The sales team’s performance ranked 4th overall in the “First Flight” category in the University of South Florida sales competition.
Four Elon Sales Team members competed in the 2021 Selling with the Bulls sales competition hosted by the University of South Florida. Elon placed fourth overall in the “First Flight” category, which included university teams new to the competition.
During the event held Jan. 30-Feb. 5, students were presented with real-world sales scenarios, including cold-calling, email and voicemail introductions, networking, unplanned phone calls, discovery meetings, and sales dialogue.
Elon competitors included accounting major Flo Kunz ’21, project management major Matthew Schmitt ’23, marketing major Jack St. Pierre ’22, and international business major Andreas Thorsen ’22. They received support from student coaches Skylar Davis ’24, Gabby Guiscardo ’23, Liam Lindy ’21, Joseph O’Keefe ’23, Zach Roeder ’23, and Joe Sprake ’23, and faculty coaches Assistant Professor George Talbert, Assistant Professor Chris Nelson and Lecturer Rob Elbitar.
“I had the opportunity to connect with remarkable people from a few different Fortune 500 companies and scheduled meetings for potential internships (fingers crossed),” St. Pierre said. “After this experience, I feel significantly more professional than before and that’s all thanks to the sales team and all of our hard work we put in prior to and during the competition. I’m looking forward to competing alongside Flo, Andres, Matthew and Dr. Talbert again in the near future.”
The competitors’ individual performances:
Flo Kunz
- 1st in Winner’s Circle First Flight
- 1st in Sales Call
- 2nd in Networking First Flight
- 2nd in Top Bull First Flight
Jack St. Pierre
- 2nd in Networking First Flight
- 3rd in Email First Flight
- 4th in Top Bull First Flight
Andreas Thorsen
- 5th Overall
“I really enjoyed the experience,” Thorsen said. “I had very limited preparation time since I was brought into the team just 24 hours before the start of the competition, and so for me going into the sales calls, it was all about projecting confidence because no one is going to buy from someone who isn’t confident with their product.”
Kunz stated, “I’ve enjoyed every second of being on the sales team because I’ve finally found what I’m passionate about. Dr. Talbert and the sales team helped me take that passion to the next level.”
In addition to Elon University, 21 universities competed in the event, with a total of 100 student competitors.
The Elon Sales Team is supported by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, which promotes professional selling and sales management, provides high-quality instruction to both students and sales executives, and conducts research advancing the field of sales.