Texas State students win national sales competition
Posted by University News Service
April 9, 2010
Nearly 350 college students from 61 universities traveled to Georgia in March for a chance to compete at the 12th Annual National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC), hosted by the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University.
They were competing for job offers from top recruiters from across the nation. The NCSC has become an annual hot spot for Fortune 500 recruiters who want to hire the top sales students in the nation.
Texas State University team members won top sales competition honors, and two members claimed the overall championship in the graduate division.
The NCSC, the world's largest collegiate sales competition, pits top students in a test of live role-play, one-on-one sales call challenges.
Each sales call is broadcast live to locations on campus where college faculty from across the country and recruiters from sponsoring companies participate as judges and evaluate each student's performance.
This year's winners included Ben Campbell and Brett Georgulis, Texas State University-San Marcos graduate students, who won the Graduate Division of the National Collegiate Sales Competition.
"The schools participating have some of the best business sales centers in the country. Having done so well in both the graduate and undergraduate divisions says a lot about Texas State's faculty and staff support, as well as the caliber of students they are able to attract,” Georgulis said.
Campbell said, "The NCSC is the most prominent sales competition in the country, and the competitive nature of our team has been the key contributing factor to our success. It is absolutely fulfilling to see all of our hard work result in bringing home the championship trophy for the graduate division.”
Vicki West, coach of the Texas State team, said, “These students work for three months, 20 hours a week, in order to hone their interactive and negotiation skills to effectively present product benefits. One key element of the competition is that the students understand the skills they are learning are transferrable to almost any business situation, not just in a professional selling career.”
Representing the Undergraduate Division from Texas State was Calynn Kutter and Trevor Robertson, both of whom finished in the quarterfinals. Trevor Robertson received an offer immediately after his first round victory to enter the leadership program at Verizon. David Standefer and Preston Schaub were alternates for this division.
Nearly 30 companies, including Liberty Mutual, ADP, Tom James, Owens Corning, EMC, First Command, AT&T, Hewlett Packard, Dow Jones, NCR and Reynolds and Reynolds sponsored this year's competition for an opportunity to recruit top sales students.