Two seniors’ performances earned Elon University seventh place overall in the nation’s largest sales role-play competition.
Shakori Fletcher, a senior broadcast and new media major and professional sales and statistics double minor, and Sharin Gerstenberger, a senior marketing and international business double major and economics minor, partook in role plays in which they were sales representatives for ADP, a global provider of business outsourcing services. The scenario involved the students pitching ADP products to prospective clients during a sales meeting.
Individually, Fletcher finished 15th and Gerstenberger finished 17th out of 134 students. Assistant Professor Erin Gillespie served as their faculty coach.
The students were evaluated on their approach, needs identification, product presentation, overcoming objections, close and communication skills.
“Since NCSC is one of the country’s most prestigious competitions, the standard of excellence set by all attendees is extremely high,” Fletcher said. “Each competitor exhibited such poise and professionalism, and essentially created the perfect environment to showcase talent on a national level.”
The competition, held April 1-4, 2016, provided students with an opportunity to sharpen their sales skills in a competitive environment and to network with business professionals, peers and sales faculty.
“The National Collegiate Sales Competition allowed me to improve my sales skills in a highly competitive environment and to network with sales professionals and peers from some of the top sales programs in the country,” Gerstenberger said. “Interacting with sales professionals while being thrown in to a challenging situation gave me the ability to hone in where my strong suits are and understand what weaknesses I can improve.”
The Elon team competed against schools including Michigan State University, Florida State University, Ball State University, Kansas State University, University of Houston, Baylor University, Louisiana State University and Texas State University. Kennesaw State University won the competition.