News Releases

School of Business students gain sales experience at National Team Selling Competition

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Putting their sales skills to the test, KU School of Business students Vaishali Gala, Tyler Martin, Adam Whelan, and Katie Young participated in the National Team Selling Competition held at the University of Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana.

The competition, on September 26, was sponsored by the Center for Global Sales Leadership at Indiana University and Philip Morris USA. It was designed to provide students with an experiential learning opportunity in the context of a consultative selling environment. Specifically, students analyzed a detailed business case and then "sold" their solution to a team of retail professionals in two 20 minute role-play sessions. Team advisors were School of Business faculty Joyce Claterbos and Kissan Joseph, and Tamara Kimball of Philip Morris. Philip Morris also provided financial support for travel expenses.

In today's business world, experiential learning opportunities in skills such as team selling are crucial for students. Competitions that focus on sales skills, team work and presentations help students implement their business knowledge in a realistic environment. The KU School of Business encourages students to seek out and participate in realistic learning activities that will benefit them in their future careers.

Joseph was pleased with both the team's performance and the knowledge they gained. "It was a great opportunity for our students!" said Joseph, who coached the students on the concept of team-selling prior to the competition. The students were also aided by Claterbos, who reviewed their presentations before they left for Indiana. "Experiential learning activities like this are just what we want to encourage our students to participate in," said Claterbos.

To learn more about the National Team Selling Competition, please visit: http://nationalteamsellingcompetition.com/about_us.html