Professional Sales Hosts Second Sales Never Fails Competition
Published: November 18, 2022 | Author: Hayley Radle | Read Time: 3 minutes
Southern Utah University’s Professional Sales Program and club hosted the second Sales Never Fails competition in October, giving students of all majors the opportunity to hone their sales skills through a sale pitch competition and feedback from judges.
The Professional Sales Program often holds events or activities designed to set students up for success by preparing them for real-life sales-related scenarios, pushing them outside their comfort zone and encouraging them to think outside the box. Sales Never Fails is open to students of all majors who wish to participate in a sales pitch competition and receive feedback. The competition entailed the student participants receiving a prompt on which they based their pitches, with this round emphasizing wedding planning services.
Similar to the first competition in March, only now with a different prompt, each participant offered a three-minute pitch to a client, explaining what they would do for their wedding as their hypothetical planner. Each pitch took place in front of a diverse panel of judges who offered feedback after each and chose three winners at the end. These judges included Jerry Thomas from Boulevard Home, Easton Pedersen from Federated Insurance, Shawna Smith from VASA Fitness, and Jim Zierse from Zonos.
Zonos, Boulevard Home, and Federated Insurance all provided prizes for and/or sponsored the event; A Cotopaxi backpack and Minky Couture Blanket from Zonos and a set of $300 luxury pillows from Boulevard Home were the chosen awards for the top three winners.
First-place winner Marlee Ressler chose to participate to take advantage of both networking opportunities and a new learning experience, gaining a better understanding of what comes from sales. The SUU senior is double majoring in management and marketing rather than pursuing a sales-focused career, yet she has found this competition very beneficial to further practicing the skill that could help with her career plans of marketing management or in another upper management position.
“I had never written a sales pitch before, so it was a learning opportunity, and I wanted to see how it went,” Ressler said. “It was only three minutes of my life, so I just decided I might as well try and see what happens.”
Beyond gaining experience in sales, the competition provided a segue for Ressler and a few participants from the Professional Sales club into the Utah State University MarketStar competition, a similar event in which the students compete against others from several universities throughout the state by presenting a sales pitch to MarketStar professionals. The Sales Never Fails and USU MarketStar events also serve as a practice and preparation round for the upcoming, higher-stakes Thunder Sales competition next semester.
Kurt Wankier, the director of SUU’s Professional Sales Program, believes that giving students chances to present real-world sales cases to potential employers is a highly rewarding experience. According to him, being able to see them take risks and seek professional growth opportunities is one of the core elements of the department’s mission.
One of the biggest reasons students of all majors are encouraged to participate is due to the fact that sales is a highly transferable skill that can and often is utilized throughout businesses and several business careers.
“Entering the workforce without quality experiences that stretch students is a real risk,” Wankier said, mentioning how students who participate gain invaluable learning opportunities and get to build a competitive edge when going into the workforce.
Any SUU student is welcome to participate in the upcoming Thunder Sales competition happening Spring 2023. For more information on the Thunder Sales competition or SUU’s Professional Sales club, contact Kurt Wankier at kurtiswankier@suu.edu.
Tags: Professional Sales School of Business