. This assignment had us pushing past these fears. Cold calling is a challenging sales technique. I learned to be prepared, choose my body language—and, just as important as the verbal message, be sincere and engage the client.”

The funds raised will go towards research, advocacy and education—teaching the signs of a stroke to the general population.