(left to right) Brett Georgulis and Ben Campbell, Overall Champion, Graduate Division
Graduate Division
1st Round Needs Identification Champion:
Ben Campbell, Texas State University
2nd Round Team Selling Champions:
Theunette Antill & Jordan Ogletree, Nicholls St. University
3rd Round Account Maintenance Champion:
Brett Georgulis, Texas State University
Graduate Division Team Champion: Texas State University-San Marcos
Representing the Undergraduate Division from Texas State was Calynn Kutter & Trevor Robertson, both of whom finished in the quarterfinals. Trevor Robertson received an offer immediately after his 1st 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. Sponsoring the competition provides participating companies with the opportunity to network with and preview elite up-and-coming sales talent.
“It says a lot about the caliber of the students competing when you have companies that are willing to travel across the country to recruit them, even in a down market when very few companies are hiring,” said Dr. Terry Loe, director of the NCSC, as well as director of the Center for Professional Selling at Kennesaw State’s Coles College of Business. “These students are a solid investment for sponsoring companies who want to fill entry-level sales positions with graduates who already have sales training or a degree in professional selling. The extensive sales training these students receive prior to graduation translates to lower turnover and reduced training time and cost for companies.”
Vicki West, coach of the Texas State team said, “These students work for three months, twenty 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.”
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