Student members of a University of Louisiana at Lafayette sales team are honing their skills for an international competition in Paris in April.
Fallon Bearb and Natalie Brasher, for example, placed third at the Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales National Sales Challenge. The event took place last week at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J.
Sixty-four students from 32 universities, including some in Scotland and The Netherlands, competed there. Elon University, a private university in North Carolina, won first place, followed by Western Michigan University.
The sales challenge had two parts. One was a 15-minute sales call with a business executive. Performances were evaluated on the basis of students’ approach and effectiveness; the ability to identify needs and present solutions; and whether they were able to secure commitments.
The other part was speed selling. Each student had to create a two-minute sales pitch that expressed why he or she should be hired for a generic job. That was followed by a one-minute question and answer session.
The UL Lafayette team’s third place award comes on the heels of a good showing at the International Collegiate Sales Competition hosted by Florida State University in late October. At that event, UL Lafayette sales team members Ryan Robin, Brittney Kuepferle, Fallon Bearb and their coach, Dr. Duleep Delpechitre, an assistant professor of marketing, won the Team Championship.
Robin and Kuepferle placed second and third in individual competition, respectively. Bearb placed among the top 16 in a field of 72 students from more than 30 universities.
The UL Lafayette team outperformed others from universities such as Baylor, Florida State University, Kennesaw State, Kansas State, the University of Alabama, the University of Texas at Dallas and Duquesne.
At that event, the UL Lafayette students earned an all expenses paid, 10-day trip to compete in April at the International Collegiate Sales Competition – Europe. The international event will be hosted by the IESEG School of Management in Paris.
The intercollegiate competition is designed to help students compete on a world business stage. Sales challenges strengthen students’ skills and offer networking opportunities, since business professionals from around the country participate in workshops and serve as judges and sponsors.
CONTACT: Charlie Bier
charlie@louisiana.edu