Three WSU Vancouver business students will represent all of WSU in the National Collegiate Sales Competition near Atlanta, Ga., in March 2007. They will compete against teams from nearly 40 other leading universities.
Senior Nate Scholz, marketing; junior Ashley Wayman, marketing; and senior Merlinda Sain, management operations, placed first, second and third respectively in the local NCSC qualifying competition at WSU Vancouver Dec. 1. The three will travel, all expenses paid, to Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University.
Thirteen local students competed in the qualifying event, conducting a 20-minute mock sales call on a mock buyer, a volunteer from the business community. This year, students were playing the role of an account manager for United Parcel Services, selling shipping and logistics services to a small but rapidly growing fictitious company.
Four volunteer judges from area businesses scored the contestants on their ability to ask good questions, effectively build rapport with the prospect, present an effective solution, and – most importantly – close, or secure a business commitment from the buyer.
Several high-level corporate representatives volunteered to act as buyers and judges, some of whom flew in from out of state to participate.
Executives and senior managers from Aramark Corporation, Herman Miller Workplace, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Nautilus and Discover Mortgage participated.
Dan Zebrowski, worldwide director of sales talent for the Aramark Corporation, used the occasion to announce several new funding initiatives for WSU Vancouver’s Professional Sales certificate program.
Aramark is now contributing:
* Full financial support for all costs associated with hosting the annual qualifying event for the NCSC at WSU Vancouver each fall.
* A new $1,000 scholarship, the Aramark Prize in Professional Sales, to be awarded each year to the student with the highest overall grades in the four-course Professional Sales certificate program.
* Expenses for WSU Vancouver’s third place finisher in the local NCSC qualifying event to attend the national competition. NCSC covers only the first and second place finishers.
“The NCSC sends a strong signal to students that the corporate community truly values enthusiastic salespeople entering the profession,” said WSU marketing professor Christopher Plouffe, local coordinator.
At the national event, nearly 50 companies offer financial support and participate in a career fair. Plouffe said that in five years of participating, each student has come away with multiple job offers.
For more information on WSU Vancouver’s Professional Sales certificate program, visit https://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/programs/bus/home.html. For details on the NCSC visit https://coles.kennesaw.edu/ncsc/.
