Two Seniors Headed to NCSC

03/05/2014 6:49 AM

By Sarah Marshall, ’15

Two senior marketing majors, Tori Haan and Tanner Peterson, are heading to The National Collegiate Sales Competition. This role-play competition, March 28-31 at Kennesaw State University in Ga., focuses on students’ sales skills. Students from all over the country are chosen to represent their universities at this event. 

“An experience like this competition exposes the students to employers as well as develops their sales skills. Our hope is that they learn to anticipate unexpected circumstances and to think on their feet,” said Mark Johlke, associate professor and director of the Professional Sales Program. 

Haan and Peterson recently participated in a 20 minute role play scrimmage with two students from Illinois State University. They completed this scrimmage in front of a panel of sales professionals and then received feedback. 

“I had probably one of the hardest role-plays during the scrimmage,” said Haan, “but having a harder role play is more beneficial because it gets you out of your comfort zone and in the end, you become more comfortable with the sales process.” 

Besides the recent scrimmage, these two students and an alternate meet with Dr. Johlke and Professor Brad Eskridge, the coach for the NCSC team, three times a week for a couple hours. The students were chosen for NCSC based on a competition between the students in MTG 404, Advanced Professional Selling. 

“One of the most challenging aspects of the competition is trying to cover everything in 20 minutes,” Peterson said. “There are so many things we should be asking, but we don’t have time. So, we have to make sure to ask the right questions.” 

At the competition, the students will have the opportunity to network with some larger companies.