I finished within the top 20 in the nation during the National Collegiate Sales Competition. Follow the link to view my sales tape: https://web.kennesaw.edu/ncsc/videos/university-cincinnati-jaclyn-hyde-undergraduate-quarterfinals
Below is an article I wrote about for the Lindner College of Business newsletter describing my experience at the National Collegiate Sales Competition in Atlanta, Georgia:
“5..4..3..2..1..GO”.Light flashes red, heart pounding, portfolio in hand,
smile on. The second I knock on that door, I am selling. All of my role plays
and research have led me to this moment – right here, right now. This is the
National Collegiate Sales Competition.
Hundreds of students from colleges all over the country (and even a few
from beyond) congregate to Atlanta, Georgia every year in hopes of bringing the
national championship to their school. So what exactly do you do at this
National Collegiate Sales Competition, you may be asking. Well, there are two
facets to it – a daily job fair and the actual competition. Last year, UC sent
five members, all expenses paid, from the UC Varsity Sales team. These members
were selected on how they did at earlier sales competition throughout the year.
Three of the students had the opportunity to network with countless corporate
sponsors, all looking to hire students at that very career fair. Our students
were selling both the UC Sales Center and also themselves. Sponsors would
request on-the-spot interviews and many students left Atlanta with multiple job
opportunities from all over the United States. This was an invaluable
experience for our students as it provided them with a new-found confidence,
better networking skills, and a number of job
offers.
Now for the competition side of things, it went like this:
every competitor was given a Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
computer system, called NetSuite, to sell. This is revealed a year in advance so
the students have time to research and become a product expert. At the
competition, every competitor is assigned a room in the national sales labs and
when the light flashes red at the end of that countdown, you walk into your room
and the competition begins. Inside of that room, sitting at a table, is a
corporate sponsor role playing as your prospective buyer. Meanwhile, a roomful
of judges are watching a live video feed of you. They are judging you on
everything from how well you can build rapport with your client, your needs
analysis, and your presentation, all the way to your ability to close the deal.
Oh and did I mention that you only have 20 minutes to make this sale? The part
that the judges particularly watch, however, is your ability to overcome
objections. Every buyer will throw out different objections, such as “price is
too high” or “my employees aren’t sophisticated enough for this technology” or
even “I’m blind and I can’t see this computer here”, and the faster you can
think on your feed to handle these objections, the higher your score will be.
There are multiple rounds of these competitions, including the Quarter Finals,
Semi Finals, and Finals. The final four competitors are given information about
their seller only 20 minutes before they go in and this year’s objection was
that the students had to sell to two buyers, instead of to just
one.
This competition is fast-paced and highly rewarding. The physical rewards
come in the form of free gourmet food the whole weekend, a duffle bag full of
freebies, and a weekend in a nice hotel and nightly events to attend. And if you
make it to the top four, these rewards expand to a free iPad, an embroidered
suitcase, $1000 Tom James business suit, a monetary scholarship, and endless job
offers. But arguably the more important rewards were not the tangible ones, but
rather the confidence that the competition provided you, the incredible
networking that could help in years to come, the job opportunities offered, and
the weekend full of unforgettable
memories.
Below is an article I wrote about for the Lindner College of Business newsletter describing my experience at the National Collegiate Sales Competition in Atlanta, Georgia:
“5..4..3..2..1..GO”.Light flashes red, heart pounding, portfolio in hand,
smile on. The second I knock on that door, I am selling. All of my role plays
and research have led me to this moment – right here, right now. This is the
National Collegiate Sales Competition.
Hundreds of students from colleges all over the country (and even a few
from beyond) congregate to Atlanta, Georgia every year in hopes of bringing the
national championship to their school. So what exactly do you do at this
National Collegiate Sales Competition, you may be asking. Well, there are two
facets to it – a daily job fair and the actual competition. Last year, UC sent
five members, all expenses paid, from the UC Varsity Sales team. These members
were selected on how they did at earlier sales competition throughout the year.
Three of the students had the opportunity to network with countless corporate
sponsors, all looking to hire students at that very career fair. Our students
were selling both the UC Sales Center and also themselves. Sponsors would
request on-the-spot interviews and many students left Atlanta with multiple job
opportunities from all over the United States. This was an invaluable
experience for our students as it provided them with a new-found confidence,
better networking skills, and a number of job
offers.
Now for the competition side of things, it went like this:
every competitor was given a Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
computer system, called NetSuite, to sell. This is revealed a year in advance so
the students have time to research and become a product expert. At the
competition, every competitor is assigned a room in the national sales labs and
when the light flashes red at the end of that countdown, you walk into your room
and the competition begins. Inside of that room, sitting at a table, is a
corporate sponsor role playing as your prospective buyer. Meanwhile, a roomful
of judges are watching a live video feed of you. They are judging you on
everything from how well you can build rapport with your client, your needs
analysis, and your presentation, all the way to your ability to close the deal.
Oh and did I mention that you only have 20 minutes to make this sale? The part
that the judges particularly watch, however, is your ability to overcome
objections. Every buyer will throw out different objections, such as “price is
too high” or “my employees aren’t sophisticated enough for this technology” or
even “I’m blind and I can’t see this computer here”, and the faster you can
think on your feed to handle these objections, the higher your score will be.
There are multiple rounds of these competitions, including the Quarter Finals,
Semi Finals, and Finals. The final four competitors are given information about
their seller only 20 minutes before they go in and this year’s objection was
that the students had to sell to two buyers, instead of to just
one.
This competition is fast-paced and highly rewarding. The physical rewards
come in the form of free gourmet food the whole weekend, a duffle bag full of
freebies, and a weekend in a nice hotel and nightly events to attend. And if you
make it to the top four, these rewards expand to a free iPad, an embroidered
suitcase, $1000 Tom James business suit, a monetary scholarship, and endless job
offers. But arguably the more important rewards were not the tangible ones, but
rather the confidence that the competition provided you, the incredible
networking that could help in years to come, the job opportunities offered, and
the weekend full of unforgettable
memories.